small matter to you as soon as I could," he said with hesitation. "Merely about business, and I think I may just mention it now, if you'll allow me."
"Oh yes, certainly."
"It is that I may soon have to give up the management of your farm, Mrs. Troy. The fact is, I am thinking of leaving England—not yet, you know—next spring."
"Leaving England!" she said in surprise and genuine disappointment. "Why, Gabriel, what are you going to do that for?"
"Well, I've thought it best," Oak stammered out. "California is the spot I've had in my mind to try."
"But it is understood everywhere that you are going to take the Lower Farm on your own account."
"I've had the refusal o' it 'tis true; but nothing is settled yet, and I have reasons for gieing up. I shall finish out my year there as manager for the trustees, but no more."
"And what shall I do without you? Oh Gabriel, I don't think you ought to go away! You've been with me so long—through bright times and dark times—such old friends as we are—that it seems unkind almost. I had fancied that if you leased the other farm as master, you might still give a
