ose ill-humor seemed
not at all soothed by the gentle language of the young man, but rather
to increase. "I like it not, whether it be an idle appendage stuck on
by the humorous learning of Winthrop, as I have heard, or a quaint
conceit springing out of the man's own vanity. I deny not honor and
dignity, where they rightfully belong, but what is to become of the
realities, if the shams receive an equal consideration?"

"I wander like a man in a mist, who sees not a foot before him," said
Arundel. "I have entreated your Worship to deal more plainly with me,
but it has been your pleasure to seem as if you heard me not; and, for
the report which, in the discharge of my duty, I have made, I have
received only innuendos against the fair fame of my friend, and which
do, in some sense, alight upon myself. From whatever quarter they may
proceed, I scorn and defy them, and brand them as false; and, I doubt
not, the appearance of Sir Christopher will force his detractors to
disappear, even like so many whipped curs."

Arundel spoke with a feeling of anger, notwithstanding his resolution
to keep command over himself, and rose to take his leave. The spirit
which he had shown in his last speech, so far from displeasing the
Deputy, had a contrary effect; for, rising himself, Dudley grasped his
visitor's hand, and dismissed him with less frigidity than he had
received him. Something also he said, as if in excuse of his conduct,
about the necessity of caution, amounting sometimes to unreasonable
suspicions on the part of the rulers of a weak colony, depending more
upon the wisdom of its counsels than upon force for its existence,
intimating at the same time, that if any suspicions were attached to
the young man, it was doubtless more in consequence of his accidental
connection with Sir Christopher, than because he deserved them.

It is natural that Arundel, after his long absence, and the unpleasant
events of the day, should desire to derive some consolation from the
society of his mistress. We are not surprised, therefore, to find him
taking his way toward the house of the Assistant Spikeman, in the hope
of receiving some signal which would permit him to enter. Nor was he
disappointed--Prudence, with a light kerchief thrown over her head,
being just stepping out of the door on an errand to some neighbor as
he came up. The girl gave a pretty start as she beheld Arundel, partly
natural and partly affected, and then beckoned to him to