"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Letty. "Do but look here! See what a mess they've made of this here cloth."

"I've

"Shameful!" exclaimed Mrs. Mott. often bid you not lay a cloth for bread and cheese, haven't I ?”

"It was the exciseman," replied Letty.

"Oh!" said Mrs. Mott. "Well, you must wash it. But as I was going to observe-let me see, what was I saying? Oh, it was about a man that came here this

"Oh, my! If the mice haven't been at the candles, as sure as my name's Letty Butters!"

"What, again?" cried Mrs. Mott.

"I'm certain they've been at them again!" said Letty. "There's no keeping anything from them 'ere creaturs. They gnaws my shoes and stockings so at night, that I shall be obliged to go barefoot, by and bye."

"We must have a tin box for the candles," said Mrs. Mott. "I can't think where the mice come from, we never used to have any at all. But as I was going to observe, there was a man came here this morning

Oh, lauk! look mum! there's Lady Elizabeth, and all the young ladies, and the gover

ness, and the nursery maids, and the baby, all a walking past-and if they arn't looking this way! What a pity you did not happen to be at the door!"

Everybody except the prisoner turned to the window to look at Lady Elizabeth, and all the young ladies, and the governess, and the nursery maids, and the baby, walking past; during which interval Letty nudged the elbow of the deserter, who was sitting with his head upon the table, buried in his own sad thoughts. When he looked up, she pointed to the door, intimating at the same time, by her eyes, that his captors were off their guard; not that she expected he would have time even to get out of the room before their attention was recalled to him, but she sought to make a diversion; and, so far, her stratagem succeeded. The young man rose suddenly, and in so doing made a noise with the bench on which he had been sitting, which caused the soldiers to turn their heads. There was something that seemed to strike them as suspicious in his attitude, and in Letty's proximity. He was standing up, looking anxious and confused; and she purposely assumed an air of embarrassment. They moved from the window, and approached

him, looking hard at her, and then at each other.

"We had better pay the score, and be moving on," said one of them.

"I believe we had," said the other, significantly. Whereupon, they advanced to the bar again, and having inquired what they'd to pay, they threw down the money; and casting an expressive glance at Letty, they bade the landlady "Good morning," and quitted the house.

Letty watched them as long as she could distinguish their red coats in the distance; and when they were fairly out of sight, she went up stairs, and, waking the sleeper, told him of the danger he had escaped.

CHAPTER XXI.

"Haply I think on thee-and then my state
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd, such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings."
SHAKSPEARE.

"This visit sweet, from thee, my pretty dear,
By how much more 'twas unexpected, comes
So much the more timely; witness this free welcome,
Whate'er occasion led thee."

FAIR MAID OF THE INN.

WITH grateful thanks, and a kiss given behind the landlady's back to the friendly Letty, William took his leave of "The White Horse" and its inmates, having first qualified himself for a walk by a hearty meal of eggs and bacon and a draught of good ale. The lucky chance

and kind intervention, by which he had escaped falling into the hands of the detachment from his own regiment, to whom he was personally known, he considered peculiarly fortunate, as he did not think it likely he should meet any more of them in that district; and he hoped to gain time enough to place a considerable distance betwixt himself and the sources of his most imminent danger.

What was to be the termination of his wanderings, provided he escaped pursuit, he did not exactly know. He had no fixed plans; but, in the meantime, he turned his steps in a southerly direction, both because it was the road that led to London, where he thought concealment was easier than in any other place, and because it was the one that removed him furthest from Eastlake and his regiment. No doubt his situation was very embarrassing and full of peril, and he was far from having a mind at ease. Even if he ultimately escaped, the sacrifices he had made, considering his prospects of promotion, were great and lamentable; and if he were taken, the fate he had to anticipate was dreadful. Still, as there is no pain that can equal the pains of love-no agony that can equal the agony inflicted by