was a simplicity about the stripling--for he was hardly
more--which forced them to forgive him; besides, they were touched by
his paleness and fatigue. His own man--a respectable elderly servant
whom the Major recollected waiting on Sir Jovian--came to beg that his
honour would sit up no longer, as he had been travelling since six in
the morning, and was quite worn out. Indeed, so it proved; for when the
Major and Betty not only promised to come with him on the search the
next day, but bade him a kind affectionate good-night, the poor lad,
all unused to kindness, fairly burst into tears, which all his dawning
manhood could not restrain.

CHAPTER XXVI. THE TRACES.

Oh, if I were an eagle to soar into the sky,
I'd gaze around with piercing eye when I my love might spy.

The second-best coach, which resided at Bowstead, the same which had
carried Aurelia off from Knightsbridge, had brought Sir Amyas Belamour
to Carminster--an effeminate proceeding of which he was rather ashamed,
though clearly he could not have ridden, and he had hoped to have
brought his bride back in it.

There was plenty of room in it to take back the Major, Betty, and even
Eugene, since he could not well have been left without his sister or
Palmer, who was indispensable to the Major. He was so enchanted at
"riding in a coach," and going perhaps to see London, that he did not
trouble himself much about sister Aurelia being lost, and was in such
high spirits as to be best disposed of outside, between Palmer and Gray,
where he could at his ease contemplate the horses, generally four in
number, though at some stages only two could be procured, and then at an
extra steep hill a farmer's horse from the hayfield would be hitched on
in front. Luckily there was no lack of money; Mr. Belamour and Hargrave
had taken care that Sir Amyas should be amply supplied, and thus the
journey was as rapid as posting could be in those days of insufficient
inns, worse roads, and necessary precautions against highwaymen.

The road was not the same as that which the young baronet had come down
by, as it was thought better to take the chance of meeting a different
stage waggon, Sir Amyas and his servant having, of course, examined the
one they had overtaken in coming down. At every possible resting place
on the route was inquiry made, but all in vain; no one had seen such a
young gentlewoman as was described, or if some answer inspired hope for
a moment,