As soon as I was alone, I took from my pocket one of thehandbills which my excitable fellow-traveler had presented to me,so as to have it ready for Mrs. Baggs the moment we stood face toface. Armed with this ominous letter of introduction, I kicked achair down against the folding-doors, by way of giving apreliminary knock to arouse the housekeeper's attention. The planwas immediately successful. Mrs. Baggs opened the doors ofcommunication violently. A slight smell of spirits entered theroom, and was followed close by the housekeeper herself, with anindignant face and a disordered head-dress.

"What do you mean, sir? How dare you--" she began; then stoppedaghast, looking at me in speechless astonishment.

"I have been obliged to make a slight alteration in my personalappearance, ma'am," I said. "But I am still Frank Softly."

"Don't talk to me about personal appearances, sir," cried Mrs.Baggs recovering. "What do you mean by being here? Leave thehouse immediately. I shall write to the doctor, Mr. Softly, thisvery night."

"He has no address you can direct to," I rejoined. "If you don'tbelieve me, read that." I gave her the handbill without anotherword of preface.

Mrs. Baggs looked at it--lost in an instant some of the finecolor plentifully diffused over her face by sleep andspirits--sat down in the nearest chair with a thump that seemedto threaten the very foundations of Number Two, Zion Place--andstared me hard in the face; the most speechless and helplesselderly female I ever beheld.

"Take plenty of time to compose yourself ma'am," I said. "If youdon't see the doctor again soon, under the gallows, you willprobably not have the pleasure of meeting with him for someconsiderable time."

Mrs. Baggs smote both her hands distractedly on her knees, andwhispered a devout ejaculation to herself softly.

"Allow me to deal with you, ma'am, as a woman of the world," Iwent on. "If you will give me half-an-hour's hearing, I willexplain to you how I come to know what I do; how I got here; andwhat I have to propose to Miss Alicia and to you."

"If you have the feelings of a man, sir," said Mrs. Baggs,shaking her head and raising her eyes to heaven, "you willremember that I have nerves, and will not presume upon them."

As the old lady uttered the last words, I thought I saw her eyesturn from heaven, and take the earthly direction of the sofa inthe front parlor. It struck me also that her lips looked ratherdry. Upon these two hints I spoke.

"Might I suggest some little stimulant?" I asked, with respectfulearnestness. "I have heard my grandmother (Lady Malkinshaw) saythat, 'a drop in time saves nine.' "

"You will find it under the sofa pillow," said Mrs. Baggs, withsudden briskness. " 'A drop in time saves nine'--my sentiments,if I may put myself on a par with her ladyship. Theliqueur-glass, Mr. Softly, is in the backgammon-board. I hope herladyship was well the last time you heard from her? Suffers fromher nerves, does she? Like me, again. In the backgammon-board.Oh, this news, this awful news!"

I found the bottle of brandy in the place indicated, but noliqueur-glass in the backgammon-board. There was, however, awine-glass, accidentally left on a chair by the sofa. Mrs. Baggsdid not seem to notice the difference when I brought it into theback room and filled it with brandy.

"Take a toothful yourself," said Mrs. Baggs, lightly tossing offthe dram in a moment. " 'A drop in time'--I can't help repeatingit, it's so nicely expressed. Still, with submission to herladyship's better judgment, Mr. Softly, the question seems now toarise, whether, if one drop in time saves nine, two drops in timemay not save eighteen." Here Mrs. Baggs forgot her nerves andwinked. I returned the wink and filled the glass a second time."Oh, this news, this awful news!" said Mrs. Baggs, rememberingher nerves again.

Just then I thought I heard footsteps in front of the house, but,listening more attentively, found that it had begun to rain, andthat I had been deceived by the pattering of the first heavydrops against the windows. However, the bare suspicion that thesame stranger who had called already might be watching the housenow, was enough to startle me very seriously, and to suggest theabsolute necessity of occupying no more precious time in payingattention to the vagaries of Mrs. Baggs' nerves. It was also ofsome importance that I should speak to her while she was soberenough to understand what I meant in a general way.

