Johnny Ludlow

IVE lived chiefly at Dyke Manor. A fine old place, so close upon the borders of Warwickshire and Worcestershire, that lllany people did not know which of the two couilties it as really in. The house was in IVarwickshire, but soille of the land was ill IVorcestershire. The Squire had, however, another estate, Crabb Cot, all in Worccstershire, and very many miles nearer to IVorcester. Squire Todhetley was rich. But he lived in the plain, good oldfashioned way that his forefathers had lived almost a homely way, it inight be called, in contrast with the show and parade that halve sprung up of late years. He was respected by every one, and tho, ugll hotheaded and ilnpetuous, he was simple-minded, open-handed, and had as good a heart as any one ever had in this world. A11 elderly gent1en hn now, was he, of middle 11eight with a portly forin and a red face and his hair, what was left of it, consisted of a few scanty, lightish locks, standing up straight 011 the top of his head. The Squire had married, but not very early in life. His wife dicd in a few years, leaving one child only a son, named after his father, Joseph. Young Joe was just the pride of the hlanor and of his fathers heart. I, writing this, am Johnny Ludlow. And you will naturally want to hear what I did at Dyke Manor, and why I lived there. About three-miles distance from the Manor was a place callcd the Court. Not a property of so inuch importance as the Rlanor, but a nicc place, for all that. It belonged to my father, Villiam Ludlow. He and Squire Todhetley were good friends. I was an only child, just as Tod was and, like him, I had lost my mother. They had christened but always called me Johnny. I can remember many incidents of my early life now, but I cannot recall my mother to my mind. She must have died-at least I fancy so-when I was two years old. Johnny Ludlow-I. 1 2 JOHNNY LUDLOW. One morning, two years after that, when I was about four, the servants told me I had a new mamnla. I can see her now as she looked when she came home tall, thin, and upright, with a long face, pinched nose, a meek expression, and gentle voice. She was a hIiss hlarks, who used to play the organ at church, and had hardly any income at all. Hannah said she was sure she was thirty-five if she was a day-she was talking to Eliza while she dressed me-and they both agreed that she would probably turn out to be a tartar, and that the master night have chosen better. I understood quite well that they meant papa, and asked why he might have chosen better upon which they shook me and said they had not been speaking of my papa at all, but of the old blacksmith round the corner. Hannah brushed 111y hair the wrong way, and Eliza went off to see to her bedrooms...