g, after we were returning to the Hall through the park. I had
been watching in the preserves all night, but nothing had transpired,
beyond the discovery of the bowie-knife, that could lead to the
detection of the marauders. "I have no doubt that he and his gang are
the party concerned in these nightly depredations; but we want
sufficient proof for their apprehension."

"Give Martin rope enough, and he'll hang himself," I replied. "He is
fierce and courageous, but boastful and foolhardy. In order to astonish
his companions, he'll commit some daring outrage, and betray himself. I
will relax a little from our vigilance, to give him more confidence, and
put him off his guard. It won't be long, depend upon it, before we have
him safely lodged in ----gaol."

"Noah, my boy, you are a trump!" cried the Squire, throwing his arm
familiarly across my shoulder. "It's a pity such talents as you possess
should be wasted in watching hares and partridges."

I felt my heart heat, and my cheeks glow, and I thought of Miss Ella.
"Was he going," I asked myself, "to place me in a more respectable
situation?"

But no; the generous fit passed away, and he broke into a hearty laugh.

"D----e, Noah, I had half a mind to buy a commission for you, and make a
soldier of you. But you had better remain as you are. That confounded
name of Noah Cotton would spoil all. Who ever heard of a gentleman
bearing such a cognomen? It is worse than Lord Byronis."

"Amas Cottle, Phoebus, what a name! What could tempt your mother to call
you after the old patriarchal navigator! Ha! ha! it was a queer dodge."

"It was my father's name," said I, reddening; for, besides being
bitterly mortified and disappointed, I by no means relished the joke;
"and my father, though poor, was an honest man!"

"Both cases _rather_ doubtful," said the Squire, laughing to himself.
Then, slapping me pretty sharply on the shoulder, he said,--"And what,
my lad, do you know of your father?"

"Nothing, personally; to the best of my knowledge I never saw him; but
my mother has told me a good deal about him."

"Humph!" said Mr. Carlos. "Did she tell you how much she was attached
to Mister Noah Cotton, and how grieved she was to part with such a
tender, loving spouse?"

"Sir, Mr. Carlos,--do you mean to insult me by speaking in this jeering
way of my parents?"

"Not in the least, Noah; so don't look at me with that fierce black eye,
as if you took me for a hare or a pheasant, o