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Avery 3 1st Edition Erin R Flynn

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Now that Avery knows about supes and all the cards are on the table, there are no more lies between her and her three lovers. They can focus on building a life together and the future none of them dreamed they could have.

Ryder is struggling with issues at work and trying to balance what’s expected from him as a vampire in his hierarchy with having a normal life with the woman he loves… And even the men she also loves.

Griffin’s pack is supportive of the relationship, but an Alpha’s job is never easy and they need most of his focus. He tries his best to be what Avery needs, but every time he turns around he feels like he’s said the wrong thing and can’t seem to get his act together.

Lorenzo is too much like Avery at times and both retreat into themselves when upset, but to Avery that seems like he’s always

ready to leave her. He doesn’t know how to break that cycle but is determined to prove to her that he’s in this for the long haul.

But can four people from such different backgrounds ever truly live happily ever after?

Avery

“Boooo!” I yelled as I threw popcorn towards the TV, Lala, Ryder, and Lorenzo echoing my sentiments. We were watching a new Kdrama on Netflix, and we weren’t happy at how the female lead was being treated.

“Why do you love these?” Lorenzo asked me. “They’re so fucking sexist. I didn’t know Korea was so fucking sexist and full of horrible —they’re so judgmental!”

“Right, and our shows show the best side of America?” I drawled. “Come on, it’s a drama. It’s supposed to be dramatic.”

“He’s not totally wrong,” Ryder said. “I’ve traveled there a lot for work and the scandals are… They wouldn’t be scandals here. I mean, some of them, sure, but there was one recently that tried to get a woman from an idol group fired because she gained a couple of pounds. Could you imagine if that was here? They’re not allowed to date or have phones sometimes.

“It’s a very controlling industry and just like here, the top are very rarely women making the decisions. And speaking up is frowned on. No one’s rerecording their music like Taylor Swift when they tried to screw her over. Actors and idols aren’t allowed to speak

out on anything. Their agencies control what they eat and force them on diets a lot, and that’s all accepted.”

“I get it,” I cut in gently. “I know how strongly you feel on this. We’ve talked about it before.”

“It just pisses me off,” Ryder grumbled. “I don’t like sexism. Or racism.”

“And we love you for that,” Lala chuckled.

“They’re getting better though,” I sighed. “More women in the shows are defending themselves. They aren’t having them stay with cheating husbands. Hell, the lead is divorced and just living her life. That used to be a hugething.”

“So it’s the progress that draws you in?” Lala hedged.

“Not really. Our shows can be sexist too. I mean… The world is sexist. I don’t support that part. It’s why we’re booing and yelling.”

“I hate the ‘shameless’ thing,” Lala muttered. “She does anything someone doesn’t like and she’s shameless. She says too much and she’s shameless.”

“It pisses me off that it’s coming mostly from other women. Why do women have to be their own worst enemy?” I grumbled. “Even at my school when I started losing weight. I was doing it for a man according to the women of my school. One said loudly that I was tired of all the male students calling me names and I was losing weight for them. Seriously? Gross, and that’s shameless. Not only thinking it but saying it out loud.”

“That whole school should be evacuated and burned to the ground,” Lala said with a growl.

“Amen,” Griffin added. “Round up the adults—and I include a bunch of the students in that since they’re eighteen—and throw

them in a deep dark hole. None are useful to the world.”

“Lava!” Bells squealed. “Watch out!”

“Yes, thank you, I got it,” Griffin muttered.

I glanced over to the other TV and smiled. It had been my idea to set it up when we’d started having streaming nights and I saw the twins looked bored and the adults didn’t really want to watch the latest Disney movie… Again.

So we found a nice TV stand that had locking wheels for the huge TV I’d bought extra and now it was set up with a gaming console. They loved it.

Lala and Mrs. Ganan had given me a lecture, but I could tune them out just fine.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lala checked, focused on Griffin. He was sitting in an adult beanbag chair playing Minecraft with the girls. He nodded, focused on the game. “A few of my guys are super into this and I’ve never gotten into video games, so when they talk it’s like gibberish to me and I feel old.” He glanced over at her and winked. “Plus, the twins don’t razz me for not being good.”

“Everyone has to start somewhere,” Soph said easily which was something I’d told them lots during tutoring. “We don’t like bullies.”

“No, we don’t,” I agreed firmly, a few people echoing me.

Plus, Griffin had a slight form of dyslexia, so he hated subtitles. People who didn’t suffer with the learning disability did too, so it wasn’t a big deal.

It was simply impressive how far he’d come in business and never let it stop him when he’d never gotten any help for it. He finally agreed to let me work with him a bit since I was certified to work with kids who had it and he said it was helpful. I wished any

teacher had taken the time to figure out what had been going on with him instead of writing him off.

He said they might have tried to when he was younger. His mom and dad had been ostrich parents and always denied that anything was ever wrong with their kids. The type who made it all about them and acted like they wouldn’t have given birth or DNA to anything “defective.”

So basically, the type of people that the rest of us hated.

We paused for a bathroom break, and everyone joked they were heading to their own private and designated bathrooms since I had so many.

Brats.

They weren’t wrong that I had that many, but… People found amusement in the weirdest things.

“I like the game, but I like getting to snuggle with you more,” Griffin told me as he pulled me towards him the moment I stepped out of the bathroom. His lips were soft on mine, and I melted into his large frame. “Sorry I can’t sleep over.”

“I’m glad you got this big job,” I said easily. “You put in the work with the proposal and had the best idea. You should have gotten it and I’m proud of you.”

He smirked at me. “How proud?”

“I’m not giving you head on movie night with the twins here,” I drawled as I pulled away from him.

“When they’re gone?” he called after me.

Yeah, I laughed at that. Damn man.

But I was seriously in love or falling in love with all three of them. I still couldn’t believe it. The woman who had barely dated

and been so abused by everyone had three of the most gorgeous and amazing lovers.

Life really was so unpredictable.

I looked over at Lorenzo when he chuckled at something Bells said and swallowed a fresh helping of desire. He was about six-three with broad shoulders and a lean build. His dark brown hair had curls when wet but was more wavy when it dried because of how often he messed with it and brushed it out. I was pretty sure he thought he looked feminine with the curls, but I thought he looked sexy as fuck.

He was a bit of a steamy Latin lover stereotype, and I was all for it if it was him. He was yummy from head to toe, and when you got to his amber eyes you were just done for.

Or at least I always was.

I felt eyes on me and turned to meet Ryder’s gaze. His light brown eyes softened as he gave me one of his sexy winks. His light brown hair with blond highlights seemed to shine brighter when he smiled, and when we were outside in the sun, he looked the perfect mix of good ‘ol boy and sinner.

