re are bachelor's buttons--'

'They seem rather common things to me,' said Mr. Falkirk
slowly, yet with a somewhat pacified brow. There was no kitten
in the basket!

'I hadn't the heart to bring puss, as we are going to
Catskill,' whispered Miss Hazel.

'We!' ejaculated Mr. Falkirk.

'Nominative case, first person plural, sir.'

'And what's the definition of an adverb?'

'Something which qualifies your suffering--_n'est-ce pas_, Mr.
Falkirk?'

'Certainly, by its primary action upon your doing, Miss Hazel.
We are going to Chickaree.'

To which statement Miss Hazel for the present made no reply.
She retreated to the depths of her own corner and the brown
veil; fingering her roses now and then, and (apparently)
making endless mental 'studies' of the wayside. The coach
jogged lumberingly on: there was no relief to the tiresomeness
of the way. It was a long morning. Dusty and weary, the coach-
load was set down at last at another country inn; by the side
of a little river which had well filled its banks. The
travellers were not, it must be noted, upon any of the great
highways of passage, but had taken a cut across country, over
some of the spurs of the Catskill; where a railroad was not.
Mr. Falkirk brought his charge into the 'Ladies' parlour,' and
spoke in a tone of irritated business.

'This is Hadyn's Dam. You can have rest and dinner now.'

CHAPTER IV.

FELLOW TRAVELLERS.

'Dinner--and the rest of it,' translated Miss Hazel. 'Will it
be needful to make a grand toilette, sir? or shall I go to the
table as I am? If one may judge of the selectness of the
company by their conversation'--

'You'll see no more of the company,' said Mr. Falkirk; 'they
are going another way, and we have to wait here. The bridge
will be repaired to-morrow, I suppose.'

'Yes, sir. We don't dine upon the bridge, I presume?'

Mr. Falkirk went off, making sure that the door latched behind
him. In a quarter of an hour he came back, with an attendant
bearing a tray.

'At present fortune gives us nothing more remarkable than
fried ham,' he said,--'and that not of the most eatable, I
fear. She is a jade. But we'll get away to-morrow. I hope so.'

'My dear sir,' said Wych Hazel with a radiant face, 'we will
get away to-night. I find that the bridge is not on our road,
after all. So I said it was not worth while to get a room
ready for me,--and the baggage might be just transferred.'

'To what?'

'To the other stage, sir