er; but what a scrape I have got into, and how I wish
to-morrow was over!

CHAPTER XIII.

My diary continued,--

_Saturday._--Well, it is over at last; and upon my word I begin to
think I am capable of anything after all I have got through to-day
since breakfast. Scarcely had I finished the slice of toast and single
cup of tea that constitute my morning meal, before I heard the tramp
of a horse on the gravel in front of the house, followed by the
ominous sound of the door-bell. I have remarked that in all country
families a ring at the door-bell brings everybody's heart into
everybody's mouth. Aunt Horsingham, brooding over the teapot as usual,
had been in her worst of humours ever since she came down, and tried
to look as if no bell that ever was cast had power to move her grim
resolve.

"A message by electric telegraph," exclaimed Cousin Amelia, who is
always anticipating some catastrophe; "no visitor would ever call at
such a time."

"Unless he came to propose for one of us," suggested John, who was
carving a ham at the side-table.

"Some one on business for _me_, probably," remarked Aunt Horsingham,
drawing herself up and looking more stately than usual.

"Mr. Haycock!" announced the butler, throwing open the door with a
flourish; and while all our untimely visitor's preparations, such as
wiping his shoes, arranging his dress, etc., were distinctly audible
outside, we looked at each other in mute astonishment, and I own I
_did_ feel the guilty one amongst the party.

The Squire made his entrance in a state of intense trepidation. Having
been forcibly deprived of his white hat in the hall, he had nothing
but natural means to resort to for concealment of his confusion. Had
it not been for an enormous silk handkerchief (white spots on a yellow
ground) with which he blew his nose and wiped his brow at short and
startling intervals his condition would have been pitiable in the
extreme. The "Squire's" dress too was of a more florid style than is
usual in these days of sad-coloured attire. A bright blue neckcloth,
well starched, and of great depth and volume; a buff waistcoat, with
massive gilt buttons; a grass-green riding-coat of peculiar shape and
somewhat scanty material; white cord trousers, York tan gaiters, and
enormous double-soled shooting-shoes, pierced and strapped, and
clamped and hobnailed, completing a _tout ensemble_ that almost upset
my aunt's gravity, and made me, nervous as I felt, stuf