“I wonder if you would help me?”
“What can I do?” Richard asked.
“Do you think you could get hold of a couple of chickens or a turkey?”
The boy looked surprised and Lord Cheriton explained,
“It is embarrassing for Nickolls and me to billet ourselves on your sister without warning, and as the landlord at the inn was so positive he could do nothing for us, I did not like to ask him.”
“I can get you what you want if you can pay for it,” Richard said. “There is a farm next door. It used to be the Home Farm which belonged to Larks Hall and the farmer is rather a friend of mine.”
Lord Cheriton drew two sovereigns from his waistcoat pocket.
“Suppose you buy what you can,” he said, “and plenty of eggs and cream if they can spare it.”
He put the sovereigns into Richard’s hand, and the boy l
