r tonight.
That is one part of it. The other is this. Let us be friends. We know
all about you. I have even talked to Ephraim about you. So let us make
it up. We have been two little spit fires. At any rate you have. Let us
be friends. What sorts of books do you like to read? I shall bring you
some story-books about ghosts, or about red Indians. Which do you like
best? I like red Indians myself. I suppose you, being a man, like ghosts
best. Your sincere friend Aurelia Carew. Who by the by thinks it best
to warn you that you had not better try to get up the chimney, as it is
barred across. She hopes that the table did not fall into the bath."

CHAPTER XXI. MY FRIEND AURELIA AND HER UNCLE

It was a friendly letter, which relieved me a good deal from my
anxieties; but what I could not bear was the thought that the Duke would
think me a deserter. I made up my mind that I would get away from that
house at the first opportunity, so as to rejoin the Duke, to whom I felt
myself pledged. But in the meantime, until I could get away, I resolved
to make the best of my imprisonment. I was nettled by Aurelia's tone of
superiority. I would show her, as I had shown her before, that my wits
were just as nimble as hers. A few minutes after the letter had been
read, she held a parley with me through the keyhole.

"Mr. Martin Hyde. Are you going to shoot me?"

"No, Miss Carew, though I think you deserve it."

"You won't try to get away if I open the door?"

"I mean to get away as soon as ever I get half a chance."

"I've got three men with me at the door here."

"Oh. Very well. But you just wait till I get a chance."

"Don't be so bloodthirsty, Mr. Martin Hyde. Now, I'm coming in to talk
with you. No pistols, mind. Not one."

"I've promised I won't shoot. You might believe a fellow. But I mean to
get away, remember. Just to show you."

She opened the door after that, a brown, merry Aurelia, behind whom I
could see three men, ready to stop any rush. They closed the door behind
her after she had entered.

"Well," she said, smiling. "Will you not shake hands with me, Martin
Hyde?"

"Yes," I said, "I will shake hands. But you played a very mean trick, I
think. There."

"You mustn't think me mean," she answered. "I don't like mean people.
Now promise me one thing. You say you are going to run away from us. You
won't run away from me when I am with you, will you?"

"No," I said, after thinking this over, to see if it could