CHAPTER V.
John spent nearly the whole of this summer vacation at Worth Maltravers.
He had been anxious to pay a visit to Royston; but the continued and serious illness of Mrs.Temple's sister had called her and Constance to Scotland, where they remained until the death of their relative allowed them to return to Derbyshire in the late autumn.

John and I had been brought up together from childhood.

When he was at Eton we had always spent the holidays at Worth, and after my dear mother's death, when we were left quite alone, the bonds of our love were naturally drawn still closer.

Even after my brother went to Oxford, at a time when most young men are anxious to enjoy a new-found liberty, and to travel or to visit friends in their vacation, John's ardent affection for me and for Worth Maltravers kept him at home; and he was pleased on most occasions to make me the partner of his thoughts and of his pleasures.

This long vacation of 1842 was, I think, the happiest of our lives.