entered the garden and met her.

"Oh, I want you!" he said. "I was afraid you were already
gone.--Caroline, come here."

Caroline came, expecting, as Shirley did, a lecture on not having been
visible at church. Other subjects, however, occupied the rector's mind.

"I shall not sleep at home to-night," he continued. "I have just met
with an old friend, and promised to accompany him. I shall return
probably about noon to-morrow. Thomas, the clerk, is engaged, and I
cannot get him to sleep in the house, as I usually do when I am absent
for a night. Now----"

"Now," interrupted Shirley, "you want me as a gentleman--the first
gentleman in Briarfield, in short--to supply your place, be master of
the rectory and guardian of your niece and maids while you are away?"

"Exactly, captain. I thought the post would suit you. Will you favour
Caroline so far as to be her guest for one night? Will you stay here
instead of going back to Fieldhead?"

"And what will Mrs. Pryor do? she expects me home."

"I will send her word. Come, make up your mind to stay. It grows late;
the dew falls heavily. You and Caroline will enjoy each other's society,
I doubt not."

"I promise you, then, to stay with Caroline," replied Shirley. "As you
say, we shall enjoy each other's society. We will not be separated
to-night. Now, rejoin your old friend, and fear nothing for us."

"If there should chance to be any disturbance in the night, captain; if
you should hear the picking of a lock, the cutting out of a pane of
glass, a stealthy tread of steps about the house (and I need not fear to
tell _you_, who bear a well-tempered, mettlesome heart under your girl's
ribbon sash, that such little incidents are very possible in the present
time), what would you do?"

"Don't know; faint, perhaps--fall down, and have to be picked up again.
But, doctor, if you assign me the post of honour, you must give me arms.
What weapons are there in your stronghold?"

"You could not wield a sword?"

"No; I could manage the carving-knife better."

"You will find a good one in the dining-room sideboard--a lady's knife,
light to handle, and as sharp-pointed as a poniard."

"It will suit Caroline. But you must give me a brace of pistols. I know
you have pistols."

"I have two pairs. One pair I can place at your disposal. You will find
them suspended over the mantelpiece of my study in cloth cases."

"Loaded?"

"Yes, but not on the cock. Cock them before you go to b