"When you come to relieve the guard?" said Mr. Linden smiling. And the
laugh was turned for the moment, rather to Sam's confusion.

"So that's what the Squire's come back for, is it?" said Mr.
Stoutenburgh. "I thought somebody was to blame for his going away."

"Nobody was _much_ to blame," said Mrs. Stoutenburgh.

"I had a long talk with Sam the other day--Sam Deacon, I mean," said
the Squire, "and he was keen to get acquainted with Dr. Harrison. And
as the doctor came along just then, I gave him a chance. I guess the
doctor blessed me for it!--I did him. By the way, Miss Faith, I s'pose
you've got acquainted with the doctor by this time?"

"Yes sir--very well--" Faith said quietly, though she felt the ground
uneasy and unsafe.

"Well what sort of a chap is he?--up to anything besides running away
with all he can lay his hands on?"

"Don't you know him, Mr. Stoutenburgh?"

"Can't say I do, Miss Faith,--it rather strikes me he's not anxious I
should."

"How can he be anxious, sir, when you are not?" said Mr. Linden. "Isn't
that expecting too much?"

The Squire laughed.

"I don't expect too much of him," he said,--"and don't you expect too
little. After all, I'd as soon take a boy's mind as a man's--and he
aint popular among the boys. I thought he would be, after that
exhibition--but he aint."

Which remark Mr. Linden knew to be true, though he did not say so.

"Well, Mr. Stoutenburgh! if you don't like him why _do_ you talk about
him?" said his wife. "Faith--you can play blind man's buff, I'm sure?"

"Wait a bit,--wait a bit," said the Squire--"I'm not ready to be
blinded yet, if she is. You ladies are always in such a hurry! Now Mr.
Linden and I want to have our ideas cleared up. What sort of a man is
the doctor, Miss Faith? You say you know him 'very well,'--do you like
him 'very much'?"

This shot brought Faith to a stand and obliged her, to be sure, to
'shew her colours,' which she did bravely. Nevertheless she faced the
Squire and answered steadily.

"I like him a good deal, Mr. Stoutenburgh--in some respects very much."

"Hum--" said the Squire, as he cut a persuasive piece of duck and put
it on her plate. "Well wouldn't you like to tell me, my dear, what you
mean by 'some respects'?--That's Mrs. Stoutenburgh's word, and I never
could find out yet."

"I suppose it means different things in different cases," said Faith
smiling.

"Did you ever?"--said the Squire, taking a general survey of the