Nothing could go wrong, Miss Oxford thought. She went through all the proofs in the carved box. Nothing was wanting. One day she would hand them to him—and then!
She wrote to her friend, Miss Purdie, at Little Letham, who had been taking care of "Post Offic" for her and told her—for the village information—that Audrey had lost her husband, and, on the shock, had died, in giving birth to a son. "I have called him Percival—his father's name—Percival Redpath."
"Look arter yerself," cried Mrs. Erps, as the train drew out of Waterloo. "Look arter yerself. Can't not look arter him if yer don't—and 'e 'll want lookin' arter, 'e will. 'E's going ter be a knockaht, that's what 'e's going to be, ain't yer, yer saucy sossidge! Sossidge! Goo'by, sossidge. Goo'by...."
BOOK THREE
BOOK OF THE HAPPY, HAPPY TIME.
THE ELEMENT OF YOUTH
CHAPTER I
PERCIVAL HAS A PEEP AT THE 'NORMOUS
I
Young Percival was seven—rising eight—when he first saw Burdon Old Manor. Miss Oxford had taken him for a walk, and they were in the direction of the Manor grounds, a locality she commonly avoided, when "There's a cart coming!" he warned her. He had lagged behind, exploring in a dry ditch; and he raced up to her with the news, catching her hand and drawing her to the hedge, for she had been walking in the middle of the road, occupied with her thoughts.