ce? Sleeps he not in yon room to the northeast?"

"He does, Guy--but it must not be! I must not risk all for your passion,
which seems to me, as weak as it is without adequate provocation. I care
nothing for the youth, and you know it; but I will not run the thousand
risks which your temper is for ever bringing upon me. There is nothing
to be gained, and a great deal to be lost by it, at this time. As for
the scar--that, I think, is fairly a part of the business, and is not
properly a subject of personal revenge. It belongs to the adventure, and
you should not have engaged in it, without a due reference to its
possible consequences."

"You shall not keep me back by such objections as these. Do I not know
how little you care for the risk--how little you can lose by it?"

"True, I can lose little, but I have other reasons; and, however it may
surprise you, those reasons spring from a desire for your good rather
than my own."

"For my good?" replied the other, with an inquiring sneer.

"Yes, for your good, or rather for Lucy's. You wish to marry her. She is
a sweet child, and an orphan. She merits a far better man than you; and,
bound as I am to give her to you, I am deeply bound to myself and to
her, to make you as worthy of her as possible, and to give her as many
chances for happiness as I can."

An incredulous smile played for a second upon the lips of the outlaw,
succeeded quickly, however, by the savage expression, which, from being
that most congenial to his feelings, had become that most habitual to
his face.

"I can not be deceived by words like these," was his reply, as he
stepped quickly from under the boughs which had sheltered them and made
toward the house.

"Think not to pursue this matter, Guy, on your life. I will not permit
it; not now, at least, if I have to strike for the youth myself."

Thus spoke the landlord, as he advanced in the same direction. Both were
deeply roused, and, though not reckless alike, Munro was a man quite as
decisive in character as his companion was ferocious and vindictive.
What might have been the result of their present position, had it not
undergone a new interruption, might not well be foreseen. The sash of
one of the apartments of the building devoted to the family was suddenly
thrown up, and a soft and plaintive voice, accompanying the wandering
and broken strains of a guitar, rose sweetly into song upon the ear.

"'Tis Lucy--the poor girl! Stay, Guy, and hear he