"He has found all out
now," it cried, "and he is going to tell mamma- this time I am done
for." But there was nothing in it; his father only wanted the key of
the cellaret. Then Ernest slunk off into a coppice or spinney behind
the Rectory paddock, and consoled himself with a pipe of tobacco. Here
in the wood with the summer sun streaming through the trees and a book
and his pipe the boy forgot his cares and had an interval of that rest
without which I verily believe his life would have been insupportable.
Of course, Ernest was made to look for his lost property, and a
reward was offered for it, but it seemed he had wandered a good deal
off the path, thinking to find a lark's nest, more than once, and
looking for a watch and purse on Battersby piewipes was very like
looking for a needle in a bundle of hay: besides it might have been
found and taken by some tramp, or by a magpie of which there were many
in the neighbourhood, so that after a week or ten days the search
was discontinued, and the unpleasant fact had to be faced that
Ernest must have another watch, another knife, and a small sum of
pocket-money.
It was only right, however, that Ernest should pay half the cost
of the watch; this should be made easy for him, for it should be
deducted from his pocket-money in half-yearly installments extending
over two, or even it might be three years.
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