do. It's only a poor best we can show you in the
way of entertainment, but you'll make allowances
when I tell you how I'm situated, and what we lack
in kind we must make up in good will.'

"'What's good enough for you will be good enough
for me,' I replied heartily, submitting to be
relieved of my coat and installed in the best chair
by the blazing fire--a pleasant change indeed from
the cold and the sleet outside.

"'You must not think our guests usually receive
such a churlish reception,' said Jack, laughing a
little, 'but the fact is, we took you for the
bailiffs. I'm sorry to say I've outrun the
constable--it's really not my fault, for the old
place was mortgaged to its last penny when it fell
to me--but, as the case stands, I'm enduring a kind
of siege; daren't put my nose out of my own door
for fear I should be served with writs, and have to
smuggle what supplies we can beg or borrow through
the kitchen window. It's a queer kind of Christmas
to spend, and a poor lookout for the New Year, for
I'm afraid the old place is bound to go in the end,
though I have vowed to stick to it as long as I can
hold it, and Bessie has vowed to stick to me,
though she might have a more cheerful home
elsewhere if she liked. There's precious little to
offer you in our larder, but perhaps we can furnish
up something in the way of supper; can't we,
Bessie?'

"Miss Musgrave laughed merrily.

"'Mr. Harper must imagine himself back in camp,'
she replied; 'I hope he can manage to subsist on
porridge and cheese and tinned provisions, for I
don't think we have anything better to offer him.'

"I would have subsisted on a far poorer diet to
remain within sight of those bright eyes, and I
endeavored to convince my host and hostess that I
desired nothing more than to be treated as one of
themselves, with such success that I seemed to drop
at once into the family circle, and never spent a
pleasanter or more jovial evening in my life. Jack
and I sat up late after Bessie had retired,
chatting of bygone days and past adventures till
the jungles and plains se