ally I may demean myself, I am nothing but pitch to him. Other attempts I have made, through other persons--I will not trouble you with the account-they have all failed; and nothing now remains but an attempt in person. That is my present plan."

"And it is a good one, Edward," Ralph said heartily. "Letters often make things worse. People have a preconceived idea; but go in person with a bold heart and an honest purpose, and the manner of a gentleman, and you will seldom fail."

"True enough, perhaps, Ralph; but how is it to be done? If I were announced as Mr. Willoughby, I should be taken by the left leg and thrown down stairs, before I had time to exhibit my honest purposes, or my beautiful manners."

"I don't know that, "Ralph began, gravely and slowly; but was impatiently interrupted by his companion

"Ah! Ralph, but I do know; and so I have made up my mind to go in disguise."

"My dear fellow!" ejaculated Ralph, stopping and withdrawing his arm from his companion in the very middle of a crossing.

"Yes, in disguise, Ralph-but this is not exactly the properest place for a discussion. Come on and I will tell you my plan. There is a little shooting lodge to be let about two miles from Middlethorpe. I know nothing about it-for, though I was down there once, I was not then thinking of the lodge; but, I am told that, for the kind of thing, it is a peculiarly decent little hole. This lodge, my dear Mr. Caradoc, I mean you to hire for the approaching shooting season; and, having hired it, I mean you to go down and take possession. Then, as I presume, you will not wish to remain in solitude, I intend you to invite, as will be natural, a friend to pass

a few weeks with you-and that friend I intend to be. I shall come down as a stranger, bearing some name hereafter to be chosen. As your stranger friend you will present me at Middlethorpe; and this is the way in which I shall woo Sir Hugh and one of my cousins."

"And then?" inquired his companion gravely.

66

Why, and then having won their hearts, I mean, of course, to take off my disguise; and then we shall, I hope, live together happily all the days of our lives, as they did in story books in my young days."

Ralph walked on in silence, and made no comment on the plan unfolded for his instruction.

Edward waited with an expression of anxiety on his countenance for a moment or so-then he said, "By your silence, Ralph, I gather that you don't like my plan ?"

"No, I don't."

"But why?"

"I don't think it honest," he said with vehemence; "I hate crooked ways—it's a lie."

Edward was silent and thoughtful for a moment. "I am not going to defend every particle of the scheme," at last he replied; “if it comes to an argument you will have the best of it, I know-it is not a case that will bear strict scrutiny. It is what some would call a foolish—some a romantic scheme. But whatever it is, my mind is made up. There may be a small, a very small particle of evil in it; but it is to effect, I hope, a great good."

"Good never does come of evil," said his companion doggedly.

"That is a bold assertion, Ralph. At any rate in this case, no great harm can come.

VOL. I.

Disappointment is the worst we have to

expect."

Ralph shook his head.

"Why, what do you expect? What visions has your brilliant imagination conjured up? Do you think I shall be put in the stocks for imposture, or hanged at Tyburn as a spy? If so, it is it is my affair, not yours. Don't talk to me of evil, for I don't care. I am like the naughty boy in the fable; for anything that happens to me, I don't care. I have set my mind on this plan and nothing shall move me."

"I don't quite know what I mean or expect," Ralph began again, his grave, determined tone totally unmoved by the sportive manner of his friend; "I only feel that evil may come, perhaps not only to you. Such crooked ways always bring trouble and sorrow with them. My dear Edward, give it