"Dear uncle!" cried Hal. "But you shall hear. There's to be a race upon the Downs, the first of September, and after the race, there's to be an archery meeting for the ladies, and Lady Diana Sweepstakes is to be one of them. And after the ladies have done shooting—now, Ben, comes the best part of it!—we boys are to have our turn, and Lady Di is to give a prize to the best marksman among us of a very handsome bow and arrow! Do you know, I've been practising already, and I'll show you to-morrow, as soon as it comes home, the famous bow and arrow that Lady Diana has given me; but perhaps," added he with a scornful laugh, "you like a cat's cradle better than a bow and arrow."
Ben made no reply to this taunt at the moment; but the next day, when Hal's new bow and arrow came home, he convinced him that he knew how to use it well.
"Ben," said his uncle, "you seem to be a good marksman, though you have not boasted of yourself. I'll give you a bow and arrow, and perhaps if you practise, you may make yourself an archer before the first of September; and in the meantime you will not wish the fortnight over, for you will have something to do."
"O, sir," interrupted Hal, "but if you mean that Ben should put in for the prize, he must have a uniform."
"Why must he?" said Mr. Gresham.
"Why, sir, because every body has—I mean every body that's any body; and Lady Diana was talking about the uniform all dinner time, and it's settled all about it, except the buttons. The young Sweepstakes are to get theirs made first for patterns; they are to be white, faced with green; and they'll look very handsome, I'm sure, and I shall write to mamma to-night, as Lady Diana bid me, about mine; and I shall tell her to be sure to answer my letter, without fail, by return of the post: and then, if mamma makes no objections, which I know she won't, because she never thinks much about expense, and all that—then I shall bespeak my uniform, and get it made by the same tailor that makes for Lady Diana and the young Sweepstakes."
"Mercy upon us!" said Mr. Gresham, who was almost stunned by the rapid vociferation with which this long speech about the uniform was pronounced. "I don't pretend to understand these things," added he, with an air of simplicity; "but we will inquire, Ben, into the necessity of the case; and if it is necessary, or if you think it necessary, that you shall have a uniform, why, I'll give you one."
"You, uncle! Will you, indeed?" exclaimed Hal, with amazement painted in his countenance, "Well, that's the last thing in the world I should have expected! You are not at all the sort of person I should have thought would care about a uniform: and now I should have supposed you'd have thought it extravagant to have a coat on purpose only for one day. And I'm sure Lady Diana Sweepstakes thought as I do; for when I told her of that motto over your kitchen chimney, WASTE NOT, WANT NOT, she laughed, and said that I had better not talk to you about uniforms, and that my mother was the proper person to write to about my uniform; but I'll tell Lady Diana, uncle, how good you are, and how much she was mistaken."
"Take care how you do that," said Mr. Gresham; "for perhaps the lady was not mistaken."
"Nay, did not you say, just now, you would give poor Ben a uniform?"