nity of her master?--as I (not without hope that I
shall be outdone in generous strife) do here promise to be the faithful
friend, and, to my ability, the hearty servant, of him who shall be
honored with the love of the Rose of Torridge."

He ceased, and there was a pause.

At last young Fortescue spoke.

"I may be paying you a left-handed compliment, sir: but it seems to me
that you are so likely, in that case, to become your own faithful friend
and hearty servant (even if you have not borne off the bell already
while we have been asleep), that the bargain is hardly fair between such
a gay Italianist and us country swains."

"You undervalue yourself and your country, my dear sir. But set your
mind at rest. I know no more of that lady's mind than you do: nor shall
I know. For the sake of my own peace, I have made a vow neither to see
her, nor to hear, if possible, tidings of her, till three full years are
past. Dixi?"

Mr. Coffin rose.

"Gentlemen, I may submit to be outdone by Mr. Leigh in eloquence, but
not in generosity; if he leaves these parts for three years, I do so
also."

"And go in charity with all mankind," said Cary. "Give us your hand,
old fellow. If you are a Coffin, you were sawn out of no wishy-washy
elm-board, but right heart-of-oak. I am going, too, as Amyas here can
tell, to Ireland away, to cool my hot liver in a bog, like a Jack-hare
in March. Come, give us thy neif, and let us part in peace. I was minded
to have fought thee this day--"

"I should have been most happy, sir," said Coffin.

--"But now I am all love and charity to mankind. Can I have the pleasure
of begging pardon of the world in general, and thee in particular? Does
any one wish to pull my nose; send me an errand; make me lend him five
pounds; ay, make me buy a horse of him, which will be as good as giving
him ten? Come along! Join hands all round, and swear eternal friendship,
as brothers of the sacred order of the--of what. Frank Leigh? Open thy
mouth, Daniel, and christen us!"

"The Rose!" said Frank quietly, seeing that his new love-philtre was
working well, and determined to strike while the iron was hot, and carry
the matter too far to carry it back again.

"The Rose!" cried Cary, catching hold of Coffin's hand with his right,
and Fortescue's with his left. "Come, Mr. Coffin! Bend, sturdy oak! 'Woe
to the stiffnecked and stout-hearted!' says Scripture."

And somehow or other, whether it was Frank's chivalrous spee