Plus, he knew his body was made for the best type of sin.

He was six-four and just delicious. Toned and yummy from his abs to his pecks to his damn butt dimples that he knew I loved and kept finding a reason to always make sure I could see.

And last and certainly not least—there was Griffin. He really made the description “talk, dark, and handsome” seem bland when you said that it fit him. That was like saying the ocean was blue or the night was dark. That really didn’t do it justice… And words were the same for him.

Buthe was tall, like six-six and built like a man who worked hard during the day and wanted to work harder at night while naked.

He was dark. His hair was naturally a dark chocolate color but after all the summer sun, it was lighter in delicious highlights that made me think of milk and dark chocolate swirled. And something I wanted spread all over me. Calling him “frosting” wasn’t just fun to tease him for me since he called me “cupcake,” but really he was just that tasty.

He also had an olive complexion that had made me think a Greek heritage and I’d been right. That was his ancestry and apparently why he never got a sunburn.

Lucky. I fried like bacon, and then it didn’t really turn into a tan but just simply less red.

It was his deep blue eyes that drove me nuts. Apparently, I was a sucker for amazing eyes and a nice voice because all three of them had both.

Then again… Wasn’t that what every woman loved?

I highly doubt it was only me.

We watched another episode, but then it was time for the twins to head to bed. They were so damn cute as they demanded more time to play with Griffin. He handled it like a pro.

“I won’t play without you, pups,” he said gently. “You’re both tired, and that could lead to a mistake you’ll regret later, okay? What if you miss a zombie and die and lose all of your stuff? Is that worth staying up later for?”

They both agreed it was smarter to go to bed, but they were giving him side-eye like they didn’t believe he wouldn’t play without it.

It was cracking Ryder, Lorenzo, and me up. They were serious mini carbon copies of Lala when they acted like that.

Which was something I’d learned not to point out. It wasn’t that she got upset at the idea of her girls acting like her. No, it was more that she saw her deceased husband in them when they acted like that. She’d had a bad reaction when I’d brought it up, getting emotional that it was just like him, and I didn’t understand because I didn’t know him.

Soooo now it was a topic I stayed far away from. She’d apologized, and I easily forgave her given her grief but yeah, it was something I wasn’t going near again.

We said goodnight, and Griffin was pouting as he headed out next. I reminded him that we were having dinner alone Sunday night in Boston and we’d have fun then.

“I’m sorry I’m missing brunch,” he whispered against my lips.

“I know. Me too, but this job is important. Go show them how awesome you are, and don’t let that very attractive woman flirt with you.”

“I think she’s got enough on her plate with her movie star husband,” he chuckled.

Yeah, except Griffin was actually much more attractive than the guy.

And that wasn’t me being biased. Lala and Melissa weren’t into him, but they both agreed that he was way hotter than the Hollywood star that he was doing the job for.

She could stare at him like eye candy but if she went for him, I’d have Shawn or one of the pack bury her in the yard.

Fine, not really, but I’d think reallyhardabout it.

“And then there were three,” Ryder joked when it was just us. “Whatever should we do with ourselves?”

“How about a walk on the beach? I could use a bit of a stretch after sitting for so long,” Lorenzo suggested.

“You can stretch when she’s naked and in bed,” Ryder argued. I ignored him and smiled at Lorenzo. “I think that’s lovely.”

I’d learned that it was an unwritten rule that all of the homeowners that had private beaches allowed their neighbors to cross their beaches. It wasn’t fun to walk a beach if you only had your area no matter how big our plots were. So we all basically agreed that we could all go on each other’s property as long it was near the water, everyone behaved, and kept moving.

It seemed to work because I hadn’t had a problem in the months I’d lived there, even in the busy season when everything was a problem according to the locals.

We headed outside and I was glad I’d made sure to grab a thick sweater. It was the end of October now, and even if we were having unseasonably warm weather still, it got chilly at night. Especially when the wind came whipping off the ocean like it was right then.

It was cold but exhilarating. Like jumping into water that was freezing like I was sure the ocean was right then.

But without having to deal with being wet and the mess I would make heading back to the house.

We walked for a bit in silence. It was a slow pace in the sand, and we only went a few houses before we agreed and turned around. Then again, when the houses were on acres of land each, that wasn’t a short walk we’d taken.

Slow, but probably a mile.

“Yeah, that was nice,” Ryder agreed as we reached my beach. “I always push off working out and moving more like I have better things to do, but I always feel better when I do it. I have to stop being lazy.”

Lorenzo and I both snorted. Ryder was a lot of things, but lazy wasn’t one of them.

“You need better work/life balance. You’re not lazy,” I gently chastised. “I don’t know how to help you since your boss isn’t simply your boss, and I’m not the best at balance, but that’s how I see it.”

“Yeah, I’m just as bad,” Lorenzo added. “I have no advice to give you. Don’t do it?”

“Thanks, that helps a lot,” Ryder chuckled, giving Lorenzo the look he deserved.

Lorenzo simply shrugged and swooped me up in his arms as we reached the path to the house. “You find the prettiest things on the beach. I mean, I know it’s normally shells and like cool rocks, but I’ve heard tales of mermaids now and again and never believed them. Who knew you could just catch a sexy woman? Maybe that’s where more nice guys need to go?”

“Hang out on a beach at night and just wait for a woman to wash up to shore for them to collect like we’re property?” I drawled.

“Yeah, that teasing went a bit off,” he agreed when we reached the house and he set me on my feet. “I was going to make a fish joke, but that seemed crass even if I do want to gobble you up, but also the fish don’t give consent and—”

“I got what you meant,” I promised, giving him a quick kiss. “It was a cute effort.”

“Well, I live to be cute and give a good effort,” he chuckled.

“Nice to have goals that you excel at,” Ryder teased as we walked inside.

“I excel at being cute?” Lorenzo checked.

“Yes.”

Lorenzo leaned in and gave Ryder a peck on the lips. “Shove your cute.”

I blinked in shock, unable to get my mouth or body to work. I wanted to like point and be like what just happened, but that would have been horrible, so I was glad my shock made me freeze up.

Ryder was frozen for the kiss but reacted fast, grabbing Lorenzo’s arm when he moved away and spinning him back. “Oh no, you’re not getting away that fast if you’re finally jumping on my offer.”

My eyes practically popped out of my head as Ryder slanted his mouth over Lorenzo’s and gave him a steaming kiss that made me want to fan my face. He cupped his head and slid his other arm around Lorenzo to pull their bodies flush together.

