of it," returned John; "it gives you some standing at
once. You may call yourself Fortescue till all's blue, and nobody cares;
but to be Vance gives a man a natural nobility."

"But there's lots of other theatrical names," cried Morris. "Leybourne,
Irving, Brough, Toole----"

"Devil a one will I take!" returned his brother. "I am going to have my
little lark out of this as well as you."

"Very well," said Morris, who perceived that John was determined to
carry his point, "I shall be Robert Vance."

"And I shall be George Vance," cried John, "the only original George
Vance! Rally round the only original!"

Repairing as well as they were able the disorder of their clothes,
Finsbury brothers returned to Browndean by a circuitous route in quest
of luncheon and a suitable cottage. It is not always easy to drop at a
moment's notice on a furnished residence in a retired locality; but
fortune presently introduced our adventurers to a deaf carpenter, a man
rich in cottages of the required description, and unaffectedly eager to
supply their wants. The second place they visited, standing, as it did,
about a mile and a half from any neighbours, caused them to exchange a
glance of hope. On a nearer view, the place was not without depressing
features. It stood in a marshy-looking hollow of a heath; tall trees
obscured its windows; the thatch visibly rotted on the rafters; and the
walls were stained with splashes of unwholesome green. The rooms were
small, the ceilings low, the furniture merely nominal; a strange chill
and a haunting smell of damp pervaded the kitchen; and the bedroom
boasted only of one bed.

Morris, with a view to cheapening the place, remarked on this defect.

"Well," returned the man, "if you can't sleep two abed, you'd better
take a villa residence."

"And then," pursued Morris, "there's no water. How do you get your
water?"

"We fill _that_ from the spring," replied the carpenter, pointing to a
big barrel that stood beside the door. "The spring ain't so _very_ far
off, after all, and it's easy brought in buckets. There's a bucket
there."

Morris nudged his brother as they examined the water-butt. It was new,
and very solidly constructed for its office. If anything had been
wanting to decide them, this eminently practical barrel would have
turned the scale. A bargain was promptly struck, the month's rent was
paid upon the nail, and about an hour later Finsbury brothers might have
been observed retur