she interposed quickly, without raising her
face.

"Enough to convince you that he was
breaking the laws," I suggested; " and, to
make you, as his daughter, shrink honorably
from saying yes to me when we sat together
on the river bank?"

She did not answer; but one of her arms,
which was hanging over my shoulder, stole
round my neck, and clasped it gently.

"Since that time," I went on, " your father
has compromised me. I am in some danger,
not much, from the law. I have no
prospects that are not of the most doubtful kind;
and I have no excuse for asking you to share
them, except that I have fallen into my
present misfortune through trying to discover
and remove the obstacle that kept us apart.
If I had not loved you better than every
other interest of my life, I should never have
tried to contend with that obstacle. If there
is any protection in the world that you can
turn to less doubtful than mine, I suppose I
ought to say no more, and leave the house.
But if there should be none, surely I am not
so very selfish in asking you to take your
chance with me? I honestly believe that I
shall have little difficulty, with ordinary
caution, in escaping from pursuit, and finding
a safe home somewhere to begin life in again
with new interests. Will you share it with
me, Laura? I can try no fresh persuasions—I
have no right, perhaps, in my present situation,
to have addressed so many to you already."

Her other arm stole round my neck; she
laid her warm cheek against mine, and
whispered,—

"Be kind to me, Frank—I have nobody in
the world who loves me but you!"

I felt her tears on my face; my own eyes
moistened as I tried to answer her. We sat
for some minutes in perfect silence—without
moving, without a thought beyond the
moment. The rising of the wind, and the
splashing of the rain outside were the first
sounds that stirred me into action again.

I summoned my resolution, rose from the
sofa, and in a few hasty words told Laura
what I proposed for the next day, and
mentioned the hour at which I would come in the
morning. As I had anticipated, she seemed
relieved and reassured at the prospect even
of such slight sanction and encouragement
on the part of another woman as would be
implied by the companionship of Mrs. Baggs
on the journey to Scotland. The next and last
difficulty I had to encounter, was necessarily
connected with her father. He had never
been very affectionate with her; and he was
now, for aught she or I knew to the contrary,
parted from her for ever. Still, the instinctive
recognition of his position made her
shrink, at the last moment, when she spoke
of him, and thought of the serious nature of
her engagement with me. After some vain
arguing and remonstrating, I contrived to
quiet her scruples, by promising that an
address should be left at Crickgelly, to which
any second letter that might arrive from the
doctor could be forwarded. When I saw
that this prospect of being able to communicate
with him, if he wrote or wished to see
her, had sufficiently composed her mind, I
left the drawing-room. It was vitally important
that I should get back to the inn and make
the necessary arrangements for our departure
the next morning, before the primitive people
of the place had retired to bed.

As I passed the back parlour-door on my
way out, I heard the voice of Mrs. Baggs
raised indignantly. The words " bottle!"
"audacity!" and " nerves!" reached my ear
disjointedly. I called out " Good-bye! till
to-morrow; " heard a responsive groan of
disgust, then opened the front-door and
plunged out into the dark and rainy night.

It might have been the dropping of water
from the cottage roof while I passed through
the village, or the groundless alarm of my
own suspicious fancy, but I thought I was
being followed as I walked back to the inn.
Two or three times, I turned round abruptly;
but, if twenty men had been at my heels, it
was too dark to see them. I went on to the
inn. The people there were not gone to bed;
and I sent for the landlord to consult with
him about a conveyance. Perhaps it was my
suspicious fancy again; but I thought his
manner was altered. He seemed half
distrustful, half afraid of me, when I asked him if
there had been any signs, during my absence,
of those two gentlemen, for whom I had
already inquired on arriving at his door that
evening. He gave an answer in the negative,
looking away from me while he spoke.
Thinking it advisable, on the whole, not to
let him see that I noticed a change in him,
I proceeded at once to the question of the
conveyance, and was told that I could hire
the landlord's light cart, in which he was
accustomed to drive to the market town. I
appointed an hour for starting the next
day, and retired at once to my bed-room.
There, my thoughts were anxious enough. I
was anxious about Screw and the Bow Sheet
runner. I was uncertain about the stranger
who had called at Number two, Zion Place.
I was uncertain even about the landlord of the
inn. Never did I know what real suffering
from suspense was until that night.

Whatever my apprehensions might have
been, they were none of them realised the
next morning. Nobody followed me on my
way to Zion Place, and no stranger had called
there before me a second time, when I made
inquiries on entering the house. I found Laura
blushing, and Mrs. Baggs impenetrably
wrapped up in dignified sulkiness. After
informing me with a lofty look that she intended
to go to Scotland with us, and to take my five
pound note, partly under protest, and partly out
of excessive affection for Laura, she retired to
pack up. The time consumed in performing
this process, and the further delay occasioned