Ryder pulled back first, keeping Lorenzo’s gaze. “You still good with this, baby?” He snorted after a minute of me not answering. “Never mind. You’ve got so much desire coming from you that I got my answer.” He smirked at Lorenzo. “You too. Better than you thought it would be?”

“I’m not sure. You might have to do it again,” Lorenzo mumbled.

“Wow,” I whispered. “You’re way too smooth.”

“He is,” Ryder chuckled.

“If I had known I’d get that, I would—you kept saying it was up to me,” Lorenzo grumbled.

Ryder sighed. “Because I’m a pushy asshole sometimes. Lots of times. I didn’t want to ruin any of this because I was again. It’s your first time going for a guy. You have a lot on the line too. You had to make the jump.”

And then he kissed him again. My heart beat in my ears as they started getting hotter and heavier.

Then I had a moment to wonder if I should leave. Was it better to give them space? I didn’t want to impose… In my own house?

Nothing was ever easy.

But still, it was the first time admitting their feelings and acting on them. It was better to give them space.

I didn’t get three steps away before I let out a yelp when one of them grabbed me.

“Oh no, this is a three-person playtime, corazón,” Lorenzo told me firmly.

“Very much so,” Ryder agreed as he moved so they surrounded me.

“Sorry, I just thought—I wanted you to have a moment to…” Yeah, I had no idea how to finish that or where my mind was really because their hands had started moving all over me, and I couldn’t think of anything or form words.

“What, baby?” Ryder whispered in my ear. “What do you want?”

“Us? Do you want us?” Lorenzo murmured.

“Yes.”

“Music to my ears,” Ryder chuckled as he lifted me in his arms.

“Lock everything up.”

“Already on it,” Lorenzo promised.

I blinked up at Ryder after he tossed me on the bed before I could even catch up that I was in my room. I didn’t even… Men. Seriously.

Supe men really. He moved too fast, and they were too good at getting what they wanted.

Then again, they wanted me, so maybe I should simply be grateful and like thank the stars or something.

He yanked off his shirt and his pants followed right after. Then he got on the bed with me and pressed his lips to my ear. “Should we gobble him up together, baby? You want to make him go crazy together like you say we do you?” He chuckled when I simply moaned.

Yeah, I totally wanted that.

Duh.

I was half naked when Lorenzo joined us, glancing between us as if knowing something was going on. He seemed not to care what we might have been planning when Ryder unsnapped my bra.

Nice.

He was down to his boxer briefs in a flash and on the bed with us in the next second.

And that was when we pounced. He’d come toward me trying to get to me, but Ryder flipped over him and then we had Lorenzo between us. I kissed his lips as Ryder kissed along his neck and shoulder. Our hands were everywhere, and it was exciting to feel mine bump into Ryder’s.

Then Ryder turned Lorenzo’s head and I had the best seat to watch them passionately kiss.

I moved my hands down his body and slid one in his shorts, touching his already very excited dick. He moaned and Ryder moved to lay him on the bed.

And then Ryder’s hand joined mine.

“Wow, okay, shit, that’s—” Lorenzo panted as he watched us.

“Too much?” I checked.

He shook his head but then glanced at Ryder. “No sex? Is that okay?”

“Yes,” I said firmly, glad when Ryder echoed me.

“But you’re still having sex with Avery,” Ryder added.

Lorenzo snorted. “That’s a given.”

I didn’t have a problem with that. Not at all.

We gave him a hand job that seemed incredibly enjoyable from the way he orgasmed, but then they were back to focusing on me.

“I want your lips around me, baby,” Ryder whispered in my ear. “And then I want to feed from you while you ride me, Lorenzo rubbing against your back.”

I swallowed loudly, knowing what he really wanted. “I’m ready to try but all three of you want to be there. It’s like a damn scheduling thing instead—”

“I know,” he said gently. “There’s no rush.”

Good.

Lorenzo grabbed me and kissed me as he teased my dripping pussy. I moaned when he pushed two fingers in me, and then he moved me onto all fours, Ryder lying back on my pillows. I got the hint and leaned over to lick his cock while Lorenzo kept playing with me.

Right when I was about to orgasm, he pushed inside of me and it was so fucking good, I screamed around Ryder’s cock.

Yeah, screamed. Shit, I really was spoiled by these sexy, amazing men.

Ryder

When my delicious Avery screamed around my dick, I came without warning. Whatever Lorenzo had been doing to her, it was so good, her orgasm clearly shocked her.

And then it shocked me.

I wanted to apologize, but I simply moaned her name as she swallowed down what I had to give her. I fisted her hair but was careful not to pull her down further on my dick like I wanted to. I was too big to ever be like that with her and I couldn’t hurt her like that.

Not ever. She was way too precious to me and spoiled me rotten.

Spoiled all of us rotten.

“Sorry, baby,” I panted when I was done. “I didn’t—you screamed and set me off.”

She pulled off with a naughty slurp and didn’t look upset in the slightest. She opened her mouth to say something but then let out that little whimper and gasp thing she did when one of us hit that perfect spot inside of her.

“Is it good? Is he fucking you good, baby?”

Her eyes glazed over even more. She was naughtier than I would ever have thought or maybe just loved how much weloved to

be naughty with her.

“Pull her up,” I ordered Lorenzo.

He smirked at me and gently pulled her up so she was only on her knees, moving an arm under her bouncing, big tits to help her stay there. “Touch your breasts, corazón. Drive him mad. Tease him so he does everything to you.”

She snorted and simply moved her arms up and back around Lorenzo’s neck the way heloved. I smiled when she winked at me, keeping with the idea we were going to drive him nuts.

Goodgirl.

I sat up and teased her pussy, loving the feeling of his dick moving in and out of her and covered by her juices.

“Shit, that feels extra,” Lorenzo hissed as he moved faster.

“That’s nothing,” I chuckled, using my other hand to tease Avery’s left breast. “When you’re inside her and I’m inside you, you’ll pass out with pleasure.”

“Fuck, that’s so hot,” Avery moaned, pushing her breast into my hand more. She whimpered when Lorenzo grabbed her other breast, and then she was being teased, pleased, while being fucked.

Nice.

We brought her another orgasm, and Lorenzo couldn’t hold out against her pussy squeezing him like I knew it would. I didn’t give her any time to rest, moving her off of him and then to straddle my lap as I sat up against the headboard.

“Ride my cock, baby,” I demanded as I helped her lower down on it.

She cried out and had a small climax as I filled her, rocking to chase more of that pleasure.

And practically making it impossible for me to get inside of her all of the way. She was clamped down that tight for a bit. Then she opened for me, and I slammed up in her hard, smirking when she clearly liked that.

