It was time to change the conversation.
The Squire gulped an inspiring draught of wine, pulled his pipe reluctantly from his lips, and, remarking hastily that the lad was young, turned his host's attention to the points of a certain black mare which a neighbour had for sale.
And, meantime, in the garden, perched on the bough of a chestnut-tree, overhanging a sunken wall, sat the object of Sir Henry's dislike and choler, one Michael Berrington, sole heir to Berrington Manor, its wide estates—and something more, of which, as yet, he was in pleasant ignorance.
A well-grown lad of fifteen, his clothes the shabbier for rough usage rather than long wear, curly brown hair caught back by a black ribbon, a long face which gave the impression of being one of many points, accentuated by the long, thin nose; lean cheeks, fine grey eyes, and a mouth which showed sensitiveness and a love of humour, closing, too, with the resoluteness of a strong will.
An expressive, if not a handsome, face, with possibilities of improvement when the owner reached maturity; above all, the desire for laughter and mischief dominant. And what wonder, since his mother was Irish and a pretty little wit to boot before she married Stephen Berrington?
Michael's mother had not been sorry when Death's call had dried her tears shed for a worthless husband. Yet she had laughed for her boy's sake, laughed with a breaking heart, and Michael had grown up laughing till that mother of his died.
He had wept then.
And afterwards his grandfather had sent for him, and he had come to Berrington Manor, in the county of Kent, in that year of grace, 1780.
Once there he had quickly discovered two things. First, that his grandfather hated him; secondly, that, with no soft eyes to utter mute reproaches, he could let that spirit of dare-devilry within him run riot. He did not fear canings.
So he sat, swinging long, lean legs over the sunken wall, and then, heedless of a rent in his plum-coloured coat, gave a quick leap to the ground and set off at a swinging pace across the meadow.