"But shan't I drive him out, sir?" queried a servant man; "we doan' want
no beggahs 'bout yar. Dey mout help deirselfs to some o' de silvah when
nobody aint lookin'."

"Well, Bill, you might drive him out; he's perhaps a tramp watching his
opportunity to help himself."

Bill, well pleased with the errand, set down with alacrity the dish he
carried, and hurried toward the clump of bushes that apparently
concealed the tramp. "Ki, you ole tief you!" he cried, "git long out ob
dis; nobody doan' want yo' hyar! I'se break yo' skull fo' yo' ef ye doan
be gone putty quick!"

He pulled apart the bushes as he spoke, but instantly started back in
astonishment and terror as he perceived that no one was concealed there.

"Whar dat fellah dun gone?" he exclaimed. "Dis chile doan' see nobody
dar nohow 'tall!"

"Ha, ha! you don't look in the right place," cried the same voice that
had begged for food a moment before, the speaker seeming to be directly
behind him; and Bill wheeled about with unusual alacrity with the
intention of seizing his tormentor, but turned almost white with terror
on perceiving that no one was there.

"Wha--wha--wha dat raskil done gone?" he exclaimed, "t'ot he right dar,
an' he aint nowhar 'bout."

"Never mind, Bill; it seems he has saved you the trouble of driving him
off," said Mr. Embury, "and you may come back to your duties. More
coffee is wanted here."

Bill obeyed, but on his return with the coffee kept glancing
apprehensively in the direction of the bushes.

"I wonder where the man did go!" exclaimed little Mary presently. "I've
been watching, and don't know how he could get away without being seen."

"Beggars are sometimes very quick at hiding, little lassie," remarked
Mr. Lilburn.

"Ha, ha! so they are!" cried the voice of the beggar, sounding as though
he stood just behind her chair.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, with a start and a backward glance. "Why, where is
he? I don't see him at all."

"Don't be frightened, daughter," Mr. Embury said in an encouraging tone.

"No, bit lassie, he's not dangerous," remarked Mr. Lilburn, with a
reassuring smile.

"Oh, do you know him, sir?" she asked, looking up inquiringly into his
face.

"I didna see him," replied the old gentleman laughingly, "but judging by
his voice I think I know who he is--a quiet, inoffensive countrymon o'
me ain."

"Ah, yes, a rather intimate acquaintance of yours, sir, is he not?"
queried Norton, with a searching look into