been done, than the other was in motion. Throwing aside his sluggishness of look, he recognised by a glance the stranger, and his head was bent forward to listen, as he saw that he was about to speak. The words of our old acquaintance were few, but significant—
"I am here before you—say nothing—lead on, and I will follow."
With a nod, the person addressed looked but once at the speaker; then, without a word, moving from his easy position against the tavern, and throwing aside all show of sluggishness, he led the way for the stranger. Taking an oblique path, which carried them in a short time into the neighbouring woods, they soon left the village behind them.
Davis had been reluctant to separate from the companion to whom he had so readily yielded his confidence. He had his doubts—as who could be without them in that season of general distrust? But when he remembered the warm, manly frankness of the stranger—his free, bold, generous, and gentle countenance—he did not suffer himself to doubt, for a moment more, that his secret would be safe in his possession. This, indeed, was the least of his difficulties. The fair coquette of the inn had attracted him strongly, and, with a heavy heart, he turned into the "Royal George," and, throwing his form at length upon a bench, he solaced, or vexed, himself with an occasional glance at Bella Humphries, whose duties carried her to and fro between the bar and the sitting-room; and with thoughts of that vengeance upon his enemy which his new relation with the stranger seemed to promise him.
Meanwhile, following the steps of the individual he had so singled out, the stranger kept on his way until the village had been fairly passed; then, plunging down a little by-path, into which the former had gone, he soon overtook him, and they moved on closely together in their common progress. The guide was a stout able-bodied person, of thirty years, or perhaps more—a rough-looking man, one seemingly born and bred entirely in the humble life of the country. He was powerful in physical development, rather stout than high, with a short thick neck—a head round and large, with eyes small, settled, and piercing—and features even solemn in their general
