'Twas he, too, that gain'd the thanks on our return.

"Mistress," said he with a bow, "my young friend is raw, but has a
good will. Confess, now, for his edification--for he is bound on a
long journey westward, where, they tell me, the maidens grow
comeliest--that looks avail naught with womankind beside a dashing
manner."

The young gentlewoman laughed, shaking her curls.

"I'll give him in that case three better counsels yet: first (for by
his habit I see he is on the King's side), let him take a circuit
from this place to the south, for the road between Marlboro' and
Bristol is, they tell me, all held by the rebels; next, let him
avoid all women, even tho' they ask but an innocent cup of water;
and lastly, let him shun thee, unless thy face lie more than thy
tongue. Shall I say more?"

"Why, no--perhaps better not," replied the old rogue hastily, but
laughing all the same. "That's a clever lass," he added, as the door
shut behind her.

And, indeed, I was fain, next morning, to agree to this. For,
awaking, I found my friend (who had shar'd a room with me) already
up and gone, and discovered the reason in a sheet of writing pinn'd
to my clothes----

"Young Sir,--I convict myself of ingratitude: but habit is hard to
break. So I have made off with the half of thy guineas and thy horse.
The residue, and the letter thou bearest, I leave. 'Tis a good world,