"I don't know how you recollect all their ailments, and the names and conditions of their families, and all the rest of it."
"I am about through them so much. Your mother would understand. I daresay she plays the Lady Bountiful a good deal."
The young man's lips parted over a range of beautifully white and strong teeth.
"No," he said, a little grimly. "The mater isn't at all the district-visiting sort, I assure you, sir."
With a feeling of having blundered, Mr. Graydon changed the subject.
"I was glad to see your gun-case," he said. "There's any amount of game about here. The mountain yonder has no end of rabbits; and there's plenty of teal, woodcock, grouse, and partridge. Good fishing, too, in the Moyle—the sweetest salmon-trout that ever grilled over a clear fire; and a mile or two away there are big salmon for the taking."
"Unpreserved?" cried the youth, with sparkling eyes.
"Well, not very strictly preserved. That mountain yonder, Carrickduff, is part of my singularly unprofitable property, and the Moyle runs inside my walls."
"If you don't keep me too close to work, sir, I foresee that I shall find Carrickmoyle a paradise."
"There are worse places than Carrickmoyle," said Mr. Graydon, with a sparkle of pleasure in his eye. "Oh, I shan't overwork you. I believe in out-of-doors for young fellows. When I am busy—I daresay I shall be a little busy at times with a book which I have had in hand some years—the children will look after you."