s, and could have sworn he was then--saving
your presence, ladies--as drunk as a fiddler. If vehicle had brought
him, it could not be any that had passed me on the road, or for
certain I should have recognized him. Well, here was a riddle, and I
had come no nearer to guessing it when the Major returned.

"He had left his bundle in the house, and in place of it he carried a
cashbox, which he set on the table between us, but did not at once
open. Instead, he turned to me with a complete change of manner, and
held out his hand very frankly.

"'I owe you an apology, Captain,' said he. 'To be plain with you, at
the moment you appeared, I was half expecting a different kind of
visitor, and I fear you received some of the welcome prepared for
him. Overlook it, please, and shake hands; and, to get our business
over,'--he unlocked the cashbox--'here are ten guineas, which I will
ask you to accept from me. We won't call it a gift; we will call it
an acknowledgement for the extra pains you have put into teaching my
son. Tut, man!' said he, as I protested. 'Harry has told us all
about that. I assure you the youngster came near to wearying us,
last holiday, with praise of you.'"

"And so he did," Plinny here interrupted. "That is to say, sir--I--I
mean we were only too glad to listen to him."

"I thank you, ma'am." Captain Branscome bowed to her gravely.
"I will not deny that the Major's words gave me pleasure for the
moment. He, for his part, appeared to be quite another man.
'Twas as if between leaving me and returning to the summer-house a
load had been lifted from his mind. He counted out the guineas,
locked the cashbox again, lit his pipe, and then, seeming to
recollect himself, reached down a clean one from a stack above the
doorway, and insisted upon my filling and smoking with him.
'Twas a long while since I had tasted the luxury of tobacco.
We talked of old days on the _Londonderry_, of Sir John Moore's last
campaign, of Falmouth and the packets, of the peace and the overthrow
of Bonaparte's ambitions; or, rather, 'twas he that talked and
questioned, while for me 'twas pleasure enough, and a pleasure long
denied me, to sit on terms with a well-read gentleman and listen to
talk of a quality which--"

"Which differed from that of the Rev. Philip Stimcoe's," suggested
Miss Belcher, as he hesitated. "Proceed, sir."

"I shall add, madam, that the Major very kindly invited me to sleep
that night under his roo