Archbishop
of Canterbury a thump on the nose. Yet no law in England forbids me my
cigar, Nero! What is law at half-past eight was not crime at six and
a half! Britannia says, 'Man, thou art free, and she lies like a
commonplace woman. O Nero, Nero! you enviable dog! you serve but from
liking. No thought of the world costs you one wag of the tail. Your big
heart and true instinct suffice you for reason and law. You would want
nothing to your felicity, if in these moments of ennui you would but
smoke a cigar. Try it, Nero!--try it!" And, rising from his incumbent
posture, he sought to force the end of the weed between the teeth of the
dog.

While thus gravely engaged, two figures had approached the place.
The one was a man who seemed weak and sickly. His threadbare coat was
buttoned to the chin, but hung large on his shrunken breast. The other
was a girl, who might be from twelve to fourteen, on whose arm he leaned
heavily. Her cheek was wan, and there was a patient, sad look on her
face, which seemed so settled that you would think she could never have
known the mirthfulness of childhood.

"Pray rest here, Papa," said the child, softly; and she pointed to
the bench, without taking heed of its pre-occupant, who now, indeed,
confined to one corner of the seat, was almost hidden by the shadow of
the tree.

The man sat down, with a feeble sigh, and then, observing the stranger,
raised his hat, and said, in that tone of voice which betrays the usages
of polished society, "Forgive me if I intrude on you, sir."

The stranger looked up from his dog, and seeing that the girl was
standing, rose at once, as if to make room for her on the bench.

But still the girl did not heed him. She hung over her father, and wiped
his brow tenderly with a little kerchief which she took from her own
neck for the purpose.

Nero, delighted to escape the cigar, had taken to some unwieldy curvets
and gambols, to vent the excitement into which he had been thrown; and
now returning, approached the bench with a low growl of surprise, and
sniffed at the intruders of his master's privacy.

"Come here, sir," said the master. "You need not fear him," he added,
addressing himself to the girl.

But the girl, without turning round to him, cried in a voice rather of
anguish than alarm, "He has fainted! Father! Father!"

The stranger kicked aside his dog, which was in the way, and loosened
the poor man's stiff military stock. While thus charitably eng