But his satisfaction in this act of restitution was sadly tempered by the sense of coercion put upon him by the doctor and Rosalind, and the conviction that, wise or foolish, pleasant or unpleasant, his place was at his young pupil's side.

No excuse, or pleadings of a false pride, could dispel the feeling.

No, he must climb down, own himself wrong, and sue for permission to assist in a quest in which he had little faith and still less inclination.
While he is making up his mind, it may be worth the reader's while to remark what was happening at Maxfield.
Tom and Jill woke one morning to discover themselves lord and lady of the situation.

In their lamentations, not unmingled with a sense of injury, at the desertion of which they were the victims, it had not occurred to them to realise that there were alleviating circumstances in their forlorn condition.
The great manor-house was theirs--library, dining-hall, corridors, haunted chamber, roof, cellars--all except the servant's hall and the room where Mrs Parker, the housekeeper, held austere sway.

The park was theirs, the woods, the stream, the paddocks, and the live-stock.
Nay, when they came to reckon all up, half the county was theirs, and a mile or so of sea-beach into the bargain.
They were absolutely free to roam where they liked, do what they liked, eat what they liked, and sit up at night to any hour that pleased them.
Mrs Parker, good soul, though excellent in academic exhortations and prohibitions, was too infirm to put her laws into active practice; and when, a day or two after the place had been left in her charge, she succumbed to a touch of her enemy, the lumbago, and had to take to her bed, these two young persons, though extremely sorry for her misfortune, felt that the whole world lay like a glorious football at their feet.
"Good old Jilly!" exclaimed Tom in his balmiest mood one morning, when these two young prodigals assembled for breakfast in the big dining-room at the fashionable hour of eleven, with Raffles in full livery to attend upon them.