thing; I owe them------'

'Hush! hush!' said Glastonbury. 'If only for my sake, Ferdinand, be
silent.'

'For yours, then, not for theirs.'

'But why did you remain at Bath?' enquired Glastonbury.

'I had not been there more than a day or two, when my principal creditor
came down from town and menaced me. He had a power of attorney from an
usurer at Malta, and talked of applying to the Horse Guards. The report
that I was going to marry an heiress had kept these fellows quiet, but
the delay and my absence from Bath had excited his suspicion. Instead,
therefore, of coming to an immediate explanation with Katherine, brought
about as I had intended by my coldness and neglect, I was obliged to
be constantly seen with her in public, to prevent myself from being
arrested. Yet I wrote to Ducie daily. I had confidence in my energy
and skill. I thought that Henrietta might be for a moment annoyed or
suspicious; I thought, however, she would be supported by the fervour of
my love. I anticipated no other evil. Who could have supposed that
these infernal visitors would have come at such a moment to this retired
spot?'

'And now, is all known now?' enquired Glastonbury.

'Nothing,' replied Ferdinand; 'the difficulty of my position was so
great that I was about to cut the knot, by quitting Bath and leaving a
letter addressed to Katherine, confessing all. But the sudden silence of
Henrietta drove me mad. Day after day elapsed; two, three, four, five,
six days, and I heard nothing. The moon was bright; the mail was just
going off. I yielded to an irresistible impulse. I bid adieu to no one.
I jumped in. I was in London only ten minutes. I dashed to Ducie. It
was deserted. An old woman told me the family had gone, had utterly
departed; she knew not where, but she thought for foreign parts. I sank
down; I tottered to a seat in that hall where I had been so happy. Then
it flashed across my mind that I might discover their course and pursue
them. I hurried to the nearest posting town. I found out their route.
I lost it for ever at the next stage. The clue was gone; it was
market-day, and in a great city, where horses are changed every minute,
there is so much confusion that my enquiries were utterly baffled. And
here I am, Mr. Glastonbury,' added Ferdinand, with a kind of mad smile.
'I have travelled four days, I have not slept a wink, I have tasted no
food; but I have drunk, I have drunk well. Here I am, and I have half
a mind to set