n for sentiment," he said,
"but I suppose it is just as well to deal with this matter in a
practical way. I do not think, however, that any influence I can exert
on Mr Brandon would induce him to allow you to address his niece if he
is opposed to it, and I am sure he would have a very strange opinion of
me if I attempted such a thing. At present I do not see that I can help
you at all, but I will think over the matter, and we will talk of it
again."

"Thank you," said Croft, rising. "And when shall I call upon you to hear
your decision?"

It was rather difficult for Junius Keswick to answer a question like
this on the spur of the moment. He arose and walked with Croft out of
the arbor. His first impulse, as a Virginia gentleman, was to invite
his visitor to stay at the house until the matter should be settled, but
he did not know what extraordinary freak on the part of his aunt might
be caused by such an invitation. But before he had decided what to say,
they were met by Mrs Keswick coming from the garden. Junius thereupon
presented Mr Croft, who was welcomed by the old lady with extended hand
and exceeding cordiality.

"I am very glad," she said, "to meet a friend of my nephew. But where
are you going, Sir? Certainly not toward your horse. You must stay and
dine with us."

Lawrence hesitated. He had no claims on the hospitality of these people,
but he wished very much to have an opportunity to speak to Mrs Null.
"Thank you," he said, "but I am staying down here at the village, and it
is but a short ride." "Staying at Hewlett's?" exclaimed Mrs Keswick. "At
which hotel, may I ask?"

Lawrence laughed. "I am stopping with the storekeeper," he said.

"That settles it!" said the old lady, giving her umbrella a jab into the
ground. "Tom Peckett's accommodations may be good enough for pedlers and
travelling agents, but they are not fit for gentlemen, especially one of
my nephew's friends. You must stay with us, sir, as long as you are in
this neighborhood. I insist upon it." Junius was very much astonished
at his aunt's speech and manner. The old lady was not at all
inhospitable; so far was it otherwise the case, that, rather than
deprive an objectionable visitor of the shelter of her roof, she would
go from under it herself; but he had never known her to "gush" in this
manner upon a stranger. He now felt at liberty, however, to obey his own
impulses, and urged Mr Croft to stay with them.

"You are very kind, indeed,"