g and
conscienceless guardian angel.

As it was, he knew not what she had done, and never considered her at
all.

Junius Keswick took much more delight in farming than he did in the
practice of the law, and it was only because he had felt himself
obliged to do so, that he had adopted the legal profession. To be
a farmer, one must have a farm; but a lawyer can frequently make a
living from the lands of other men. He was very willing, therefore,
to agree to the plan which, for years, had been Mr Brandon's most
cherished scheme; that he and Roberta should make their home at
Midbranch, and that he should take charge of the estate, which would
be his wife's property after the old gentleman's decease. Roberta was
as fond of the country as was Junius, but she was also a city woman;
and it was arranged that the couple should spend a portion of each
winter in New York, at the house of Mr March.

Junius, and Roberta, as well as her father, hoped very much that they
might be able to induce Mr Brandon to come to New York to attend the
wedding, which was to take place the middle of January; but they were
not confident of success, for they knew the old gentleman disliked
very much to travel, especially in winter. Three very pressing letters
were therefore written to Mr Brandon; and the writers were much
surprised to receive, in a short time, a collective answer, in which
he stated that he would not only be present at the wedding, but that
he thought of spending several months in New York. It would be very
lonely at Midbranch, he wrote, without Roberta--though why it should
be more so this year, than during preceding winters, he did not
explain--and he felt a desire to see the changes that had taken place
in the metropolis since he had visited it, years ago.

They would not have been so much surprised had they known that Mr
Brandon did not feel himself safe in his own home, by night or by day.
Frequently had he gazed out of a window at the point in the road on
which the first sight of an approaching spring-wagon could have been
caught; and had said to himself: "If only Roberta were here, that old
hag would not dare to speak a word to me! I don't want to go away,
but, by George! I don't see how I can stay here without Rob."

There was a short, very black, and somewhat bowlegged negro man on the
place, named Israel Bonaparte, who lived in a little cabin by himself,
and was noted for his unsocial disposition, and his taciturnity. T