l, did I not tell you right, we have baffled all
the bloodhounds!"

"And here, then, Gawtrey, we are to part," said Philip, mournfully.

"I wish you would think better of it, my boy," returned Mr. Gawtrey,
breaking an egg; "how can you shift for yourself--no kith nor kin, not
even that important machine for giving advice called a friend--no, not
a friend, when I am gone? I foresee how it must end. [D--- it, salt
butter, by Jove!]"

"If I were alone in the world, as I have told you again and again,
perhaps I might pin my fate to yours. But my brother!"

"There it is, always wrong when we act from our feelings. My whole life,
which some day or other I will tell you, proves that. Your brother--bah!
is he not very well off with his own uncle and aunt?--plenty to eat and
drink, I dare say. Come, man, you must be as hungry as a hawk--a slice
of the beef? Let well alone, and shift for yourself. What good can you
do your brother?"

"I don't know, but I must see him; I have sworn it."

"Well, go and see him, and then strike across the country to me. I will
wait a day for you,--there now!"

"But tell me first," said Philip, very earnestly, and fixing his dark
eyes on his companion,--"tell me--yes, I must speak frankly--tell me,
you who would link my fortunes with your own,--tell me, what and who are
you?"

Gawtrey looked up.

"What do you suppose?" said he, dryly.

"I fear to suppose anything, lest I wrong you; but the strange place to
which you took me the evening on which you saved me from pursuit, the
persons I met there--"

"Well-dressed, and very civil to you?"

"True! but with a certain wild looseness in their talk that--But I have
no right to judge others by mere appearance. Nor is it this that has
made me anxious, and, if you will, suspicious."

"What then?"

"Your dress-your disguise."

"Disguised yourself!--ha! ha! Behold the world's charity! You fly
from some danger, some pursuit, disguised--you, who hold yourself
guiltless--I do the same, and you hold me criminal--a robber, perhaps-a
murderer it may be! I will tell you what I am: I am a son of Fortune,
an adventurer; I live by my wits--so do poets and lawyers, and all the
charlatans of the world; I am a charlatan--a chameleon. 'Each man in
his time plays many parts:' I play any part in which Money, the
Arch-Manager, promises me a livelihood. Are you satisfied?"

"Perhaps," answered the boy, sadly, "when I know more of the world, I
shall understan