rushed to their doors. Stray dogs, excited
by the clamour, ran wildly after the fugitive man, yelping "in madding
bray"! Vance, fearing to be clawed by the females if he merely walked,
sure to be bitten by the dogs if he ran, ambled on, strove to look
composed, and carry his nose high in its native air, till, clearing the
street, he saw a hedgerow to the right; leaped it with an agility which
no stimulus less preternatural than that of self-preservation could have
given to his limbs, and then shot off like an arrow, and did not
stop, till, out of breath, he dropped upon the bench in the sheltering
honeysuckle arbour. Here he was still fanning himself with his cap, and
muttering unmentionable expletives, when he was joined by Lionel, who
had tarried behind to talk more about Sophy to the Cobbler, and
who, unconscious that the din which smote his ear was caused by his
ill-starred friend, had been enticed to go upstairs and look after Sophy
in the crystal,--vainly. When Vance had recited his misadventures, and
Lionel had sufficiently condoled with him, it became time for the latter
to pay his share of the bill, pack up his knapsack, and start for the
train. Now, the station could only be reached by penetrating the heart
of the village, and Vance swore that he had had enough of that. "Peste!"
said he; "I should pass right before No. 5 in the High Street, and the
nuss and the babby will be there on the threshold, like Virgil's picture
of the infernal regions,

"'Infantumque anima; flentes in limine primo.'

We will take leave of each other here. I shall go by the boat to
Chertsey whenever I shall have sufficiently recovered my shaken nerves.
There are one or two picturesque spots to be seen in that neighbourhood.
In a few days I shall be in town! write to me there, and tell me how you
get on. Shake hands, and Heaven speed you. But, ah! now you have paid
your moiety of the bill, have you enough left for the train?"

"Oh, yes, the fare is but a few shillings; but, to be sure, a fly to
Fawley? I ought not to go on foot" (proudly); "and, too, supposing he
affronts me, and I have to leave his house suddenly? May I borrow a
sovereign? My mother will call and repay it."

VANCE (magnificently).--"There it is, and not much more left in my
purse,--that cursed Star and Garter! and those three pounds!"

LIONEL (sighing).--"Which were so well spent! Before you sell that
picture, do let me make a copy."

VANCE.--"Better take