So  the  approaching  return  of  Harry  Winburn,  and  the  storjr
of  his  doings  at  the  wars,  and  of  the  wonderful  things  he  had
sent  home,  stirred  Englebourn  to  its  depths.  In  that  small
corner  of  the  earth  the  sergeant  was  of  far  more  importance
than  governor-general  and  commander-in-chief.  In  fact,  it  was
probably  the  common  belief  that  he  was  somehow  the  head  of
tile  whole  business ;  and  India,  the  war,  and  all  that  hung
therepn,  were  looked  at  and  cared  for  only  as  they  had  served
to  bring  him  out.  So  careless  were  the  good  folk  about  every-
thing in  the  matter  except  their  own  hero,  and  so  wonderful
were  the  romances  which  soon  got  abroad  about  him,  that  Miss
Winter,  tired  of  explaining  again  and  again  to  the  old  women
without  the  slightest  effect  on  the  parochial  faith,  bethought
her  of  having  a  lecture  on  the  subject  of  India  and  the  war  in
the  parish  school-room.
Full  of  this  idea,  she  wrote  off  to  Tom,  who  was  the  medium
of  communication  on  Indian  matters,  and  propounded  it  to  him.