“So pretty,” I praised when she leaned back with her hands on my thighs. I teased her swollen clit, all of her pussy dripping and rosy from the attention. “I want to get you toys, baby. I want to see so many things fuck this tight cunt and hear you scream.”

“Shit, yes and yes,” Lorenzo muttered. “She’s got that vibrator in her drawer that we’ve played with.”

“Get it,” I growled. “I’ve not played with it on her.”

“Not if you’re going to be jealous,” she said, an edge to her tone.

“Not that kind of jealous,” I promised.

“It was playful,” Lorenzo agreed. “His aura was fine.”

“Men,” she sighed.

I couldn’t even blame her. We were pains and we knew it.

Well, the smart ones did, and I was a lot of things, but dumb wasn’t one of them.

I licked my lips when I saw it was a rechargeable vibrating wand. I could totally see that being Avery’s cup of tea. It was small with a bunch of different options if it was like the others I’d seen. I wouldn’t mess with that though, knowing she probably picked what she liked best.

Lorenzo handed it over and then moved behind her, teasing her big tits as he kissed all over her neck.

I turned on the toy and my eyes about rolled back in my head from the ride it gave me touching her while I was inside of her. “Dance baby. Ride my cock and give us a show.”

Normally, she would have rolled her eyes at me or given me the look I deserved, but she was too into what we were doing. She moved slowly, but with Lorenzo’s help she was bouncing on me like a pro.

And it fucking felt amazing.

I ended up moving the toy so it would hit her clit when she came down hard on me instead of just keeping it on her. She fucking loved it. She went wild at getting that shock the same time I hit deep inside of her. It was like a whole new level to Avery was unlocked, and she seemed like she was going to explode and implode at the same time.

It was seriously crazy, and I was so in awe of what I was seeing, I didn’t even realize my orgasm was coming until I finished deep inside of her.

I had an idea and when I gently pulled out of her, I moved her to lay on top of me on her back. I smiled up at Lorenzo as I moved Avery’s legs over mine and then spread both of us. “I think she’s ready for you again.”

“I think she needs a break,” he hedged… Even as he leaned over and teased her breast. “Do you need a rest, corazón?Are we being too rough with your luscious body?”

“No,” she answered, but was sort of fibbing.

The look I shared with Lorenzo said we were in agreement. We weren’t being too rough, but she did need a rest. Fine by me.

He kissed her and then kissed me and then I kissed her, and we all made out in the best fucking way.

And thenhe took her while she was laying on me and I fed from my perfect woman. I loved the taste of her blood, but I also now

understood how vampires fed thinking it wasn’t so much what they were taking, but also what they were giving—loved feeding because of what they could give someone even.

I was making her healthier. I saw it. We all did. She didn’t have any loose skin anymore. Her breasts even were firmer… Higher? She wasn’t old or whatever, but gravity happened and she was in her thirties.

She was the one who had said it, so I wasn’t even being a perv or fixating on her body.

And it wasn’t only visual stuff. Her sleep was better. She had more energy and now was taking walks with Lala and the girls. Plus, her treadmill walks on high incline.

She was all around healthier, and I had helped her with that. There were times I fed not because I really needed the blood, but I wanted her at her best.

Plus, she fucking loved biting. She orgasmed from my bite when I barely touched her clit. Now she wanted to explore that more with Griffin, but the wolf was hesitant because his wolf wanted to mate her.

And she wasn’t ready for that or forever.

Luckily, neither was Griffin, and he’d been firm with his wolf that it would happen when it happened and to back off before it scared her away. He said it was better now that Avery spent time with his wolf.

It had been fucking hystericalwhen I’d come over and she was lounging around reading a book with his wolf lying all over her and she was feeding him cubes of raw steak. They both looked at me

like it was the most normal thing in the world when I’d burst out laughing and pointed between them like they were ridiculous.

But I was also jealous that they had a bonding thing like that. Lorenzo had helped me see that our bonding was the feeding.

We cleaned her up after we finished that time and she was completely sated and worn out. She was more open with us now and didn’t hide after or care even that I was in the bathroom when she peed. There was a partition but… It was a comfort level. A couple’s thing that was no big deal.

And I liked her being as comfortable with me as possible.

We moved her in between us, and I was ready to snuggle down and sleep with her, but then I noticed Lorenzo was one big ball of nerves. I sat up and nodded for him to step out with me and, he seemed relieved or maybe grateful.

“You okay?” I asked when we were alone in the hallway.

“I think I need a drink,” he muttered and moved past me towards the kitchen.

I grabbed his arm and turned him to face me. “Tell me I didn’t push you or hurt you.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t. I wanted this. I’ve wanted this. I just… I don’t want to hurt you either, Ryder. You’ve been my friend for a long time.”

I leaned down and gave him a soft kiss. “There are a lot of secrets we keep not being human. I’m a prideful asshole sometimes but not with this. I don’t care about bringing you or Avery around on my arm. I’m not a showoff like that. I prefer we stay home and enjoy our time together. Yes, I want to go to places, but—it’s not a thing with me. Please believe me.”

“I do. I will once I’m out of my head a bit,” he mumbled. “I just had a moment of panic. I finally kissed you when I’ve wanted to and that’s scary. Really scary.”

I swallowed a sigh and mentally cursed warlocks once again. It was scary for him because of them and the shit it could bring on his family if anyone learned he was bisexual. It was such a stupid fucking prejudice. I’d always felt that. Humans had mostly finally seen that and had evolved, progressed in their view of the world and love.

How horrible was it that powerful beings like warlocks and witches couldn’t? Or that the sexes were equal?

Fuck, I was tired of seeing so many be racist. Most of the warlocks in the area gave the Ganans a pass for being Mexican because they had magic. Otherwise, they would have treated them like they did Hispanic humans and like they were trash.

No, that didn’t make any fucking sense to me either, and it honestly pissed me off how they saw the world and could still say they were better than others with a straight face.

“I will protect you,” I promised him. “I have and always will protect your family. No one will find out unless you want them to and it’s no one’s business. I won’t get drunk or high around your mom and let something slip. I suggest you and Avery do the same.”

I realized it was the wrong thing to say when his face fell, and he shot a guilty look towards her room.

“How horrible that she has to live like that because of me?” he rasped. “How could I have been so selfish with her to—”

“Stop,” I whispered. “Stop. She made the choice. She supported you and us. Don’t take that away from her. She knows this too. And

you’re not asking for a kidney, Ren. She wouldn’t want to get drunk or high around your mom anyways.” I gave him a kind look. “You might want to tell your sister though. She’s smart and deserves the truth. She won’t judge you like you worry.”

