had done his work
thoroughly; Mr. Pepper, standing on one foot with the other raised
on a horse-block, looked on without moving a muscle of his face. The
lieutenant was disgusted, but was too weak in his inner man to be
capable of instant raillery;--when, on a sudden, the whole aspect of
things was changed by the appearance of Mr. Neefit in the yard.

"D----tion!" exclaimed our friend Ralph. The apparition had been so
sudden that the Squire was unable to restrain himself. Mr. Neefit, as
the reader will perhaps remember, had been at the Moonbeam before. He
had written letters which had been answered, and then letters,--many
letters,--to which no reply had been given. In respect of the Neefit
arrangements Ralph Newton felt himself to be peculiarly ill-used by
persecutions such as these, because he had honestly done his best
to make Polly his wife. No doubt he acknowledged that fortune had
favoured him almost miraculously, in first saving him from so
injurious a marriage by the action of the young lady, and then at
once bestowing upon him his estate. But the escape was the doing of
fortune and Polly Neefit combined, and had not come of any intrigue
on his own part. He was in a position,--so he thought,--absolutely
to repudiate Neefit, and to throw himself upon facts for his
protection;--but then it was undoubtedly the case that for a year
or two Mr. Neefit could make his life a burden to him. He would
have bought off Neefit at a considerable price, had Neefit been
purchaseable. But Neefit was not in this matter greedy for himself.
He wanted to make his daughter a lady, and he thought that this
was the readiest way to accomplish that object. The Squire, in his
unmeasurable disgust, uttered the curse aloud; but then, remembering
himself, walked up to the breeches-maker with his extended hand. He
had borrowed the man's money. "What's in the wind now, Mr. Neefit?"
he said.

"What's in the wind, Captain? Oh, you know. When are you coming to
see us at the cottage?"

"I don't think my coming would do any good. I'm not in favour with
the ladies there." Ralph was aware that all the men standing round
him had heard the story, and that nothing was to be gained by an
immediate attempt at concealment. It behoved him, above all things,
to be upon his metal, to put a good face upon it, and to be at any
rate equal to the breeches-maker in presence of mind and that kind of
courage which he himself would have called "cheek."

"My mone