CHAPTER II


The tutor, in his own room, put down his fisherman's rod and bag. The
chamber was a small one, set high up, with two deep windows tying the
interior to the yet rosy west and the clearer, paler south. Strickland
stood a moment, then went out at door and down three steps and along a
passageway to two doors, one closed, the other open. He tapped upon
the latter.

"James!"

A boy of fourteen, tall and fair, with a flushed, merry face, crossed
the room and opened the door more widely. "Oh, aye, Mr. Strickland,
I'm in!"

"Is Alexander?"

"Not yet. I haven't seen him. I was at the village with Dandie
Saunderson."

"Do you know what he did with himself?"

"Not precisely."

"I see. Well, it's nearly supper-time."

Back in his own quarters, the tutor made such changes as were needed,