Feeling convinced that she was in imminent danger of becomingdownright drunk if I gave her another glass, I kept my hand onthe bottle, and forthwith told my story over again in a veryabridged and unceremonious form, and without allowing her onemoment of leisure for comment on my narrative, whether it mightbe of the weeping, winking, drinking, groaning, or ejaculatingkind. As I had anticipated, when I came to a conclusion, andconsequently allowed her an opportunity of saying a few words,she affected to be extremely shocked and surprised at hearing ofthe nature of her master's pursuits, and reproached me in termsof the most vehement and virtuous indignation for incurring theguilt of abetting them, even though I had done so from the veryexcusable motive of saving my own life. Having a lively sense ofthe humorous, I was necessarily rather amused by this; but Ibegan to get a little surprised as well, when we diverged to thesubject of the doctor's escape, on finding that Mrs. Baggs viewedthe fact of his running away to some hiding-place of his own inthe light of a personal insult to his faithful and attachedhousekeeper.

"It shows a want of confidence in me," said the old lady, "whichI may forgive, but can never forget. The sacrifices I have madefor that ungrateful man are not to be told in words. The verymorning he sent us away here, what did I do? Packed up the momenthe said Go. I had my preserves to pot, and the kitchen chimney tobe swept, and the lock of my box hampered into the bargain. Otherwomen in my place would have grumbled--I got up directly, aslively as any girl of eighteen you like to mention. Says he, 'Iwant Alicia taken out of young Softly's way, and you must doit.'---Says I, 'This very morning, sir?'--Says he, 'This verymorning.'--Says I, 'Where to?'--Says he, 'As far off as ever youcan go; coast of Wales--Crickgelly. I won't trust her nearer;young Softly's too cunning, and she's too fond of him.'--'Anymore orders, sir?' says I.--'Yes; take some fancy name--Simkins,Johnson, Giles, Jones, James,' says he, 'what you like bu tDulcifer; for that scamp Softly will move heaven and earth totrace her.'--'What else?' says I.--'Nothing, but look sharp,'says he; 'and mind one thing, that she sees no visitors, andposts no letters.' Before those last words had been out of hiswicked lips an hour, we were off. A nice job I had to get heraway--a nice job to stop her from writing letters to you--a nicejob to keep her here. But I did it; I followed my orders like aslave in a plantation with a whip at his bare back. I've hadrheumatics, weak legs, bad nights, and miss in the sulks--allfrom obeying the doctor's orders. And what is my reward? He turnscoiner, and runs away without a word to me beforehand, and writesme a trumpery note, without a date to it, without a farthing ofmoney in it, telling me nothing! Look at my confidence in him,and then look at the way he's treated me in return. What woman'snerves can stand that? Don't keep fidgeting with the bottle! Passit this way, Mr. Softly, or you'll break it, and drive medistracted."

"He has no excuse, ma'am," I said. "But will you allow me tochange the subject, as I am pressed for time? You appear to be sowell acquainted with the favorable opinion which Miss Alicia andI entertain of each other, that I hope it will be no fresh shockto your nerves, if I inform you, in plain words, that I have cometo Crickgelly to marry her."

"Marry her! marry--If you don't leave off fidgeting with thebottle, Mr. Softly, and change the subject directly, I shall ringthe bell."

"Hear me out, ma'am, and then ring if you like. If you persist,however, in considering yourself still the confidential servantof a felon who is now flying for his life, and if you declineallowing the young lady to act as she wishes, I will not be sorude as to hint that--as she is of age--she may walk out of thishouse with me, whenever she likes, without your having the powerto prevent her; but, I will politely ask instead, what you wouldpropose to do with her, in the straitened position as to money inwhich she and you are likely to be placed? You can't find herfather to give her to; and, if you could, who would be the bestprotector for her? The doctor, who is the principal criminal inthe eye of the law, or I, who am only the unwilling accomplice?He is known to the Bow Street runners--I am not. There is areward for the taking of him, and none for the taking of me. Hehas no respectable relatives and friends, I have plenty. Everyway my chances are the best; and consequently I am, every way,the fittest person to trust her to. Don't you see that?"

Mrs. Baggs did not immediately answer. She snatched the bottleout of my hands--drank off another dram, shook her head at me,and ejaculated lamentably: "My nerves, my nerves! what a heart ofstone he must have to presume on my poor nerves!"

