He folded the deed, and replaced it in his pocket with a peaceful smile
and closed eyes, murmuring--

'I'm much mistaken if the gray mare's the better horse in that stud.'

He laughed gently, thinking of the captain's formidable and unscrupulous
nature, exhibitions of which he could not fail to remember.

'No, no, Miss Dorkie won't give us much trouble.'

He used to call her 'Miss Dorkie,' playfully to his clerks. It gave him
consideration, he fancied. And now with this Five Oaks to begin
with--L1,400 a year--a great capability, immensely improvable, he would
stake half he's worth on making it more than L2,000 within five years;
and with other things at his back, an able man like him might before long
look as high as she. And visions of the grand jury rose dim and
splendid--an heiress and a seat for the county; perhaps he and Lake might
go in together, though he'd rather be associated with the Hon. James
Cluttworth, or young Lord Griddlestone. Lake, you see, wanted weight,
and, nothwithstanding his connections, was, it could not be denied, a new
man in the county.

So Wylder, Lake, and Jos. Larkin had each projected for himself, pretty
much the same career; and probably each saw glimmering in the horizon the
golden round of a coronet. And I suppose other modest men are not always
proof against similar flatteries of imagination.

Jos. Larkin had also the vicar's business and reversion to attend to. The
Rev. William Wylder had a letter containing three lines from him at eight