's hand, and looked steadily at him.

'Really, sir,' said the waiter, 'I don't know, sir, whether--'

'Ah! you'll do it, I see,' said the little old gentleman. 'You had
better do it at once. It will save time.'

There was something so very cool and collected in the gentleman's
manner, that the waiter put the five shillings in his pocket, and led
him upstairs without another word.

'This is the room, is it?' said the gentleman. 'You may go.' The waiter
complied, wondering much who the gentleman could be, and what he wanted;
the little old gentleman, waiting till he was out of sight, tapped at
the door.

'Come in,' said Arabella.

'Um, a pretty voice, at any rate,' murmured the little old gentleman;
'but that's nothing.' As he said this, he opened the door and walked
in. Arabella, who was sitting at work, rose on beholding a stranger--a
little confused--but by no means ungracefully so.

'Pray don't rise, ma'am,' said the unknown, walking in, and closing the
door after him. 'Mrs. Winkle, I believe?'

Arabella inclined her head.

'Mrs. Nathaniel Winkle, who married the son of the old man at
Birmingham?' said the stranger, eyeing Arabella with visible curiosity.

Again Arabella inclined her head, and looked uneasily round, as if
uncertain whether to call for assistance.

'I surprise you, I see, ma'am,' said the old gentleman.

'Rather, I confess,' replied Arabella, wondering more and more.

'I'll take a chair, if you'll allow me, ma'am,' said the stranger.

He took one; and drawing a spectacle-case from his pocket, leisurely
pulled out a pair of spectacles, which he adjusted on his nose.

'You don't know me, ma'am?' he said, looking so intently at Arabella
that she began to feel alarmed.

'No, sir,' she replied timidly.

'No,' said the gentleman, nursing his left leg; 'I don't know how you
should. You know my name, though, ma'am.'

'Do I?' said Arabella, trembling, though she scarcely knew why. 'May I
ask what it is?'

'Presently, ma'am, presently,' said the stranger, not having yet removed
his eyes from her countenance. 'You have been recently married, ma'am?'

'I have,' replied Arabella, in a scarcely audible tone, laying aside her
work, and becoming greatly agitated as a thought, that had occurred to
her before, struck more forcibly upon her mind.

'Without having represented to your husband the propriety of first
consulting his father, on whom he is dependent, I think?' said the
stranger.

Ara