one of those loud involuntary "hems!" which were generally indicative of complacency; while he stumped his cane approvingly upon the ground, popped a bit of sugar into his mouth, and smacked his lips aloud and relishingly. The sun was just setting, so as to involve the basement story of the building in the purple tinge of evening, while the upper portion retained a red glow, and the windows were lighted up by the rays, as if the old Cavalier were still alive, and had ordered the whole house to be illuminated for some brilliant victory. The woods on either side exhibited a somewhat similar appearance; the trunks and lower boughs of the trees, thrown into broad and deep shade contrasting strongly with their tufted tops, dancing in the breeze, and glittering with the ray as if they had been dipped in liquid sun-light. Three minutes' more gaze, and a second lump of sugar would have completely restored Goldingham's equanimity; but, alas! the new lord of this goodly domain had hardly time to cast an eye over his possessions, when he was rudely hailed from behind, with the shout of" Hallo, you

chap! what the dickens be 'st a'ter ?"-accompanied by the fierce barking of a dog; and upon looking round, he beheld a sturdy, bull-headed rustic, in a fustian jacket and goloshes, holding back by a chain a raging mastiff, which evinced a furious eagerness to fly at the trespasser.

66

Cogsnouns! was it thee made zuch a vine clatter at the bell ?" said the fellow, as he noticed the shabby appearance of the intruder“dang'd, if thee bees 'nt a proper zaucy codger. What be up to, trow ?"

"Insolent clown!" replied Goldingham, determined not to make himself known.

"I have business with Mrs. Holmes, the housekeeper." "Then, thee may'st go round by the vootpath, and ring at back gate; so thee 'lt please to bundle out again, same way thee comed in. But, stop a bit, my vine vellow, I be gamekeeper for the present, for want of a better, so I'll just overhaul this 'n blue bag; for spite o' the three-cornered castor, drat me if I doant think'ee bee'st no better nor a poacher."

66 If you come one step nearer, you scoundrel," cried Goldingham, brandishing his hornheaded cane, "I'll make you remember it the longest day you have to live. I have business at the house, and as I see no good reason for either showing you my bag, or turning back, I shall not do one or the other.-Hem!" So saying, he walked a few paces forward, the fellow following and continuing his abuse, while the mastiff nuzzled so close to Isaac's leg, and showed such a raging appetite for a mouthful or two of his grey cotton calf, that he looked round for some more efficient weapon than his cane. Luckily espying a pole that had been used by the lodge-keeper's wife for extending linen, he seized it, and instantly aimed a blow at the four-footed assailant, which would have been probably fatal, had not his master pulled him back by the chain. Neither approving the aspect of this weapon, nor the resolute look of the party who wielded it, the fellow now thought it prudent to retreat, contenting himself with muttering, as he hauled away his bristling and snarling mastiff," Thof I leave thee, my

old

boy, danged if I doant mark thee. Thee may'st go on if thee likes, and if thee do pop thy leg into a trap, or get blown up wi' gunpowder, I'll let loose Viper here, to help 'ee out of scrape."

Although he decamped after this valediction, without offering any further impediment, his parting words produced a marvellous effect upon Isaac's peace of mind, as well as upon the velocity of his further progress. Pacific as his habits had been, he was of an obstinate and fearless temperament, that would not allow him to shrink from any open antagonist upon equitable terms of contest; but the very mention of traps and gunpowder occasioned a tingling horror to run through his blood, and gave a momentary shudder to his whole frame. They savoured of Popish plots, the dread of which was ever uppermost in his mind, and his imagination coming in aid of his fears, he could not help fancying that some secret Jesuit, inflamed by the known Protestant zeal of the new proprietor, might have set traps and pitfalls all over the grounds for the purpose of exterminating him upon his first visit. In point of fact,

there was no engine of any sort in the park, the gamekeeper's threat being only a customary menace employed to intimidate beggars, suspected poachers, or other trespassers; but as Isaac paid him the unmerited compliment of believing his assertions, he felt considerably embarrassed how to act. His first impulse was to retreat, but that stubbornness of purpose to which we have already alluded, presently acquiring the ascendancy, he put on his spectacles to assist his discovery of the suspected traps, pushed the pole along the ground before him as a feeler, and thus slowly won his way, inch by inch, along his own grounds to his own mansion. Many a broken twig upon the earth, suspected of being a wire lying in insidious ambush, and connected with some infernal machine, was turned over and over with infinite misgiving and palpitation of heart; a hen-coop half concealed by a bush assumed the terrific form of

the

very engine in question, whose flank it was necessary to turn by walking over the opposite borders, and making a considerable deviation from the drive; and the gate of an adjoining