sed into his former musing air. Instead of pushing the discourse, he
suddenly turned the subject, by making some common-place remark; and then,
repeating the probability of his being obliged to return, he walked
deliberately away, taking the direction of the residence of Mrs de Lacey.
The observing publican would, probably, have found sufficient matter for
observation, in this abrupt termination of the interview, had not Desire,
at that precise moment, broken out of her habitation, and diverted his
attention, by the peculiarly piquant manner in which she delineated the
character of her delinquent husband.

The reader has probably, ere this, suspected that the individual who had
conferred with the publican, as a stranger, was not unknown to himself. It
was, in truth, no other than Wilder. But, in the completion of his own
secret purposes, the young mariner left the wordy war in his rear; and,
turning up the gentle ascent, against the side of which the town is built,
he proceeded towards the suburbs.

It was not difficult to distinguish the house he sought, among a dozen
other similar retreats, by its "shades," as the innkeeper, in conformity
to a provincial use of the word, had termed a few really noble elms that
grew in the little court before its door. In order, however, to assure
himself that he was right, he confirmed his surmises by actual inquiry and
then continued thoughtfully on his path. The morning had, by this time,
fairly opened with every appearance of another of those fine bland,
autumnal days for which the climate is, or ought to be, so distinguished.
The little air there was, came from the south, fanning the face of our
adventurer as he occasionally paused, in his ascent, to gaze at the
different vessels in the harbour, like a mild breeze in June. In short, it
was just such a time as one, who is fond of strolling in the fields, is
apt to seize on with rapture, and which a seaman sets down as a day lost
in his reckoning.

Wilder was first drawn from his musings by the sound of a dialogue that
came from persons who were evidently approaching. There was one voice, in
particular, that caused his blood to thrill, he knew not why, and which
appeared unaccountably, even to himself, to set in motion every latent
faculty of his system. Profiting, by the formation of the ground, he
sprang, unseen, up a little bank, and, approaching an angle in a low wall,
he found himself in the immediate proximity of the speakers