halter!'"

"Ha, ha, ha!" cried Tomlinson, laughing. One can scarcely blame the good
lady for that. Love rarely brooks such permanent ties. But have you no
other lady in your eye?"

"Not for matrimony,--all roads but those to the church!" While this
dissolute pair were thus conversing, Clifford, leaning against the
wainscot, listened to them with a sick and bitter feeling of degradation,
which till of late days had been a stranger to his breast. He was at
length aroused from his silence by Ned, who, bending forward and placing
his hand upon Clifford's knee, said abruptly,--

"In short, Captain, you must lead us once more to glory. We have still
our horses, and I keep my mask in my pocketbook, together with my comb.
Let us take the road to-morrow night, dash across the country towards
Salisbury, and after a short visit in that neighbourhood to a band of old
friends of mine,--bold fellows, who would have stopped the devil himself
when he was at work upon Stonehenge,--make a tour by Reading and Henley
and end by a plunge into London."

"You have spoken well, Ned!" said Tomlinson, approvingly. "Now, noble
captain, your opinion?"

"Messieurs," answered Clifford, "I highly approve of your intended
excursion, and I only regret that I cannot be your companion."

"Not! and why?" cried Mr. Pepper, amazed.

"Because I have business here that renders it impossible; perhaps, before