d never go unpunished. Favour me
instantly with the little ornament round your neck!"

"I cannot,--I cannot!" said Lucy, grasping her treasure with both her
hands; "it is my mother's picture, and my mother is dead!"

"The wants of others, madam," returned Tomlinson, who could not for the
life of him rob immorally, "are ever more worthy your attention than
family prejudices. Seriously, give it, and that instantly; we are in a
hurry, and your horses are plunging like devils: they will break your
carriage in an instant,--despatch!"

The squire was a brave man on the whole, though no hero; and the nerves
of an old fox-hunter soon recover from a little alarm. The picture of
his buried wife was yet more inestimable to him than it was to Lucy, and
at this new demand his spirit was roused within him.

He clenched his fists, and advancing himself as it were on his seat, he
cried in a loud voice,--

"Begone, fellow! I have given you--for my own part I think so--too much
already; and, by God, you shall not have the picture!"

"Don't force me to use violence," said Augustus; and putting one foot on
the carriage-step, he brought his pistol within a few inches of Lucy's
breast, rightly judging, perhaps, that the show of danger to her
would be the best method to intimidate the squire. At that instant the
valorous moralist found himself suddenly seized with a powerful gripe
on the shoulder; and a low voice, trembling with passion, hissed in his
ear. Whatever might be the words that startled his organs, they operated
as an instantaneous charm; and to their astonishment, the squire and
Lucy beheld their assailant abruptly withdraw. The door of the carriage
was clapped to, and scarcely two minutes had elapsed before, the robber
having remounted, his comrade, hitherto stationed at the horses' heads,
set spurs to his own steed, and the welcome sound of receding hoofs
smote upon the bewildered ears of the father and daughter.

The door of the carriage was again opened; and a voice, which made Lucy
paler than the preceding terror, said,--

"I fear, Mr. Brandon, the robbers have frightened your daughter. There
is now, however, nothing to fear; the ruffians are gone."

"God bless me!" said the squire; "why, is that Captain Clifford?"

"It is; and he conceives himself too fortunate to have been of the
smallest service to Mr. and Miss Brandon."

On having convinced himself that it was indeed to Mr. Clifford that he
owed his safety as