know," replied the young lady, with a sigh. "By the by, I
had forgotten--it is very childish, and I am almost ashamed to mention
it--but when you see Miss Fonblanque, you will have to make yourself a
little ridiculous; and I am sure the part in no way suits you. We had
agreed upon a watchword. You will have to address an earl's daughter in
these words: '_Nigger_, _nigger, never die_'; but reassure yourself,"
she added, laughing, "for the fair patrician will at once finish the
quotation. Come now, say your lesson."

"'Nigger, nigger, never die,'" repeated Challoner, with undisguised
reluctance.

Miss Fonblanque went into fits of laughter. "Excellent," said she, "it
will be the most humorous scene!" And she laughed again.

"And what will be the counterword?" asked Challoner stiffly.

"I will not tell you till the last moment," said she; "for I perceive
you are growing too imperious."

Breakfast over, she accompanied the young man to the platform, bought
him the _Graphic_, the _Athenaeum_, and a paper-cutter, and stood on the
step conversing till the whistle sounded. Then she put her head into the
carriage. "_Black face and shining eye!_" she whispered, and instantly
leaped down upon the platform, with a trill of gay and musical laughter.
As the train steamed out of the great arch of glass, the sound of that
laughter still rang in the young man's ears.

Challoner's position was too unusual to be long welcome to his mind. He
found himself projected the whole length of England, on a mission beset
with obscure and ridiculous circumstances, and yet, by the trust he had
accepted, irrevocably bound to persevere. How easy it appeared, in the
retrospect, to have refused the whole proposal, returned the money, and
gone forth again upon his own affairs, a free and happy man! And it was
now impossible: the enchantress who had held him with her eye had now
disappeared, taking his honour in pledge; and as she had failed to leave
him an address, he was denied even the inglorious safety of retreat. To
use the paper-knife, or even to read the periodicals with which she had
presented him, was to renew the bitterness of his remorse; and as he was
alone in the compartment, he passed the day staring at the landscape in
impotent repentance, and long before he was landed on the platform of
St. Enoch's, had fallen to the lowest and coldest zones of
self-contempt.

As he was hungry, and elegant in his habits, he would have preferred to
di