“I know. I know that. I just know it’s not fair that my actions could hurt the twins, and they are always her priority as they should be.”

“A woman as talented as Lala can juggle and balance better than that. She can support her brother and have her kids be the priority.” I kissed his hair. “Tell her, Ren. She’ll be hurt if she finds out on her own.”

And I wouldn’t blame her for that which was what he said as well.

We had a nightcap and then I tucked in the younger warlock after a few more kisses. He was young. I had to remind myself that he wasn’t even thirty yet and that was young, so patience was needed.

I had that for the people I cared about… As long as someone pointed out to me what was going on. I was oblivious too often and I knew it.

Such was life.

The next morning, I went out early to get some stuff for brunch and was annoyed when my phone rang too early on a Saturday for work.

“Hey, Steven,” I greeted, over calling him Mr. Marks when he called me outside of normal work hours and had said as much.

The shocking thing had been that he’d accepted it. At least from me. I wasn’t sure if any of the other partners would get away with

that shit, but for the moment, I appreciated him pulling the stick somewhat out of his ass.

He chuckled. “You sound thrilledto hear from me.”

I sighed, hating I couldn’t act better sometimes. “If you can name one time in the past five years you’ve called without bad news or something I have to clean up, I’ll apologize. But you never call just to say ‘hi’ or check in.”

“Fair enough, fair enough,” he accepted. “It’s not a cleanup though. One of ours was killed. He didn’t deserve it but you don’t need the details. His clients are left in a lurch, and several have pending matters. I need you to fly out for a few months—”

“No,” I said before my brain realized what I was even saying. There was the longest pause the man had ever taken. “No? Did the phone just echo something you said before this call, or did you actually just tell me no?”

I sighed again. “I’m saying no to being gone a few months. Again. I will help. I’ll take over clients and matters—do whatever I can. But I’m not your court guy. Those guys have to be on location. The world has changed, Steven. It’s adapted and done it well. At least half of the trips I’ve taken over the past two years I didn’t need to or definitely not for as long as I did. That is what I’m saying no to. My life is here and—”

“Yes, yes, Avery, but she has—”

“I know, but you said months and if you started there, you’re going to add time and make it longer. Plus, Melissa is freaking out from the anxiety she had about Avery. She is not one to freak out and we both know that. Something is coming for Avery and I’m not leaving her for months. Not when it’s not needed. Please? I’ve never

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On one of these pleasant excursions, in an outburst of confidence, Sarah broke the ice of reserve under which was concealed one of the few secrets which she had kept back from Helen. It cost her some confusion of face, perhaps, if not of mind, to make the confession, which, indeed, sprang out of an innocent question put by Helen.

"Did you and my father know much of one another before he left England?" the simple-hearted girl asked, as she and Mrs. Tincroft sat under the fresh green foliage of a widespreading beech tree, which, like themselves, was rejoicing in the midday sunshine.

"Yes, my dear; we were cousins, you know, then, just as we are now. And we lived near one another, as I have told you. Didn't he ever say anything about about old times—and me, to your mother, do you think?"

"Not that I ever heard of, dear; only about your being his cousin. But he didn't often talk about England, I think; for I remember my mother telling me, not very long ago— for it was just before my little baby brother was born—that she knew very little about father's relations."

"Ah, I daresay he was so happy then, dear Helen, that he did not care to remember that he hadn't always been happy. And, dear me! I can't think how it ever turned out that he could ever have thought of coming back, and of living in the same house and home with his naughty cousin."

"What do you mean, dear? You are not sorry we came back, and are living with you and Mr. Tincroft, are you?" asked Helen, in some consternation.

"Oh no, no; I am so glad, so very glad. It is so good of him, and of you too, my dear. I never was so happy in all

my life as I am now," said Sarah.

And then there was a renewal of embracing, and more kisses, and a few tears, all of which, though very pleasant to the young girl, at least as far as the embraces and kisses went, slightly puzzled her; and the tears—what did they mean? And what did her dear friend mean by calling herself her father's "naughty cousin"?

"I made your father very unhappy once," continued Sarah, presently, in a whisper, when they had settled themselves down again quietly on the grassy bank under the beech tree. "It was I that drove him away from his home, I am afraid, dear Helen."

"Dear! Dear! So good and kind as you are! How could you?"

"I am afraid I used him badly, my dear, without intending; but I was young and thoughtless, and liked to have my games, as silly children do. You know, or you don't know, but I may tell you now, we were engaged to be married, my cousin Walter and I, and should have been, no doubt, only I was so foolish as to make-believe that I was pleased to have another another lover coming after me. I did not think what I was doing, and I didn't mean anything wrong, dear; and perhaps that's why it all turned out for the best, as it did."

"For my cousin went away, after treating me as I deserved, and we learned to forget one another, and then I got married to that other whom I had made game of, and who was too good for such a silly thing as I was, and he is my dear John Tincroft now, and I love him so much; he is so good, and I never knew how much he deserved to be

loved, till it came to me by degrees; and I do love him, my dear."

"And then, you know, dear, when my cousin went abroad, and got over his unhappiness because of the way I had used him, he found out, I haven't any doubt, that he had had a happy escape from such a bad bargain as I should have been to him; and he got a better wife than ever I should have made him; and I don't wonder he never cared to say anything about what had gone before. All I wonder is that he could ever bear the thought or sight of me. But it must be all because of his goodness and John's."

"And I am so glad it has come round so, and we can look upon one another as cousins again; and with you, darling, to make us all so happy! And when Walter—my cousin Walter and your father—gets better, and finds a home for himself—which I am sure he needn't think of so long as there's Tincroft House—but whatever is to come next, I hope we shall never be parted, dear. And now I think we had better be going homewards, for we mustn't forget we have got to have our dinner, you know."

To say that Helen listened to this rather tangled string of confessions with extreme wonderment is very mildly stating confusion into which she was thrown. Perhaps this confusion was betrayed by her looks; for, as they walked slowly towards the house, her companion remarked,—

"You don't understand such things now, my darling, but you will come to know more about them some day. And would you mind my giving you a little good advice now?"

Helen would be very glad of it, and would thankfully receive it, she said, looking trustfully into the matron's face.

"It isn't much that I shall say, dear," said Sarah, "so you needn't be afraid of my preachment. It is only this, Helen if you ever fancy that any person—of course I mean a gentleman, and a young one—loves you, or wants you to love him, or if you believe you do love him, in a certain sort of way, you know, so as that you think he wants you to be his wife, or you seem to feel you would like him to be your husband, don't make fun of him, dear; and don't think it clever to tease him and plague him out of his life almost. For this isn't the way to get love, or to keep it, and nobody knows what harm may be done without intending it. Lovemaking and marrying are serious things, dear, though young people don't always think so."

