ch no man who knows the sum of two and two can ever mistake if he but
once sees it.

When I saw the light in Dorothy's eyes, I knew that all the hatred that
was ever born from all the feuds that had ever lived since the quarrelling
race of man began its feuds in Eden could not make Dorothy Vernon hate the
son of her father's enemy.

"I was--was--watching him draw smoke through the--the little stick which
he holds in his mouth, and--and blow it out again," said Dorothy, in
explanation of her attitude. She blushed painfully and continued, "I hope
you do not think--"

"I do not think," I answered. "I would not think of thinking."

"Of course not," she responded, with a forced smile, as she watched Sir
John pass out of sight under the arch of the innyard gate. I did not
think. I knew. And the sequel, so full of trouble, soon proved that I was
right. After John had passed through the gate, Dorothy was willing to go
home; and when Will Dawson brought the great coach to the inn door, I
mounted my horse and rode beside the ladies to Haddon Hall, two miles
north from Rowsley.

I shall not stop to tell you of the warm welcome given me by Sir George
Vernon, nor of his delight when I briefly told him my misfortunes in
Scotland--misfortunes that had brought me to Haddon Hall. Nor shall I
describe the great boar's head supper given in my honor, at which there
were twenty men who could have put me under the table. I thought I knew
something of the art of drinking, but at that supper I soon found I was a
mere tippler compared with these country guzzlers. At that feast I learned
also that Dorothy, when she had hinted concerning Sir George's excessive
drinking, had told the truth. He, being the host, drank with all his
guests. Near midnight he grew distressingly drunk, talkative, and violent,
and when toward morning he was carried from the room by his servants, the
company broke up. Those who could do so reeled home; those who could not
walk at all were put to bed by the retainers at Haddon Hall. I had chosen
my bedroom high up in Eagle Tower. At table I had tried to remain sober.
That, however, was an impossible task, for at the upper end of the hail
there was a wrist-ring placed in the wainscoting at a height of ten or
twelve inches above the head of an ordinary man, and if he refused to
drink as much as the other guests thought he should, his wrist was
fastened above his head in the ring, and the liquor which he should have
poure