other is going wrong elsewhere. Not a sign of him,--not a
sign!" said he, with a heavy sigh, as he gazed long and earnestly along
the line of road. "He has n't bolted, that I'm sure of; he'd not 'try
that on' with _me_. He remembers to this very hour a licking I gave him
at school. I know what it is, he's snug in a wine 'Schenke.' He's in for
a big drink, the old beast, as if he could n't get blind drunk when he
came home. I think I see him holding forth to the boors, and telling
them what an honor it is to them to sit in his company; that he took a
high class at Oxford, and was all but Bishop of--Eh, is that he? No,
it 's going t' other way. Confounded fool!--but worse fool myself for
trusting him. That's exactly what people would say: 'He gave Holy Paul
three naps, and expected to see him come back sober!' Well, so I did;
and just answer me this: Is not all the work of this world done by
rogues and vagabonds? It suits them to be honest for a while; they ride
to order so long as they like the stable. Not a sign of him!" And with a
comfortless sigh he turned back to the house.

"I wish I knew how Lizzy was to-night!" muttered he, as he rested his
head on his hand, and sat gazing at her picture. "Ay, that is your
own saucy smile, but the world will take that out of you, and put a
puckered-up mouth and hard lines in its place, that it will, confound
it! And those eyes will have another kind of brightness in them, too,
when they begin to read life glibly. My poor darling, I wish you could
stay as you are. Where are you now, I wonder? Not thinking of old Kit, I
'm certain! And yet, maybe, I wrong her,--maybe she is just dwelling on
long--long ago--home, and the rest of it. Ay, darling, that's what the
lucky ones have in life, and never so much as know their luck in having
it. By Jove! she is handsome!" cried he, as he held up the miniature
in ecstasy before him. "'If she's so beautiful, Mr. Ross, why don't
she come to the Drawing-room?' say the Court people. Ay, you'll see her
there yet, or I'm not Kit Davis! Don't be impatient, ladies; make your
running while the course is your own, for there's a clipper coming. I'd
like to see where they'll be when Lizzy takes the field."

And now, in his pride, he walked the room, with head erect and arms
folded. It was only for a very short space, however, that these
illusions withdrew him from his gloomier reveries; for, with a start,
he suddenly recurred to all the anxieties of the mo