Helen promised, of course, that she would bear her friend's advice in mind whenever there should be occasion. But she none the less continued to wonder at all she had heard.

If it had been twice as strange and curious as it was, however, it would for the time have been driven out of her mind by a letter which awaited her on the dressing-table in her pretty bower, and which Austin, the postman, had delivered during her absence. It was from her father, announcing that on a certain day near at hand, he and Mr. Tincroft would be reaching home, and adding the cheering intelligence that he felt stronger and better than when he said good-bye to her so many weeks ago.

CHAPTER XXVII.

ELIZABETH'S GRIEVANCES.

IT was quite true that Walter Wilson's state of health seemed to improve during his prolonged sojourn in his native place. But it was not his home now—(where, indeed, was his home?)—and he was after a short time made to feel, in a certain sort of way, that his visit had been sufficiently extended. I daresay if he had chosen to reveal in full the state of his worldly affairs, he would have been made more welcome than he was to the hospitalities of Low Beech. But to gratify a whim of his own, or for some other reason, he kept this knowledge locked up in his own breast, except so far as he had shared it with his confidential man of business.

So, in the end, notwithstanding the hopes he had at first raised at Low Beech, it came to be considered that Walter was come home no better than he went out, or perhaps rather worse than better.

There are other vices in the world besides those that brand all those who practise them with disrepute, and eventually with infamy. Mark Wilson, as we have seen, gave himself up to the love of drink, adding drunkenness to thirst, till he brought himself to poverty, disgrace, ruin, and death. On the other hand, Matthew Wilson, sober, industrious; plodding, highly respectable, and positively fancying that God was pleased with him, and was rewarding him by increasing his property, gave himself up to the love of money, adding penny to penny and pound to pound, till he had the repute of being wealthy, and was lauded accordingly; for "men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself."

But covetousness is no less a vice than intemperance. It is equally detestable in God's sight, and its effects on the human soul are equally debasing. Its effect on Matthew's soul was to destroy, or at least to weaken, natural affection, and to make him calculate, after a while, how much it was costing him to entertain his son; just as he knew, almost to a fraction, how much in money value was consumed, day by day, by each inmate in his house. No doubt he was glad when Walter, whom he had thought long dead, unexpectedly made his appearance; and, for a time, his detestable (I beg pardon, his most respectable) vice of avarice (for he was avaricious as well as covetous) was held in abeyance.

But when a full month had elapsed, and the returned son gave no sign of opulence, Matthew's ruling passion regained its sway. Here was Walter come back, most likely poor, in ill-health, and with a daughter for somebody to support. It was all very well for Mr. Tincroft to say what he had said about nobody needing to be troubled on that score, but who was to make Mr. Tincroft keep to his word when it came to the pinch?

The same feelings influenced other members of the family to a degree. Even the poor mother had been so accustomed to scrape together pence that, though Walter was her son, she felt uneasy when she thought of the possibility of having him to keep, nobody knew how long. And the brothers—well, they were pleased enough, no doubt at least, they said they were—to see Walter again; and they made him welcome, after their fashion, at their several homes. But they knew what money was made of, and what it was made for, as well as most people; at least, they thought they did, and it would have done no good to try to convince them that they were altogether mistaken. And by this time they had come to the conclusion, each in his own mind, that Walter would be after wanting "some of the old man's money to take a farm with, or to set up in business with," and then there would be so much the less for them to share by-and-by. So their welcome at last became less cordial and more perforce.

The only one who did not share in these forebodings was the daughter and sister. Elizabeth had always been fond of her brother Walter; even when she, so many years ago, had so heartily and strenuously set herself to make mischief between him and their cousin Sarah, she honestly believed she was doing it for his good, and was attempting, in the only way she knew how, to undo the mischief which she at first had a hand in, when she believed her uncle Mark to have money, which Sarah would eventually inherit.

We have seen how, afterwards, she came to be sorry for the part she had taken in separating the lovers. And now, when she looked at Walter's wan countenance, and watched his tottering steps, love and sorrow welled up from her full heart in a mingled current, the more that she believed, with the rest, in her brother's comparative poverty, and traced it

all, or much of it, to herself, in having driven him away from England, where he was getting on so well.

Hitherto Elizabeth had not had much opportunity of conversing with Walter, for at Low Beech every one had his or her share of hard work to perform, which filled up every hour of the day, leaving little time for what would have been called idling.

One fine afternoon however—and it happened to be the same day as that on which Sarah and Helen, three hundred miles away, had their chat under the beech tree—Walter announced his intention of walking up to High Beech Farm, to take leave of his brother George's wife, and he asked Elizabeth to bear him company, and assist him with her stronger arm.

After some little demur, leave of absence was granted by Mrs. Matthew, and the brother and sister set out together. For some time they walked on in silence; but presently Walter spoke.

"You don't seem very happy, Elizabeth. I have been trying to get a chat with you alone all the time I have been here, and haven't been able; but I have watched and noticed you. There's something on your mind, I think."

"Why, Walter, what should there be?" said Elizabeth, with assumed lightness of speech. And then she added, more quickly, and with evident feeling, "It does not make one any the happier, Walter, to see you in such a poor way."

"Then I had better not have come to the old place to see you at all, if that makes you sorrowful," said the invalid brother.

"Oh, I don't say so, Walter. Of course, it was a very pleasant surprise when you came in so unexpectedly; but when that feeling went off, it gave way, perhaps, to another sort of feeling, when we saw you looking so bad, and showing such signs of weakness and illness."

"Do you think so? I have rather fancied, now, that father and mother, and the rest of them, except yourself, don't seem to mind it much."

"There are different ways of showing such things," Elizabeth remarked. And then she added, "But very likely I have felt more than the others have done. You and I were always good friends, Walter, till—" and here she stopped short.

"Yes, always good friends, Elizabeth. They were happy times when you and I used to play together in the old barn, and go out gathering primroses and violets in spring, and blackberries in autumn, all alone by ourselves," said Walter, with a sigh.

"They were too happy to last, Walter; but, you know, I never took to either of the others as I did to you, even when we were all children. They were mostly ready to quarrel with me if I didn't let them have their way, and they were younger than me. But it was different with you; you were older than me, and you always took my part, and we shared what we either of us had; and if it hadn't been for oh dear, oh dear!" And here the sister could not restrain herself, but broke into loud, sorrowful lamentations.

