came in his way, even if it should
happen to be the old cow."

"I hope I may be there to see if he does," replied I laughing.

On inquiring whether Mr. Vernor was at home we were answered in the
affirmative by a tall, gaunt-looking man-servant, with a stern, not
to say surly, countenance, the expression of which was in some degree
contradicted by a pair of quick, restless little grey eyes, which in
any other face one should have said twinkled merrily beneath the large
grizzled eyebrows which o'ershadowed them.

Having, at Lawless's request, procured a nondescript hobbledehoy of
indefinite character to stand at the horses' heads (we had left
Shrimp behind, by common consent, that he might be no restraint on
our conversation), he conducted us across the hall into a kind of
morning-room, fitted up with oak panels, and with a very handsome
old carved oak chimney-piece reaching half-way to the ceiling. He
was leaving the room to inform his master of our arrival when Lawless
stopped him by saying:--

"Here, just wait a bit; tell the young woman--that is ~148~~to say,
don't tell her anything; but I mean, let Miss Saville be made aware (I
see you're awake, for all your long face), put her up to our being here;
don't you know, eh?" "Tip him," whispered I.

"Eh, stop a bit; you're a very honest fellow, and it's right to reward
faithful servants; and--you understand all about it, eh?"

One portion of this somewhat incoherent address he did understand,
evidently, for without altering a muscle of his face, he put out his
hand, took the money, and left the room with the same unconscious air
of imperturbability which he had maintained throughout the whole
conference. "Good move that, eh?" exclaimed Lawless, as soon as the door
was closed; "that'll fetch her out of her hole, for a guinea. Mind, I
shall do my best to cut you out, Master Frank. I don't see why I haven't
a right to quite as large a share of her gratitude as you have, for if
I hadn't set her on fire you'd never have put her out; so, in fact, she
owes it all to me--don't you see?"

"I'm afraid there's a little sophistry in that argument," replied
I; "but we had better wait till we find whether we shall have the
opportunity afforded us of trying our powers of fascination before we
quarrel about the effects to be produced by them. I cannot say I feel
over sanguine as to the success of your somewhat original negotiation
with that raw-boned giant in the blue plush _sin