r, worse than either, for
Bill Martin. _You_ ought to know that I am your friend,--have been your
friend from a child; and if you continue to conduct yourself as you have
done, will befriend you for life."

I looked, I am sure, very foolish, for I felt his words rankling in my
heart; and, though I affected to laugh, I strode on by his side in
silence; the chain of obligations he had wound around me, and my
dependence upon him, tightening about me, and galling me at every step.
He certainly saw that I was offended, for, stopping at the gate which
led from the park to the Hall-gardens, where our roads separated, he
said, rather abruptly,--

"You are angry with me, Noah?"

"With you, sir?--that would be folly."

"It would, indeed. I see you can't bear a joke."

"Not very well."

"You don't take after your father, then, for he loves a joke dearly."

"Is my father alive?" I cried, eagerly.

"Of course he is."

"My mother don't know this."

"As well as I know it. Women have all their secrets. They don't tell us
all they know. One of these days you'll hear more about this mysterious
father, depend upon it."

I longed to ask him all he knew upon the subject, but we were not on
terms of familiarity to warrant such a liberty. He was my master, and it
was his part to speak--mine to listen. Presently he turned the subject
into another channel altogether.

"By-the-by, Noah," said he, "I am going to-day to ----. I have a large
sum of money to receive from my lawyer,--the payment for Crawford's
farm, which I sold a few months ago. The land was bad, and I was offered
a good price for it,--more, indeed, than I thought it was worth. Horner
advised me to sell, and I sold it accordingly. It may be late when I
return to-morrow night, which I shall do by the F---- coach. It will put
me down on the other side of the park, and I shall have to walk home by
the plantations, and through the great avenue; and, though the distance
is but a mile, to tell you the truth, I should not like to meet Bill
Martin and his gang, after nightfall, in such a lonely place, especially
with a large sum of money on my person,--at least from 500_l._ to
1,000_l._ I wish you would bring your gun, and wait for the coming up of
the coach, at the second gate, which leads into that lonely plantation.
It will be in by ten o'clock."

"That I will, with the greatest pleasure," I cried, and all my petty
resentment vanished. "I am not afraid of twenty Bill Mar