help muttering something in
apology.

"Can you guess why I was a miser?" said Roland, calmly.

"A miser? Anything but that! Only prudent,--military men often are so."

"I was a miser," repeated the Captain, with emphasis. "I began the habit
first when my son was but a child. I thought him high-spirited, and with
a taste for extravagance. 'Well,' said I to myself, 'I will save for
him; boys will be boys.' Then, afterwards, when he was no more a child
(at least he began to have the vices of a man), I said to myself,
'Patience! he may reform still; if not, I will save money, that I may
have power over his self-interest, since I have none over his heart. I
will bribe him into honor!' And then--and then--God saw that I was very
proud, and I was punished. Tell them to drive faster,--faster; why, this
is a snail's pace!"

All that night, all the next day, till towards the evening, we pursued
our journey, without pause or other food than a crust of bread and a
glass of wine. But we now picked up the ground we had lost, and gained
upon the carriage. The night had closed in when we arrived at the stage
at which the route to Lord N--'s branched from the direct north road.
And here, making our usual inquiry, my worst suspicions were confirmed.
The carriage we pursued had changed horses an hour before, but had not
taken the way to Lord N--'s, continuing the direct road into Scotland.
The people of the inn had not seen the lady in the carriage, for it
was already dark; but the man-servant (whose livery they described) had
ordered the horses.

The last hope that, in spite of appearances, no treachery had been
designed, here vanished. The Captain at first seemed more dismayed than
myself, but he recovered more quickly. "We will continue the journey on
horseback," he said; and hurried to the stables. All objections vanished
at the sight of his gold. In five minutes we were in the saddle, with
a postilion, also mounted, to accompany us. We did the next stage in
little more than two thirds of the time which we should have occupied
in our former mode of travel,--indeed I found it hard to keep pace
with Roland. We remounted; we were only twenty-five minutes behind the
carriage,--we felt confident that we should overtake it before it could
reach the next town. The moon was up: we could see far before us; we
rode at full speed. Milestone after milestone glided by; the carriage
was not visible. We arrived at the post-town or rather villa