mad!" was my reflection and speech, as, wheeling my horse
half about, I could see him looking backward, and driving his heels
still into the sides of his reluctant hack. The next moment gave me a
solution of the matter. The simple countryman had heard of the
bedlamite from Hamilton jail. My bare head, the long hair flying in
the wind, my buoyancy of manner, and the hearty, and, perhaps, novel
form of salutation with which I addressed him, had satisfied him that I
was the person. As the thought struck me, I resolved to play the game
out, and, with a restless love of levity which has been too frequently
my error, I put the whip over my horse's neck, and sent him forward in
pursuit. My nag was a fine one, and very soon the space was lessened
between me and the chase. As he heard the footfalls behind, the
frightened fugitive redoubled his exertions. He laid himself to it,
his heels paddling in the sides of his donkey with redoubled industry.
And thus I kept him for a good mile, until the first houses of the
settlement grew visible in the distance. I then once more turned upon
the path to the Owens', laughing merrily at the rare chase, and the
undisguised consternation of the countryman. The story afforded ample
merriment to my fair friends Emmeline and Susannah. "It was so
ridiculous that one of my appearance should be taken for a madman. The
silly fellow deserved the scare." On these points we were all
perfectly agreed. That night we spent charmingly. The company did not
separate till near one o'clock. We had fun and fiddles. I danced by
turns with the twins, and more than once with a Miss Gridley, a very
pretty girl, who was present. Squire Owens was in the best of humours,
and, no ways loth, I was made to stay all night.

CHAPTER III

A new day of delight dawned upon us with the next. Our breakfast made
a happy family picture, which I began to think it would be cruel to
interrupt. So snugly did I sit beside Emmeline, and so sweetly did
Susannah minister at the coffee urn, and so patriarchally did the old
man look around upon the circle, that my meditations were all in favour
of certain measures for perpetuating the scene. The chief difficulty
seemed to be, in the way of a choice between the sisters.

"How happy could I be with either,
Were t'other dear charmer away."

I turned now from one to the other, only to become more bewildered.
The lively glance and playful remark of Emmeline, her lov