"Don't distress yourself, Elizabeth dear. We always were good friends, as you say, and so we are now. And it being so, let us talk to one another as we used to do when we

went hand in hand over the fields together, telling our little secrets and troubles."

"Oh, Walter, but we are man and woman now!"

"But brother and sister too; nothing can alter that. And I want you to tell me if there isn't something here at your home—" (Walter could not bring himself to say our home, or my old home)—"something at your home that makes you unhappy?"

"Well, come to that, there are a good many things not altogether agreeable," Elizabeth answered, more composedly, and yet with apparent bitterness of feeling; "it is not pleasant to be treated as a child, as I many times am, and at forty years old, too, if a day, as you know, Walter."

"Yes, of course you are," said the brother; "but I should have thought you had known how to hold your own too, and would not have allowed any one to put upon you, or treat you as a child, as you say. I think I have noticed a good deal of spirit in you at times, Elizabeth."

"Yes, likely enough in some things. There are some things that none of them, not even father, cares to say to me, nor even to talk about when I am by; and he knows the reason why. But when it comes to work—about the house, I mean—and how it is to be done, and who is to do it, I am just nobody to be considered," said the sister. "There isn't a servant girl in the place slaves as I do, Walter; and that you must have seen."

Walter had seen that his sister worked very hard, was up early in the morning, was the last to go to bed, and seemed to have her hands full of household matters all day long. He said this.

"Well, then, isn't that enough to make one go wild with vexation? But that isn't the worst. You heard what mother said to me only yesterday at dinner-time? The servant girl there to hear it too?"

"Well, it was something I did not quite understand, about some Smith or other; but I saw it made you very angry, so that you left the room."

"Yes, I should think so, to be insulted in that way! It was a shame, and that is how they go on with me, as if it was my fault not being married. But it all serves me right, it does!" And then poor Elizabeth made known to her brother the great grievance of her life, adding—

"And ever since then, whenever I have wanted to buy anything for myself, and have had to get the money out of them, I am sure to be told of it. And father is as bad as another about it every bit, for he is getting more stingy than ever, and it is as much as I can do to get a decent Sunday dress or bonnet; as you must have seen how old mine are," continued Elizabeth, ready to cry with vexation.

"Don't distress yourself about that, Elizabeth," said Walter, soothingly; "perhaps that trouble can be remedied easier than you think for. I haven't said much about it, but I happen to have a little money more than I want, and before I go—But, my dear, I am feeling very faint."

He said this with difficulty and panting. "I think the walk has been too much for my strength; I must rest somewhere."

It was evident to Elizabeth, now that she turned her eyes on him, that her brother was fearfully exhausted. The walk from Low Beech to High Beech was not a long one, but it was all up hill, and the afternoon sun beat upon them

hotly. Plainly, Walter had overtaxed his strength. Fortunately, as it seemed, they were near George's farm now, and there they could rest. Still nearer to them was the garden gate—that gate which opened into the filbert alley, with the holly arbour at the end of it, which Walter had such good cause for remembering, and which he had not yet cared to revisit.

"Let us go into the summer-house before we go indoors," said Walter, painfully; "it will be cool there, and we can have our talk out all by ourselves when I am rested a bit."

And so the garden gate was passed through, and the brother and sister walked silently up the alley, and Elizabeth took off her shawl and wrapped it carefully round Walter, so that he should not get chilled, she said.

And Walter with unwonted tenderness, took his sister's hand, roughened by hard work, and put it to his lips, and a tear fell upon it in the short moment that he held it there. All this Elizabeth afterwards remembered.

There are times when hard, practical men and women, who, if they have feelings, think it a weakness to make display of them, seem to lose their boasted self-command and become as little children. It was so with Elizabeth Wilson, as she sat in the holly arbour with her hand still clasped in her brother's. It may be that the sight of his pale face, rendered more ghastly by the dark beard which concealed the lower part of it, and of his shrunken limbs, and the touch of the weak, bony, nerveless hand which held hers in its cold clasp, had something to do with the change which came over her. Or perhaps the kind, gentle, brotherly tone Walter had adopted towards her in their previous conversation softened her. But whatever might be the

cause, her rugged temper broke down, and tears which she at most times would have scorned to see on another woman's face, and which rarely moistened her own, at any rate when there were any to see them, began to run down her cheeks without any attempt on her part to check or to hide them. Presently she spoke.

"Oh, Walter, if we could always have been children!" she sobbed.

"It wouldn't have been good for us, I fancy," said the brother, quietly.

"I know it couldn't have been, except we had died before we could be grown-up; and then we should have been children always and for ever, I suppose?"

"We can be children now, in one sense," said Walter. "The Bible tells us that except we be converted and become as little children, we cannot see the kingdom of heaven. I should like to think of us both as being children in that way."

"Oh, Walter, I wish you could teach me that way, and help me on in it, for I am very, very miserable sometimes; and I know I am not fit for anything good."

"My dear Elizabeth, I suppose we are none of us fit for anything good till we are made so by a power above our own; but we can ask for that power, you know."

"Yes, that is what we are told always, every Sunday at least, in church; but somehow—But I don't want to be talking about myself, and don't mean to," she added, suddenly breaking off, and, as it seemed, angry with herself for showing any emotion. "Only I was saying that if we had always been children together, I shouldn't have been such a

mischief-maker as I was afterwards; and you might have stopped in England, and got rich, and been well at this present time, and—there! How stupid that is, for if we had never grown-up, you wouldn't have been able to get money, I expect; and I don't know what I am saying, only I mean that everything would have been so different from what it is; you know it would, Walter."

Elizabeth said all this so rapidly and earnestly, though confusedly, that it seemed as though she were battling with some inward foe whom she was determined to beat down by force of words, if not of argument. She spoke so earnestly that her brother, weak and suffering as he was, could not help smiling.

"I daresay many things would have been different, Elizabeth, if certain other things had not happened, or had not been spoken," said he; "but perhaps they wouldn't have been better, after all."

"I wish you could make that plain to me, Walter."

"Which I am not able to do, because I don't know how matters might have turned out. But if I were you, or if I might advise you, I would not trouble myself about such uncertainties."

Elizabeth, however, did trouble herself. She had the trouble on her mind, she said, and she must get it off somehow, if she could. And then she went on to make her humble confession of the way in which she had traduced her cousin, and the motives which actuated her.

"I thought it would be a good thing for you, Walter, to have done with Sarah for ever; and I didn't care, at that time, what became of her. It was very wicked, I know, and I have been properly punished for it in more ways than one. I

did it without intending it, at the time; I mean, I didn't intend to do so much mischief; but if I had known how things would have turned out, I wouldn't have touched it with my little finger, even—I wouldn't. And now I want you to tell me that you forgive me, Walter," she added, laying her hand on his, and looking earnestly and imploringly into his face.

