a considerable number of Bank of England notes. It took some time
to make the reckoning, for the notes were of every degree of value; but
at last, and counting a few loose sovereigns, she made out the sum to be
a little under L710 sterling. The sight of so much money worked an
immediate revolution in the mind of Challoner.

"And you propose, madam," he cried, "to intrust that money to a perfect
stranger?"

"Ah!" said she, with a charming smile, "but I no longer regard you as a
stranger."

"Madam," said Challoner, "I perceive I must make you a confession.
Although of a very good family--through my mother, indeed, a lineal
descendant of the patriot Bruce--I dare not conceal from you that my
affairs are deeply, very deeply, involved. I am in debt; my pockets are
practically empty; and, in short, I am fallen to that state when a
considerable sum of money would prove to many men an irresistible
temptation."

"Do you not see," returned the young lady, "that by these words you have
removed my last hesitation? Take them." And she thrust the notes into
the young man's hand.

He sat so long, holding them, like a baby at the font, that Miss
Fonblanque once more bubbled into laughter.

"Pray," she said, "hesitate no further; put them in your pocket; and to
relieve our position of any shadow of embarrassment, tell me by what
name I am to address my knight-errant, for I find myself reduced to the
awkwardness of the pronoun."

Had borrowing been in question, the wisdom of our ancestors had come
lightly to the young man's aid; but upon what pretext could he refuse so
generous a trust? Upon none, he saw, that was not unpardonably wounding;
and the bright eyes and the high spirits of his companion had already
made a breach in the rampart of Challoner's caution. The whole thing, he
reasoned, might be a mere mystification, which it were the height of
solemn folly to resent. On the other hand, the explosion, the interview
at the public-house, and the very money in his hands, seemed to prove
beyond denial the existence of some serious danger; and if that were so,
could he desert her? There was a choice of risks: the risk of behaving
with extraordinary incivility and unhandsomeness to a lady, and the risk
of going on a fool's errand. The story seemed false; but then the money
was undeniable. The whole circumstances were questionable and obscure;
but the lady was charming, and had the speech and manners of society.
While he still hun