of a grandfather?"

SOPHY (with spirit).--"He is not vile. You ought to be ashamed of
yourself speaking so, Mr. Rugge!"

Here simultaneously, Mr. Waife, hastily indued in his gray
dressing-gown, presented himself at the aperture of the bedroom door,
and the Cobbler on the threshold of the sitting-room. The Comedian
stood mute, trusting perhaps to the imposing effect of his attitude.
The Cobbler, yielding to the impulse of untheatric man, put his head
doggedly on one side, and with both hands on his hips said,

"Civil words to my lodgers, master, or out you go!"

The Remorseless Baron glared vindictively, first at one and then at the
other; at length he strode up to Waife, and said, with a withering grin,
"I have something to say to you; shall I say it before your landlord?"

The Comedian waved his hand to the Cobbler.

"Leave us, my friend; I shall not require you. Step this way, Mr.
Rugge." Rugge entered the bedroom, and Waife closed the door behind him.

"Anan," quoth the Cobbler, scratching his head. "I don't quite take your
grandfather's giving in. British ground here! But your Ascendant cannot
surely be in such malignant conjunction with that obstreperous tyrant as
to bind you to him hand and foot. Let's see what the crystal thinks of
it. 'Take it up gently, and come downstairs with me."

"Please, no; I'll stay near Grandfather," said Sophy, resolutely. "He
sha'n't be left helpless with that rude man."

The Cobbler could not help smiling. "Lord love you," said he; "you have
a spirit of your own, and if you were my wife I should be afraid of
you. But I won't stand here eavesdropping; mayhap your grandfather has
secrets I'm not to hear: call me if I'm wanted." He descended. Sophy,
with less noble disdain of eavesdropping, stood in the centre of the
room, holding her breath to listen. She heard no sound; she had half a
mind to put her ear to the keyhole, but that seemed even to her a mean
thing, if not absolutely required by the necessity of the case. So there
she still stood, her head bent down, her finger raised: oh, that Vance
could have so painted her!

CHAPTER X.

Showing the causes why men and nations, when one man or nation
wishes to get for its own arbitrary purposes what the other man or
nation does not desire to part with, are apt to ignore the mild
precepts of Christianity, shock the sentiments and upset the
theories of Peace Societies.

"Am I to understand," said Mr. Rug