days when we were rich enough to keep a man-servant, our
footman--as handsome a fellow as ever you saw, and no older than
I am--married a witch with a lame leg. When I asked him why he
had made such a fool of himself he looked quite indignant, and
said: 'Sir! she has got six hundred pounds.' He and the witch
keep a public house. What will you bet me that we don't see your
housekeeper drawing beer at the bar, and Joseph getting drunk in
the parlor, before we are a year older?"

I was not well enough to prolong my enjoyment of Rothsay's boyish
humor. Besides, exaggeration to be really amusing must have some
relation, no matter how slender it may be, to the truth. My
housekeeper belonged to a respectable family, and was essentially
a person accust omed to respect herself. Her brother occupied a
position of responsibility in the establishment of a firm of
chemists whom I had employed for years past. Her late husband had
farmed his own land, and had owed his ruin to calamities for
which he was in no way responsible. Kind-hearted Mrs. Mozeen was
just the woman to take a motherly interest in a well-disposed lad
like Joseph; and it was equally characteristic of my
valet--especially when Rothsay was thoughtless enough to
encourage him--to pervert an innocent action for the sake of
indulging in a stupid jest. I took advantage of my privilege as
an invalid, and changed the subject.

A week passed. I had expected to hear from Rothsay. To my
surprise and disappointment no letter arrived.

Susan was more considerate. She wrote, very modestly and
prettily, to say that she and her mother had heard of my illness