swaggerer!" laughed the Squire.

Verty nodded.

"That's the very man, sir," he said, "and I saw him to-day. I came
back, and found Mr. Rushton wanted to be quiet, and Mr. Roundjacket
said I might go and hunt some for _ma mere_"

"Go, then, Verty; that is, if you won't stop to dinner."

"I don't think I can, sir--I should like to see Miss Lavinia, though,
if--"

"Out visiting," said the Squire.

This removed all Verty's scruples; he had virtually done what he
promised Redbud, and would now go and see her, because the Squire had
a better right to decide than even Miss Lavinia. He, therefore, bowed,
with a smiling look, to the old gentleman, and continued his way
toward the lodge of his mother.

He had reached the foot of the hill upon which the cabin was situated,
when he saw before him, seated on a log by the side of the bridle-path
he was following, one of those pedlars of former times, who were
accustomed to make the circuit of the countryside with their packs
of wares and stuffs--peripatetic merchants, who not unfrequently
practised the trade of Autolycus.

This man seemed to be a German; and when he spoke, this impression was
at once verified. He informed Verty that he was tired, very hungry,