fire, from water, and all things amies,
Deliver the house of an honest justice.

--_The Widow_.

The serenity of the Hall has been suddenly interrupted by a very
important occurrence. In the course of this morning a posse of
villagers was seen trooping up the avenue, with boys shouting in
advance. As it drew near, we perceived Ready-Money Jack Tibbets
striding along, wielding his cudgel in one hand, and with the other
grasping the collar of a tall fellow, whom, on still nearer approach,
we recognized for the redoubtable gipsy hero, Starlight Tom. He was
now, however, completely cowed and crestfallen, and his courage seemed
to have quailed in the iron gripe of the lion-hearted Jack.

The whole gang of gipsy women and children came dragging in the rear;
some in tears, others making a violent clamour about the ears of old
Ready-Money, who, however, trudged on in silence with his prey,
heeding their abuse as little as a hawk that has pounced upon a
barn-door hero regards the outcries and cacklings of his whole
feathered seraglio.

He had passed through the village on his way to the Hall, and of
course had made a great sensation in that most excitable place, where
every event is a matter of gaze and gossip. The report flew like
wildfire, that Starlight Tom was in custody. The ale-drinkers
forthwith abandoned the tap-room; Slingsby's school broke loose, and
master and boys swelled the tide that came rolling at the heels of old
Ready-Money and his captive.

The uproar increased, as they approached the Hall; it aroused the
whole garrison of dogs, and the crew of hangers-on. The great mastiff
barked from the dog-house; the stag-hound, and the grayhound, and the
spaniel, issued barking from the hall-door, and my Lady Lillycraft's
little dogs ramped and barked from the parlour window. I remarked,
however, that the gipsy dogs made no reply to all these menaces and
insults, but crept close to the gang, looking round with a guilty,
poaching air, and now and then glancing up a dubious eye to their
owners; which shows that the moral dignity, even of dogs, may be
ruined by bad company!

When the throng reached the front of the house, they were brought to a
halt by a kind of advanced guard, composed of old Christy, the
gamekeeper, and two or three servants of the house, who had been
brought out by the noise. The common herd of the village fell back
with respect; the boys were driven back by Christy and his compeers;
while