After  supper  Edmund,  stretching  out  his  arms,  said  in  a
muffled  kind  of  voice,

'  Eh,  I  say,  it  is  some  and  hot  here.  I  wonder  what  it's
like  outside.'

'  Why,  the  air's  pleasant  enough  on  the  Townfield,'  said
Harry.
'  I  could  like  to  feel  it,'  remarked  Edmund.  '  I've  not
been  out  these  three  days.'

'Well,  come  along  and  take  a  turn,'  said  Myles,  good-
naturedly,  well  knowing  that  Edmund's  motive  for  suggest-
ing such  a  thing  at  that  time  was  that  the  dusk  was  rapidly
gathering  :  there  were  fewer  people  about,  and  he  was  less
likely  to  be  observed.
Edmund  jumped  at  the  offer,  and  Myles,  giving  him  his
cap,  and  taking  his  own,  drew  his  brother's  arm  through
his,  shouting  to  Harry,

'Wilt  come  with  us,  or  wilt  stay  with  Molly?'

'  I'st  stay  and  have  a  pipe  till  you  come  in,  if  Mary's  no
objection,'  said  Harry ;  and  Mary,  by  way  of  answer,  pointed
to  a  china  basket  on  the  mantelpiece,  in  which  stood  half
a  dozen  neatly  made  '  spills.'

These  spills  were  a  mystery  to  the  household.  Mary
gave  it  out  that  she  liked  to  have  them.  They  looked  tidy
like,  and  did  for  lighting  the  pipes  ;  but  it  was  a  well-known
fact  that  Edmund  did  not  smoke  at  all,  that  Myles  pre-


76  PROBA  TION.
