'I won't stay here another minute,' he said.

And leaving the hall by the rear entrance, and slipping down a back
stairway, he was soon in the open air, and running swiftly through the
park toward the cottage in the lane.

Meanwhile the two brothers had descended to the drawing-room, where
Arthur was soon surrounded by his friends and old acquaintances, whom he
greeted with that cordiality and friendliness of manner which had made
him so popular with those who knew him best. Every trace of excitement
had disappeared, and had he been master of ceremonies himself, at whose
bidding the guests were there, he could not have been more gracious or
affable. Even old Peterkin, when he came into notice, was treated with a
consideration which put that worthy man at ease, and set his tongue
again in motion. At first he had felt a little overawed by Arthur's
elegant appearance, and had whispered to his neighbor:

'That's a swell, and no mistake. I s'pose that's what you call foreign
get up. Well, me and ma is goin' to Europe some time, and hang me if I
don't put on style when I come home. I'd kind of like to speak to the
feller. I wonder if he remember that I was runnin' a boat when he went
away?'

If Arthur did remember it he showed no sign when Peterkin at last
pressed up to him, claiming his attention, as Captain Peterkin, of the
_'Liza Ann_, the fastest boat on the canal, and by George, the
all-tiredest meanest, too, I guess, he said: 'but them days is past, and
the old captain is past with them. I dabbled a little in ile, and if I
do say it, I could about buy up the whole canal if I wanted to; but I
ain't an atom proud, and I don't forget the old boatin' days, and I've