CHAPTER I.

UNCLE STILLINGHAST.

"Do you think they will be here to-night, sir?"

"Don't know, and don't care."

"The road is very bad,"--after a pause, "that skirts the Hazel
property."

"Well, what then; what then, little May?"

"The carriage might be overturned, sir; or, the horses might shy a
little to the left, and go over the precipice into the creek."

"Is that all?"

"Is it not dreadful to think of, sir?"

"Well, I don't know; I should be sorry to lose the horses--"

"Oh, sir! and my cousin! Did you forget her?"

"I _care_ nothing about her. I suppose my forefathers must have
committed some crime for which I am to suffer, by being made,
willy-nilly, the guardian of two silly, mawkish girls."