d-fashioned English pluck and courage; there's nothing I
admire so much." As he said these words, his eye glanced for a moment
at his eldest son Amos, who was standing at the outside of the group, as
though he felt that the older brother had no claim on his regard on the
score of courage. The young man coloured slightly, but made no remark.
He might, had he so pleased, have put in his claim for loving notice, on
the ground of presence of mind in stilling the plunging horse,--presence
of mind, which commonly contributes more to success and deliverance in
an emergency than impulsive and impetuous courage; but he was not one to
assert himself, and the coachman and stable-boy, who knew the part he
had taken, were not present to speak a word for him. So his younger
brother Walter got the praise, and was looked upon as the hero of the
adventure.

CHAPTER TWO.

UNDER A CLOUD.

Mr Huntingdon was a country gentleman of good fortune and popular
manners, warm in his temper, hasty in his speech, upright in his
transactions, and liberal in his dealings. No man could make a better
speech, when he had those to address who substantially agreed with him;
while in ordinary conversation he generally succeeded in silencing an
opponent, though, perhaps, more by the vehemence of his utterances than
by the cogency of his reasonings. He had a considerable knowledge of
field-sports and farming, rather less of literature, and less still of
character. Naturally, he had a high opinion of his own judgment, in
which opinion his dependants agreed with him before his face, but
differed from it behind his back. However, every one allowed that he
was a worthy man, a good landlord, a kind master, and a faithful friend.
A cloud, however, rested on his home.

He had married early, and had made, in the estimation of his friends and
of the county generally, an excellent choice of a wife in the person of
the eldest daughter of a neighbouring squire. The marriage was
apparently a very happy one; for the bride brought her husband a fair
face, a loving heart, and a good fortune, and entertained his friends
with due courtesy and cordiality. Moreover, she neither thwarted his
tastes nor squandered his money; while he, on his part, pursued his
hunting, shooting, and fishing, and his occasional magisterial duties,
with due consideration for his wife's domestic and social engagements,
so that their married life ran its course with as little friction