"If there is anything to forgive, I do forgive you with all my heart," said Walter; "and if it will be any comfort to you to believe that all has turned out for the best, I should like you to know it."

And then he went on to tell something of his domestic life in Australia, and of the blessing it had been to him to have a teacher and guide in the woman whom he had had the happiness to call his wife.

"And I am very glad to know that my cousin has so pleasant a home, and so worthy a man for a husband, and is so happy as I have seen her. You see, Elizabeth, if things had gone on in the way that was thought of at one time, the great likelihood is that, after a few years, Sarah and I should have got tired of one another; and, whether we had or not, I wasn't fit or able to teach her anything, or to help her on in anything good; and she, poor thing, wouldn't have known how to set about teaching me. And so we might have gone muddling on till now, nobody knows how. And I haven't a doubt that everything has turned out for the best, and if not in your way exactly, why, it was in a better way, if you would only look at it in that light."

There was a long silence after this, for Walter was wearied, and, closing his eyes, he sank into a deep slumber, as it seemed to his sister, who, after readjusting the shawl

so as to more effectually protect his frail form from cold, quietly awaited his awakening.

Yet not idly. Elizabeth was one of those women whose hands are taught never to be idle, and who always contrive to have a pocket full (or two pockets full, for that matter) of material and implements for any unexpected half-hour of vacancy or leisure. On this occasion, therefore, she had recourse to this never-failing reserve fund of feminine industry. If she had been a man, and it had been in the present degenerate days of tobacco-smoking, she, or he rather, would probably have taken out a cigar-case or a tobacco-pouch, with their needful accompaniments: but being what and who she was, Elizabeth Wilson was soon busy at some kind of needlework.

And while thus engaged, her thoughts wandered back into the far-off time of which she had been speaking. And especially she remembered one occasion on which that selfsame holly arbour had witnessed a scene which she never thought of now without deep remorse.

She had not often since then revisited that arbour, and now the whole scene was reacted in her imagination. There sat John Tincroft, almost in the identical place now occupied by her brother; and here, where she herself was resting, had been seated her cousin Sarah, busy with her needle, when she broke in upon the two, so cruelly afterwards to traduce them!

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE LAST OF THE HOLLY ARBOUR.

TOM GRIGSON was still staying at his brother's—yet not altogether there, for he and the younger Tom, his first-born, pretty equally divided their time between the Manor House and the Mumbles, where the elder Elliston continued to sway the sceptre—an old man now, but as sharp-witted and fond of having his own way as ever he had been.

It was the more to be wondered at that the active man of business, such as we have seen John's old friend had

become, should have taken so long a holiday, seeing that there was neither hunting nor shooting to be indulged in at this particular time. To be sure, he had the pleasure of Tincroft's company; and his presence, in like manner, reconciled John to his prolonged absence from home.

But there was another reason—one closely connected with the future family arrangements of Mr. Tom Grigson— which made divers consultations at headquarters thought to be necessary—the headquarters in this case being Mumbleton on the one hand, and the Manor House on the other.

On the same day as that on which, so far-away, his Sarah and the young Helen were holding their confabulation under the beech tree, and on which, also, so much nearer to him, the brother and sister were talking together on their way to and in the holly arbour at High Beech, John Tincroft was invited by his friend Tom to take a drive with him over to the Mumbles. On this occasion John did not decline the invitation as he did a former one, some twenty years before. Accordingly the dog-cart was got out, and the gentlemen took their seats.

"I want a bit of a talk with you, John, and I want your advice as well," said Tom, when the vehicle was in motion.

But in order to prepare for this "bit of talk," some few words of explanation are necessary.

We have seen in a former part of our history, how Tom Grigson's soul revolted from the contamination of trade, which, no doubt, he would have called low, mean, degrading, demoralising, and a dozen other "ings," if he could have readily laid his tongue to them; and which strong aversion nothing but his love for the fair Kate could

have induced him to overcome. We have also seen how, after a time, this aversion gradually changed to something like affection; that, at any rate, the golden result of his enforced connection with trade a good deal more than modified his opinions. More than modified! Why, there was not a man within the sound of Bow Bells who could discourse more warmly and eloquently on the dignity of trade and commerce, and of the great advantages they conferred on a country.

"Talk of our being a nation of shopkeepers," said he; "granted, so we are, and it is the shopkeepers that can beat all the world!"

There was no sham about this, either. Tom Grigson believed in himself, and always had done. And here he had the advantage of some shams and humbugs who are to be met with, even in high places sometimes, and of whom you and I, reader, may happen to know or see somewhat occasionally, who do not believe in themselves, and in whom nobody believes. Tom was more like some who are to be met with in this changeable world, who undergo a sort of natural and gradual transformation in the course of their lives.

As, for instance, one who, from being a red-hot Radical in his teens, has subsided in his riper years into a steadygoing Conservative, not to say a determined Tory. And so the case might be reversed, or the principle applied to other instances in polemics, or even in habits of everyday life. Conviction sometimes, sometimes experience, necessarily partial in its operation, and oftentimes interest, are the several, or the combined, powers made instrumental in this change of thought.

It was so, at least, with Tom Grigson. He had begun with a silly, ignorant prejudice against trade and tradesmen, and any thing or person connected with these abominations, as he would have termed them. He ended with a prejudice equally absurd against almost all other classes of the community. All honour to Tom; he was, as I have said, sincere. If he had been a farmer, he would have stood up as sincerely for the farming interest; if a lawyer or an artist, he would have exalted the profession he belonged to the skies; if a— But I must rein in my Pegasus.

Much as Tom reined in his, just as he and John got into the road turning out of Richard Grigson's lawn, and high bred and fed Peg (Richard Grigson's blood mare) first of all shied at a heap of stones by the roadside, and would then fairly have bolted with the dog-cart and its passengers, but for the judicious action of the curb for restraint, and of the whip for punishment. This little episode over, and Peg subsiding into a more sober pace, Tom began:

"I want to talk to you about my boy; you have seen something of him during the last month. What do you think of him?"

"Think? He is a fine young fellow," said John, thoughtfully.

"Oh, fine! Ah yes; that is to say, he stands five feet eight in his stockings already, and will mount up to six feet, I daresay, before he has done growing. Fine! Well, he is something like me in figure and face, they say, with his mother's dark eyes and arched eyebrows superadded; so he must be fine, I suppose." Tom said this half-jokingly, but rather proudly also, no doubt; and then he added—

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