cannot help it.'
Well, sir, I went and dug with a good will. I prospered. I came back
to look for my dear master, but I could not find him--he was evacuated.
At last I heard that you were going to England, Mr Frank, and I said to
myself; `I'll go too. I'll pay my own passage. I'll be the dear young
master's devoted servant, and he shall see by my unwearied intentions
that I never really could have meant to do him wrong.'"

"And do you really think me such a fool as to believe all this?" asked
Frank contemptuously.

"Yes, sir; I do hope you will, sir," was the reply of Juniper. "There,
sir," he added, "I'll give you the best proof that I'm not the rogue you
took me for. Please, sir, to read what's on that packet, and then open
it."

Frank took from his hands a heavy parcel, on which was clearly written,
"F Oldfield, Esquire; from Juniper Graves." He opened it. It contained
six ten-pound notes and a leather bag full of nuggets.

"There, sir," said Juniper, triumphantly, "you can tell that this is no
got-up thing. I've had no time to write these words on the paper since
you collared me. I've carried it about just as it is for weeks, as you
may plainly see by looking at the cover of it, till I could give it into
your own hands."

It was clear, certainly, that the paper had been folded and directed
some considerable time back, as was manifest from the marks of wear and
rubbing which it exhibited. Frank was staggered.

"Really, Juniper," he said, "I don't know what to think, I can't deny
that this packet has been made up for me before our present meeting, and
it has all the appearance of having been some considerable time just as
it now is. It certainly looks as if you didn't mean to rob me, as
you've paid me, I should think, nearly double what you took. Of course,
I don't want that. I shall not take more than my fifty pounds."

"Oh, sir, do take the rest, as some amends for the anxiety I've caused
you by my foolish act, in taking charge of your money in the way I did
without your knowledge or permission. It was wrong, and I oughtn't to
have done it; but I meant it for the best. And oh, dear master, do
think the best of me. I never did mean to harm you; and I'm ready to go
with you now from the Pole to the Antipathies."

"No, Juniper, I shall only take my own," said his master; and he
restored him one of the ten-pound notes and the nuggets, which Juniper
accepted with apparent reluctance.

"So far,