,--happy, no doubt, to escape in
some measure the overwhelming compliments of his entertainers.

"But," said the doctor, as he shook hands with his deliverer, "by what
name shall I remember and" (lifting his reverend eyes) "pray for the
gentleman to whom I am so much indebted?"

"You are very kind," said the stranger; "my name is Clifford. Madam,"
turning to Lucy, "may I offer my hand down the stairs?"

Lucy accepted the courtesy; and the stranger was half-way down the
staircase, when the doctor, stretching out his little neck, exclaimed,--

"Good-evening, sir! I do hope we shall meet again."

"Fear not!" said Mr. Clifford, laughing gayly; "I am too great a
traveller to make that hope a matter of impossibility. Take care,
madam,--one step more."

The night was calm and tolerably clear, though the moon had not yet
risen, as Lucy and her companion passed through the fields, with the
servant preceding them at a little distance with the lantern.

After a pause of some length, Clifford said, with a little hesitation,
"Is Miss Brandon related to the celebrated barrister of her name?"

"He is my uncle," said Lucy; "do you know him?"

"Only your uncle?" said Clifford, with vivacity, and evading Lucy's
question. "I feared--hem! hem!--that is, I thought he might have been a
nearer relation." There was another, but a shorter pause, when Clifford
resumed, in a low voice: "Will Miss Brandon think me very presumptuous
if I say that a countenance like hers, once seen, can never be
forgotten; and I believe, some years since, I had the honour to see her
in London, at the theatre? It was but a momentary and distant glance
that I was then enabled to gain; and yet," he added significantly, "it
sufficed!"

"I was only once at the theatre while in London, some years ago," said
Lucy, a little embarrassed; "and indeed an unpleasant occurrence which
happened to my uncle, with whom I was, is sufficient to make me remember
it."

"Ha! and what was it?"

"Why, in going out of the play-house his watch was stolen by some
dexterous pickpocket."

"Was the rogue caught?" asked the stranger.

"Yes; and was sent the next day to Bridewell. My uncle said he was
extremely young, and yet quite hardened. I remember that I was foolish
enough, when I heard of his sentence, to beg very hard that my uncle
would intercede for him; but in vain."

"Did you, indeed, intercede for him?" said the stranger, in so earnest
a tone that Lucy coloured for t