ortunes ten times worse. You would be torn from us.
What are poverty and disgrace to that?"

"You are cruel," said Sir Risdon bitterly. "I must, woman; I tell you I
must. If this poor child should ever know into what a pit I have
allowed myself to be led, how can I ever look her in the face again?"

"It would kill her for you to be taken away, to be punished, perhaps,
for that which you could hardly help."

"No, she would soon forget."

"And I should soon forget?" said Lady Graeme reproachfully.

Sir Risdon turned to her wildly, as she laid her head upon his breast.

"If you were taken from us, it would kill me too," she said tenderly;
and then in silence, they bore their insensible child into the
forbidding-looking house.

CHAPTER NINE.

"Think we've done right, my lad?" said Gurr, after they had half way
descended the slope.

"Yes, of course. How could we search the house of a gentleman like
that?"

"Oh, easy enough."

"It was impossible."

"But suppose, after all, he has got all the stuff hid away. Some men's
very artful, as you'll find out some day. Oughtn't we to go back?"

He paused as he said these words, and then laid his hand firmly on
Archy's shoulder.

"I didn't tell you," he said, "what I saw when I went back to the farm."

"No! What?" cried the midshipman eagerly.

"That old chap having a glass of real smuggled spirits."

"How do you know it was?"

"Because I tasted it. No mistake about that, I can tell you. Then he
was very eager to get me to go up yonder, and that looks bad. He knows
all about it."

"Nonsense! If he knew that the smuggled goods were up there he wouldn't
send us to find them."

"How do you know? That may have been his artfulness, to keep us from
searching. If he'd as good as said don't go up there, and tried to stop
us, we should have gone at once."

"But we can't go back and search, Gurr. Suppose we did go and ransacked
the place, and hurt everybody's feelings, and then found nothing, what
should we look like then?"

"Silly," said the master laconically, and for a time he was silent,
marching on behind the men. "All comes of being sent on such dooty," he
burst out with. "It isn't right to send gentlemen and officers to do
such dirty work. I've been ashamed of myself ever since I've been on
the cutter. Hallo! Here's the farmer again."

For they had suddenly come upon Shackle driving an old grey horse before
him as if going on some farmi