ink you were a lord's son indeed, instead of
being, as I know you, a beggarly runaway servant whom I took in like a
mangy cat out of the rain. But come, come--no offence, my boy! I'll be
no hard master to you. I've heard how the wind blows, and I've kept my
ears open to all your doings. I know who is your sweetheart. Harkee,
you rascal! You have a fancy for my niece, have you? Well, your apple
is ripe if you choose to pick it. Marry your charmer and be damned; and
if you'll serve me by taking her thus in hand, I'll pay you twenty
pounds upon your wedding-day. Now what do you say to that, you lousy
beggar in borrowed clothes?"

Our young gentleman stopped short and looked his tormentor full in the
face. The thought of his father's anger alone had saved him from
entangling himself in the web of his passions; this he forgot upon the
instant. "Captain Obadiah Belford," quoth he, "you're the most
consummate villain ever I beheld in all of my life; but if I have the
good-fortune to please the young lady, I wish I may die if I don't
serve you in this!"

At these words Captain Obadiah, who appeared to take no offence at his
guest's opinion of his honesty, burst out into a great boisterous
laugh, flinging back his head and dropping his lower jaw so
preposterously that the setting sun shone straight down his wide and
cavernous gullet.

V

HOW THE DEVIL WAS CAST OUT OF THE MEETING-HOUSE

The news that the Honorable Frederick Dunburne, second son of the Earl
of Clandennie, was to marry Miss Belinda Belford, the daughter and only
child of Colonel William Belford, of New Hope, was of a sort to arouse
the keenest and most lively interest in all those parts of the Northern
Colonies of America.

The day had been fixed, and all the circumstances arranged with such
particularity that an invitation was regarded as the highest honor that
could befall the fortunate recipient. There were to be present on this
interesting occasion two Colonial governors and their ladies, an
English general, the captain of the flag-ship _Achilles_, and above a
score of Colonial magnates and ladies of distinction.

Captain Obadiah had not been bidden to either the ceremony or the
breakfast. This rebuff he had accepted with prodigious amusement,
which, not limiting itself to the immediate occasion, broke forth at
intervals for above two weeks. Now it might express itself in chuckles
of the most delicious entertainment, vented as our Captain walked up
an