letter in
question. 'I, sir?'

'Yes, you, sir; did you not?' responded Overton, annoyed with what he
supposed to be an extreme degree of unnecessary suspicion. 'Either this
letter is yours, or it is not. If it be, we can converse securely upon
the subject at once. If it be not, of course I have no more to say.'

'Stay, stay,' said Trott, 'it _is_ mine; I _did_ write it. What could I
do, sir? I had no friend here.'

'To be sure, to be sure,' said the mayor, encouragingly, 'you could not
have managed it better. Well, sir; it will be necessary for you to leave
here to-night in a post-chaise and four. And the harder the boys drive,
the better. You are not safe from pursuit.'

'Bless me!' exclaimed Trott, in an agony of apprehension, 'can such
things happen in a country like this? Such unrelenting and cold-blooded
hostility!' He wiped off the concentrated essence of cowardice that was
oozing fast down his forehead, and looked aghast at Joseph Overton.

'It certainly is a very hard case,' replied the mayor with a smile,
'that, in a free country, people can't marry whom they like, without
being hunted down as if they were criminals. However, in the present
instance the lady is willing, you know, and that's the main point, after
all.'

'Lady willing,' repeated Trott, mechanically. 'How do you know the
lady's willing?'

'Come, that's a good one,' said the mayor, benevolently tapping Mr. Trott
on the arm with his broad-brimmed hat; 'I have known her, well, for a
long time; and if anybody could entertain the remotest doubt on the
subject, I assure you I have none, nor need you have.'

'Dear me!' said Mr. Trott, ruminating. 'This is _very_ extraordinary!'

'Well, Lord Peter,' said the mayor, rising.

'Lord Peter?' repeated Mr. Trott.

'Oh--ah, I forgot. Mr. Trott, then--Trott--very good, ha! ha!--Well,
sir, the chaise shall be ready at half-past twelve.'

'And what is to become of me until then?' inquired Mr. Trott, anxiously.
'Wouldn't it save appearances, if I were placed under some restraint?'

'Ah!' replied Overton, 'very good thought--capital idea indeed. I'll
send somebody up directly. And if you make a little resistance when we
put you in the chaise it wouldn't be amiss--look as if you didn't want to
be taken away, you know.'

'To be sure,' said Trott--'to be sure.'

'Well, my lord,' said Overton, in a low tone, 'until then, I wish your
lordship a good evening.'

'Lord--lordship?' ejacula