One Sunday the old Squire did not come to church; and again on the next Wednesday, at the harvest festival, Honoria sat alone in the Tredinnis pew.

The shadow was on his mother's face as he chatted about this on their way home to the Parsonage; but the boy did not perceive it.

He loved his parents, but their lives lay outside his own, and their sayings and doings passed him like a vain show.

He walked in the separate world of childhood, and it seemed an enormous world yet, though a few weeks were to bring him abruptly to the end of it.
But just before he came to the precipice he was given a glimpse of the real world--and of a world beyond that, far more splendid and romantic than any region of his dreams.
The children had no lessons during Christmas, or for three weeks after.

On the last morning before the holidays George brought a letter for Mr.Raymond, who read it, considered for a while, and laid it among his papers.
"It's an invitation," George announced in a whisper.