He was evidently a man of very good education, and a much better scholar than he was willing to allow.

The vicar delighted in his society and when the two found themselves together in the great room which Mr.Juxon had lined with well-filled shelves, they remained for hours absorbed in literary and scholastic talk.

But whenever the vicar approached the subject of the squire's past life, the latter became vague and gave ambiguous answers to any direct questions addressed to him.

He evidently disliked talking of himself, though he would talk about anything else that occurred to him with a fluency which Mrs.Ambrose declared was the only un-English thing about him.

The consequence was that the vicar became more and more interested in his new acquaintance, and though the squire was so frank and honest a man that it was impossible to suspect him of any doubtful action in the past, Mr.Ambrose suspected that he had a secret.