arm within hers, and,
followed by her husband and the solicitor, sailed out of the apartment
with an air of triumphant disdain and pride. Miss Brandon looked round
for Ferret, but not perceiving him--he had left hastily an instant or two
before--her face became deadly pale, and the most piteous expression of
hopeless despair I had ever beheld broke from her troubled but
singularly-expressive eyes. I mechanically followed, with a half-formed
purpose of remonstrating with Major Brandon in behalf of the unfortunate
girl, and was by that means soon in possession of the key to Mr. Ferret's
apparently inexplicable conduct.

The Brandon party walked very fast, and I had scarcely got up with
them as they were turning out of Chancery Lane into Fleet Street, when
two men, whose vocation no accustomed eye could for an instant
mistake, arrested their further progress. "This lady," said one of the
men, slightly touching Miss Brandon on the shoulder, "is, I believe,
Clara Brandon?"

"Yes she is; and what of that, fellow?" demanded the major's lady with
indignant emphasis.

"Not much, ma'am," replied the sheriff's officer, "when you are used to
it. It is my unpleasant duty to arrest her for the sum of eighty-seven
pounds, indorsed on this writ, issued at the suit of one Susan Hopley."

"Arrest her!" exclaimed Mrs. Brandon; "why, she is a minor!"

"Minor or major, ma'am, makes very little difference to us. She can plead
that hereafter, you know. In the meantime, miss, please to step into this
coach," replied the officer, holding the door open.

"But she's a person of unsound mind," screamed the lady, as Clara,
nothing loath, sprang into the vehicle.

"So are most people that do business with our establishment," responded
the imperturbable official, as he shut and fastened the door. "Here is my
card, sir," he added, addressing the attorney, who now came up. "You see
where to find the lady, if her friends wish to give bail to the sheriff,
or, what is always more satisfactory, pay the debt and costs." He then
jumped on the box, his follower got up behind, and away drove the coach,
leaving the discomfited major and his fiery better-half in a state of the
blankest bewilderment!

"Why, what _is_ the meaning of this?" at length gasped Mrs. Brandon,
fiercely addressing the attorney, as if _he_, were a _particeps criminis_
in the affair.

"The meaning, my dear madame, is, that Miss Clara Brandon is arrested for
debt, and carried off