CHAPTER XLIII.

"MY OWN FAULT."

The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree

I planted; they have torn me, and I bleed:

I should have known what fruit would spring from such a secd.

MT

Byron.

R. STRAFFORD remained at Abbotscliff for some days after his young grandson had begun to get better. He would have liked to take him back with him to Langdale, but his recovery was slow, and it was not likely that he would be able to undertake a long journey for some weeks. It was desirable, however, that he should be removed at an early date from the boarding-house, as the boys would be returning almost immediately from their short Easter holiday. Mr. Strafford proposed, therefore, to take some lodgings for him in the town; and one day, when Tom was sitting up, near the open window, pale, thin, and delicate-looking, but free from pain, at ease in his mind, and full of quiet happiness and thankfulness, his grandfather proposed this to him, and Tom of course assented. It mattered very little to him just then where he was. He had no books to work at, no examination to look forward to, no parting from his friends to fear.

"Is there any other place that you would like better, Tom?" Mr. Strafford asked-" not too far off?"

Tom's eyes sparkled. He thought of Sandy Frith, and the shipyard and the boat. Captain Broad was at home, too. He had come over to Abbotscliff to ask after him a day or two before, having heard of his illness.

Mr. Strafford did not know the place, but listened attentively to what Tom had to say about it.

"Are good lodgings to be had there?" he asked.

"Yes," said Tom, "I should think so. They were going to make quite a large place of it. I dare say there are some houses finished by this time."

"I will go over and look at it," Mr. Strafford said; and that same afternoon he took the train, and arrived in due time at Sandy Frith.

Nearly a year had elapsed since Tom's visit there, in company with his friend Martin; but the place was not so much altered as might have been expected. There were some carcases of houses, at which no work was going on. The foundations of some large buildings had been laid, but the superstructure had not yet begun to rise upon them. There were steam-engines at work at one or two spots, boring for water; and until water should be found, other operations were at a standstill. Mr. Strafford made up his mind, as he walked through the narrow streets of the little town, that this would hardly be the place to which he could bring his grandson. But when he reached the shore, and had gone as far as the shipyard, he could not but admire the natural advantages and beauty of the spot, and stood still for some time on the sands, watching the ripple of the sea, and looking out at the sheltering headlands towards the east and west.

Turning towards the shipyard he found several men busy at work there; this too would amuse his boy, he thought; and an occasional sail in fine weather, which might be had there without any trouble or fatigue, would do him a great deal of good. The house looked tolerably roomy and comfortable, and the thought occurred to him that possibly an arrangement might be made for lodgings there. He addressed himself to Mr. Dean, who was easily to be recognised, though clad as a workman and working as hard as any of them. Dean scarcely ever left the shipyard now: when he did so it was only for a sail in one of

the boats, or on some pressing matter of business. He would not trust himself in any other man's house, and it was a rule of his own that no strong drink of any kind should be admitted, except in such medicinal form as might be necessary for his mother's infirmities.

"Can you tell me," Mr. Strafford asked, "whether there are any good lodgings to be had in this place?"

"Not that I know of," Dean replied, going on with his work. Lodgers and excursionists at Sandy Frith were a sore subject with him just then.

"You seem very busy," said Mr. Strafford.

"Yes, sir, we must work while we can."

"There seem to be changes going on in the place."

"Changes? Yes, too many of them."

"It's a nice quiet place. I should have liked to bring an invalid here for the sake of the sea air and the boats; a young boy from Abbotscliff."

"Abbotscliff?" the man repeated quickly. "From the college?"

"Yes."

"What's his name?"

"His name is Strafford."

"Strafford. I don't know him. There was a nice young lad called Howard, who was very ill there. Have you heard of him?" "It's the same," Mr. Strafford replied. "I ought to have said Howard; but he is my grandson.'

I hope he is getting on all right," said Dean.

"Yes, thank you."

"And it's for him you want a lodging?"

"Yes."

Mr. Dean put down his axe and invited Mr. Strafford to enter the house. "I'll ask my sister," he said. "She may be able to

think of something."

Lucy Dean made her appearance presently, but she could not suggest any lodgings that would do.

"I thought possibly," said Mr. Strafford, looking about him, "that you might not mind giving us two or three rooms here; you have a nice house and nicely situated."

"I am afraid you would not like it," Lucy said. “I don't think we could manage it."

She looked at her brother, who answered sadly:

"No. It would be impossible under the circumstances." "What are the circumstances?" Mr. Strafford asked; and after some hesitation Dean was persuaded to speak out. "The house is not our own," he said.

to quit."

"Whose is it?"

"We are under notice

"A man named Chaffin bought it, promising to leave us undisturbed, and now he is threatening us, and encroaching upon us, and means to turn us out."

"Where does he live?"

"In London: but he was here the other day, and we had a quarrel over it. I believe it is his son's doing. He has a grudge against me, that boy has. I scarcely know why."

Dean had an idea that it was because he was a friend of Tom Howard's. Chaffin had seen Tom in his boat on the day when he had given him the chastisement which he so well deserved. Whether for that reason, or from some other cause, young Chaffin, who spent a great deal of his time at Sandy Frith, had taken a dislike to Dean, and showed it by frequent hints about the shipyard being wanted for building purposes. Constant encroachments had been made upon the yard and garden by his orders, and every remonstrance which Dean ventured to make was met with a suggestion that if he did not like it he had better leave it, and that he would have to leave it soon at all events.

Dean had, in fact, received a formal

notice to quit, and the time of its expiration was not far distant.

Mr. Strafford remained for a long while talking to Dean about his affairs, and could not help feeling very sorry for him. Dean told him of his father's will, in which it was stated that the old mother was to occupy the shipyard house jointly with her son as long as she should live, and Mr. Strafford, having some experience of the law, thought that this might possibly render the sale of the property invalid.

"It is worth taking opinion about," he said. "I understand that you would cancel the sale if you could?"

"Yes," said Dean; "if I could do it honestly."

"Can you repay the money?"

"I can give him back what he gave me," said Dean. "I have got the money together again, and it is ready in the bank. I have had a good deal of work lately and have saved it up, shilling by shilling. It was not a great deal. The chief amount was paid in shares of this-company, which I dare say you have heard of, and I am afraid they are not worth much just now."

"Still," said Strafford, "if you can repay his cash with cash, and his shares with shares, he ought to be satisfied; you may be satisfied, at all events. I will get a case drawn up and submitted to counsel."

"I beg your pardon, sir," said Dean, "but I could not go to law about it. Chaffin is a rich man, and would not mind expense. I could not afford to fight him."

"It shall cost you nothing, Dean. I will just get an opinion for my own satisfaction. You will not object to my doing so, I hope?"

"I should be very thankful, sir, to have the wrong set right. I ought not to have sold the property. I should not have done so if I had known justly what I was about."