seemed to bring up thoughts of savage revelry and
debauch. It had been decided by my lawyers that I should present myself
to Curtis, without any previous notification of my identity or my claim;
that, in fact, not to prejudice my chances of success by any written
application for an audience, I should contrive to see him without his
having expected me; and thus derive whatever advantage might accrue from
any admissions his surprise should betray him into. I had been drilled
into my part by repeated lessons. I was instructed as to every word I
was to utter, and every phrase I was to use; but now that the moment to
employ these arts drew nigh, I had utterly forgotten them all. The one
absorbing thought: that beneath the very roof under which I now stood,
my father and mother had lived; that these walls were their own
home; that within them had been passed the short life they had shared
together,--overcame me so completely that I lost all consciousness about
myself and my object there.

At length the loud tones of many voices aroused me from my half
stupor, and on drawing nigh the door I perceived a number of servants,
ill-dressed and disorderly looking, carrying hurriedly across the hall
the materials for a breakfast. I addressed myself to one of these, with
a request to know when and how I could see Mr. Curtis. A bold stare
and a rude burst of laughter was, however, the only reply he made me.
I tried another, who did not even vouchsafe to hear more than half my
question, when he passed on.

"Is it possible," said I, indignantly, "that none of you will take a
message for your master?"

"Begad, we have so many masters," said one, jocosely, "it's hard to say
where we ought to deliver it;" and the speech was received with a roar
of approving laughter.

"It is Mr. Curtis I desire to see," said I.

"It's four hours too early, then," said the same speaker. "Old Joe won't
be stirring till nigh eight o'clock. If Mr. Archy would do, he's in the
stables, and it's the best time to talk to him."

"And if it's the master you want," chimed in another, "he 's your man."

"Lead me to him, then," said I, resolving at least to see the person who
claimed to be supreme in this strange household. Traversing a number of
passages and dirty, ill-kept rooms, we descended by a small stone stair
into an ample courtyard, two sides of which were occupied by ranges of
stables. The spacious character of the building and the costly style
of the a