g thump on the back to his friend. "Cheer
up! We're all in love with her; you're rowing in the same boat with
Bullivant, and Gimble, and me, and lots more; and you'll get used to
it in time, like the rest of us. I'll act the generous rival with you,
brother Mat! You shall have all the benefit of my advice gratis; and
shall lay siege to our little beauty in regular form. I don't think your
own experience among the wild Indians will help you much, over here. How
do you mean to make love to her? Did you ever make love to a Squaw?"

"She isn't his wife; and she isn't his daughter; he won't say where he
picked her up, or who she is." Repeating these words to himself in a
quick, quiet whisper, Mat did not appear to be listening to a single
word that young Thorpe said. His mind was running now on one of the
answers that he had wrested from Joanna Grice, at Dibbledean--the answer
which had informed him that Mary's child had been born alive!

"Wake up, Mat! You shall have your fair chance with the lady, along
with the rest of us; and I'll undertake to qualify you on the spot for
civilized courtship," continued Zack, pitilessly carrying on his
joke. "In the first place, always remember that you mustn't go beyond
admiration at a respectful distance, to begin with. At the second
interview, you may make amorous faces at close quarters--what you call
looking unutterable things, you know. At the third, you may get bold,
and try her with a little present. Lots of people have done that, before
you. Gimble tried it, and Bullivant wanted to; but Blyth wouldn't let
him; and I mean to give her--oh, by the bye, I have another important
caution for you." Here he indulged himself in a fresh burst of laughter,
excited by the remembrance of his interview with Mrs. Peckover, in Mr.
Blyth's hall. "Remember that the whole round of presents is open for you
to choose from, except one; and that one is a Hair Bracelet."

Zack's laughter came to an abrupt termination. Mat had raised his head
suddenly, and was now staring him full in the face again, with a bright,
searching look--an expression in which suspicious amazement and doubting
curiosity were very strangely mingled together.

"You're not angry with me for cracking a few respectable old jokes?"
said Zack. "Have I said anything?--Stop! yes, I have, though I didn't
mean it. You looked up at me in that savage manner, when I warned you
not to give her a Hair Bracelet. Surely you don't think me brute