nter at Palermo. Ain't I right, sir?"

It was not difficult to see that Alfred Layton did not yield a very
willing assent to this arrangement; but he stole away from the room
unperceived, and carried his sorrow with him to his chamber. He had
scarcely closed his door, however, when he heard Quackinboss's voice
outside.

"I ain't a-comin' to disturb you," said he, entering; "but I have a
word or two to say, and, mayhap, can't find another time to say it. You
'll be wantin' a trifle or so to begin with before you can turn to earn
something for yourself. You 'll find it there in that pocket-book,--look
to it now, sir, I'll have no opposition,--it's the best investment ever
I had. You 'll marry this girl; yes, there ain't a doubt about that,
and mayhap, one of these days I 'll be a-comin to you to ask favorable
terms for my cousin Obadiah B. Quackinboss, that's located down there
in your own diggin's, and you 'll say, 'Well, Colonel, I ain't forgotten
old times; we was thick as thieves once on a time, and so fix it all
your own way.'"

Alfred could but squeeze the other's hand as he turned away, his heart
too full for him to speak.

"I like your father, sir," resumed Quackinboss; "he's a grand fellow,
and if it war n't for some of his prejudices about the States, I 'd say
I never met a finer man."

Young Layton saw well how by this digression the American was adroitly
endeavoring to draw the conversation into another direction, and one
less pregnant with exciting emotions.

"Yes, sir, he ain't fair to us," resumed the Colonel. "He forgets
that we 're a new people, and jest as hard at work to build up our new
civilization as our new cities."

"There's one thing he never does, never can forget,--that the warmest,
fastest friend his son ever met with in life came from your country."

"Well, sir, if there be anything we Yankees are famed for, it is the
beneficial employment of our spare capital. We don't sit down content
with three-and-a-half or four per cent interest, like you Britishers, we
look upon _that_ as a downright waste; and it's jest the same with our
feelin's as our dollars, though _you_ of the old country don't think
so. We can't afford to wait thirty, or five-and-thirty years for a
friendship. We want lively sales, sir, and quick returns. We want to
know if a man mean kindly by us afore we 've both of us got too old to
care for it. That 's how I come to like you first, and I war n't so far
out in thinkin