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“I do, madam,” he answered respectfully.

“The colonel says you are English,” added the lady, in a tone of surprise.

The boy smiled, showing a faultless set of teeth, as he replied, “I am, my lady, though just now I may not look it, being much tanned and very dusty. My father was an Englishman, but I’ve lived abroad a good deal since he died, and got foreign ways, perhaps.”

As he spoke without any accent, and looked full in her face with a pair of honest blue eyes under the dark lashes, Lady Trevlyn’s momentary doubt vanished.

“Your age, Paul?”

“Sixteen, my lady.”

“You understand gardening?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“And what else?”

“I can break horses, serve at table, do errands, read aloud, ride after a young lady as groom, illuminate on parchment, train flowers, and make myself useful in any way.”

The tone, half modest, half eager, in which the boy spoke, as well as the odd list of his accomplishments, brought a smile to Lady Trevlyn’s lips, and the general air of the lad prepossessed her.

“I want Lillian to ride soon, and Roger is rather old for an escort to such a little horsewoman. Don’t you think we might try Paul?” she said, turning to Hester.

The woman gravely eyed the lad from head to foot, and shook her head, but an imploring little gesture and a glance of the handsome eyes softened her heart in spite of herself.

“Yes, my lady, if he does well about the place, and Parks thinks he’s steady enough, we might try it by-and-by.”

Lillian clapped her hands and, drawing nearer, exclaimed confidingly, as she looked up at her new groom, “I know he’ll do, Mamma. I like him very much, and I hope you’ll let him train my pony for me. Will you, Paul?”

“Yes.”

As he spoke very low and hastily, the boy looked away from the eager little face before him, and a sudden flush of color crossed his dark cheek.

Hester saw it and said within herself, “That boy has good blood in his veins. He’s no clodhopper’s son, I can tell by his hands and feet, his air and walk. Poor lad, it’s hard for him, I’ll warrant, but he’s not too proud for honest work, and I like that.”

“You may stay, Paul, and we will try you for a month. Hester, take him to Parks and see that he is made comfortable. Tomorrow we will see what he can do. Come, darling, I am rested now.”

As she spoke, Lady Trevlyn dismissed the boy with a gracious gesture and led her little daughter away. Paul stood watching her, as if forgetful of his companion, till she said, rather tartly, “Young man, you’d better have thanked my lady while she was here than stare after her now it’s too late. If you want to see Parks, you’d best come, for I’m going.”

“Is that the family tomb yonder, where you found me asleep?” was the unexpected reply to her speech, as the boy quietly followed her, not at all daunted by her manner.

“Yes, and that reminds me to ask how you got in, and why you were napping there, instead of doing your errand properly?”

“I leaped the fence and stopped to rest before presenting myself, Miss Hester” was the cool answer, accompanied by a short laugh as he confessed his trespass.

“You look as if you’d had a long walk; where are you from?”

“London.”

“Bless the boy! It’s fifty miles away.”

“So my shoes show; but it’s a pleasant trip in summer time.”

“But why did you walk, child! Had you no money?”

“Plenty, but not for wasting on coaches, when my own stout legs could carry me. I took a two days’ holiday and saved my money for better things.”

“I like that,” said Hester, with an approving nod. “You’ll get on, my lad, if that’s your way, and I’ll lend a hand, for laziness is my abomination, and one sees plenty nowadays.”

“Thank you. That’s friendly, and I’ll prove that I am grateful. Please tell me, is my lady ill?”