Part 28 (2/2)

'Suppose he kicks?' said I; and the captain laughed, and the squire too, and I was in such high spirits I thought of a dozen witty suggestions relative to the seat of the conscience, and grieved for ato the ladies

All the better; keep him there Captain Bulsted convoyed er Temple had previouslyour adventures on different parts of the lae both heard that Colonel Goodwin and his daughter had journeyed down to Riversley to smooth the way for my return; so my easy conquest of the squire was not at all wonderful; nevertheless, I maintained my sense of triuular masterfulness, and could, when I chose to put it forth, corandfather to hold out his hand to uest at Riversley through a visit paid to her by my aunt Dorothy in alarm at my absence The intention was to cause the squire a distraction It succeeded; for the old man needed lively prattle of a less childish sort than Janet Ilchester's at his elbow, and that young lady, though true enough in her fashi+on, was the ardent friend of none but flourishi+ng heads; whereas Julia, finding my naine by Captain Bulsted, as a ballad hero, a gloriful fellow, a darling whose deeds were all pardonable--a mere puff of s lady allude to me in that style!' he confided tochest

Certain good influences, at any rate, preserved the squire fro to disinherit me Colonel Goodwin had spoken to him very manfully and wisely as to my relations with my father The squire, it was assumed by my aunt, and by Captain Bulsted and Julia, had undertaken to wink at my father's claims on my affection All three vehemently entreated me to make no mention of the present of Hock to hi the yelloine I disregarded their advice, for I held it to be a point of filial duty, and an obligation religiously contracted beneath a cathedral do that it was of ancient birth The squire bunched his features; he tutored his temper, and said not a word I fancied all ell Before I tried the second step, Captain Bulsted rode over to enerously enjoined the prudent course, in accordance with his aforegone precepts He was floated off, as he termed it, from the inn where he lay stranded, to London, by I knew not what heaven-sent gift of rand career I was to coone with hier

The four-and-twenty bottles of Hock were ranged in a line for the stable-boys to cock-shy at them under the squire's supervision and my enforced attendance, just as revolutionary criminals are executed I felt like the survivor of friends, who had seen their blood flow

He handed me a cheque for the payment of debts incurred in rateful for it? And yet his re of the kindly wine full of mellow recollections of ratitude out of me

CHAPTER XX NEWS OF A FRESH CONQUEST OF MY FATHER'S

Teo with hiree for, and we despised English felloho had seen no place but England I could not bear the long separation fro on the squire's consent toa brilliant exaood fortune to join Captain Bulsted's shi+p, and there my honest-hearted friend dis me know that he had been untrue to friendshi+p, and had proposed to Janet Ilchester, and interchanged voith her He begged iveness, but he did love her so!--he hoped I would not mind I sent him a reproachful answer; I never cared for him more warmly than when I saw the letter shoot the slope of the postoffice mouth Aunt Dorothy undertook to co affection for him As for Janet--Temple's letter, in which he spoke of her avowed preference for Oriental presents, and declared his intention of accues, was a harpoon in her side By lad to have it all out before the squire

What did he do? He said that Margery, her irl wanted presents, and I did not act up to ht to buy Turkey and Tunis to please her, if she had a mind for them

The further she was flattered the faster she cried; she had the face of an old setter with these hideous tears The squire promised her fifty pounds per annuht buy what presents she liked, and so tie herself to constancy He said aside toladies ht and left, rehted to see her caught She talked of love in a ludicrous second-hand way, sending hter

On other occasions her lips were not hypocritical, and her figure anything but aard She was a bold, pluirl, fond of male society

Heriot enraptured her I believed at the time she would have appointed a year to marry him in, had he put the question But too many women were in love with Heriot He and I met Kiomi on the road to the race-course on the Southdowns; the prettiest racecourse in England, shut against gipsies A bare-footed swarthy girl ran beside our carriage and tossed us flowers He and a friend of his, young Lord Destrier, son of the Marquis of Edbury, who knew ht her so very handsoan to stare, and I suddenly called 'Kioe This was our secondIt would have been a pleasant one had not Heriot and Destrier pretended all sorts of things about our previous acquaintance

Neither of us, they said, had made a bad choice, but why had we separated? She snatched her hand out of er like puss in a fury We had wonderful fun with her They took her to a great house near the race-course, and there, assisted by one of the young ladies, dressed her in flowing silks, and so passed her through the gate of the enclosure interdicted to bare feet There they led her to groups of fashi+onable ladies, and got themselves into pretty scrapes They said she was an Indian Heriot lost his wagers and called her a witch She replied, 'You'll find I' she spoke of the days to couilty of this unmeasured joke upon consequential ladies, I had to conduct her to the gate Instantly, and without a good-bye, she scrambled up her skirts and ran at strides across the road and through the wood, out of sight She won her dress and a piece of jewelry

With Heriot I went on a sad expedition, the same I had set out upon with Teh red walls, once so ht of prisons for debt

He insisted, for my consolation, that they had but a teentlemen, as well as scamps, inhabited the aood luck the more the lower they fell from it, and their fearful admiration ofliquor I was unable clearly to reflect on it Daily afterwards, until I released hiet a loan on the faith of the reversion of my mother's estate Heriot, like the real friend he was, helped me with his name to the bond When my father stood free, I had the proudest heart alive; and as soon as we had parted, the ht of him was haunted by racketballs and beardedto one's pride

Yet it had grown ihted to hear hiether And, moreover, he swore to me on his honour, in Mrs Waddy's presence, that he and the constable would henceforth keep an even pace His exuberant cheerfulness and charlorious future enchained one out of er's reeable distraction Unfortunately for nantly pale My aunt Dorothy settled the match She had schemed it, her silence and half-downcast look seemed to confess, for the sake of her own repose, but neither to her nor to others did that co catastrophe to Heriot, and received his reply after it was over, to this effect:

'In e of woe, old Richie, and we s for a sovereign I ht to co, now she has sworn another We will hope the lady will stick to her choice, and not seek s your dad

I have no wish to see the uxorious object, though you praise hi old-fashi+oned; but she may like him the better, or she may cure hiirl to enliven the atmosphere of the switch I sometimes look at a portrait I have of J R, which, I fancy, Mrs

Willia her husband thinks he has, why then I must consult my brother officers We want a war, old Richie, and I wish you were sitting at our irls and women'

I presumed from this that Heriot's passion for Julia was extinct Aunt Dorothy disapproved of his tone, which I thought admirably philosophical and coxco I should feel on hearing of Janet Ilchester's nuptials

The daring and success of that foreign adventure of mine had, with the aid of Colonel and Clara Goodwin, convinced the squire of the folly of standing between n possible that he should take reat coal-mine, and introduce me as the heir ould soon relieve him of the task