Her father talked as she had not heard him talk since her poor brother's death, and was quite animated on the subject of woodcraft.

"We don't know much about timber down where I am," said Will, "just because we've got no trees." "I'll show you your way," said the old man.

"I've managed the timber on the estate myself for the last forty years." Will Belton of course did not say a word as to the gross mismanagement which had been apparent even to him.

What a cousin he was! Clara thought,--what a paragon among cousins! And then he was so manifestly safe against love-making! So safe, that he only cared to talk about timber, and oxen, and fences, and winter-forage! But it was all just as it ought to be; and if her father did not call him Will before long, she herself would set the way by doing so first.

A very paragon among cousins! "What a flatterer you are," she said to him that night.
"A flatterer! I ?" "Yes, you.