He gave seventeen hundred pounds for it, and sold two thousand pounds' worth of timber off it the first year.

This sounds incredible; but, owing to the custom of felling only ripe trees, landed proprietors had no sure clew to the value of all the timber on an acre.

Richard Bassett had found this out, and bought Dean's Wood upon the above terms--_i.e.,_ the vender gave him the soil and three hundred pounds gratis.

He grubbed the roots and sold them for fuel, and planted larches to catch the overflow of Sir Charles's game.

The grass grew beautifully, now the trees were down, and he let it for pasture.
He then, still under Wheeler's advice, came out into the world again, improved his dress, and called on several county families, with a view to marrying money.
Now in the country they do not despise a poor gentleman of good lineage, and Bassett was one of the oldest names in the county; so every door was open to him; and, indeed, his late hermit life had stimulated some curiosity.