"Give me one minute more," I went on. "I propose to take you andAlicia to-morrow morning to Scotland. Pray don't groan! I onlysuggest the journey with a matrimonial object. In Scotland, Mrs.Baggs, if a man and woman accept each other as husband and wife,before one witness, it is a lawful marriage; and that kind ofwedding is, as you see plainly enough, the only safe refuge for abridegroom in my situation. If you consent to come with us toScotland, and serve as witness to the marriage, I shall bedelighted to acknowledge my sense of your kindness in theeloquent language of the Bank of England, as expressed to theworld in general on the surface of a five-pound note."

I cautiously snatched away the brandy bottle as I spoke, and wasin the drawing-room with it in an instant. As I suppose, Mrs.Baggs tried to follow me, for I heard the door rattle, as if shehad got out of her chair, and suddenly slipped back into itagain. I felt certain of her deciding to help us, if she was onlysober enough to reflect on what I had said to her. The journey toScotland was a tedious, and perhaps a dangerous, undertaking. ButI had no other alternative to choose.

In those uncivilized days, the Marriage Act had not been passed,and there was no convenient hymeneal registrar in England tochange a vagabond runaway couple into a respectable man and wifeat a moment's notice. The trouble and expense of taking Mrs.Baggs with us, I encountered, of course, solely out of regard forAlicia's natural prejudices. She had led precisely that kind oflife which makes any woman but a bad one morbidly sensitive onthe subject of small proprieties. If she had been a girl with arecognized position in society, I should have proposed to her torun away with me alone. As it was, the very defenselessness ofher situation gave her, in my opinion, the right to expect fromme even the absurdest sacrifices to the narrowestconventionalities. Mrs. Baggs was not quite so sober in herhabits, perhaps, as matrons in general are expected to be; but,for my particular purpose, this was only a slight blemish; ittakes so little, after all, to represent the abstract principleof propriety in the short-sighted eye of the world.

As I reached the drawing-room door, I looked at my watch.

Nine o'clock! and nothing done yet to facilitate our escapingfrom Crickgelly to the regions of civilized life the nextmorning. I was pleased to hear, when I knocked at the door, thatAlicia's voice sounded firmer as she told me to come in. She wasmore confused than astonished or frightened when I sat down byher on the sofa, and repeated the principal topics of myconversion with Mrs. Baggs.

"Now, my own love," I said, in conclusion--suiting my gestures,it is unnecessary to say, to the tenderness of mylanguage--"there is not the least doubt that Mrs. Baggs will endby agreeing to my proposals. Nothing remains, therefore, but foryou to give me the answer now, which I have been waiting for eversince that last day when we met by the riverside. I did not knowthen what the motive was for your silence and distress. I knownow, and I love you better after that knowledge than I did beforeit."

Her head dropped into its former position on my bosom, and shemurmured a few words, but too faintly for me to hear them.

"You knew more about your father, then, than I did?" I whispered.

"Less than you have told me since," she interposed quickly,without raising her face.

"Enough to convince you that he was breaking the laws," Isuggested; "and, to make you, as his daughter, shrink from saying'yes' to me when we sat together on the river bank?"

She did not answer. One of her arms, which was hanging over myshoulder, stole round my neck, and clasped it gently.

"Since that time," I went on, "your father has compromised me. Iam in some danger, not much, from the law. I have no prospectsthat are not of the most doubtful kind; and I have no excuse forasking you to share them, except that I have fallen into mypresent misfortune through trying to discover the obstacle thatkept us apart. If there is any protection in the world that youcan turn to, less doubtful than mine, I suppose I ought to say nomore, and leave the house. But if there should be none, surely Iam not so very selfish in asking you to take your chance with me?I honestly believe that I shall have little difficulty, withordinary caution, in escaping from pursuit, and finding a safehome somewhere to begin life in again with new interests. Willyou share it with me, Alicia? I can try no fresh persuasions---Ihave no right, perhaps, in my present situation to have addressedso many to you already."

Her other arm stole round my neck; she laid her cheek againstmine, and whispered--

"Be kind to me, Frank--I have nobody in the world who loves mebut you!"

I felt her tears on my face; my own eyes moistened as I tried toanswer her. We sat for some minutes in perfect silence--withoutmoving, without a thought beyond the moment. The rising of thewind, and the splashing of the rain outside were the first soundsthat stirred me into action again.

I summoned my resolution, rose from the sofa, and in a few hastywords told Alicia what I proposed for the next day, and mentionedthe hour at which I would come in the morning. As I hadanticipated, she seemed re lieved and reassured at the prospecteven of such slight sanction and encouragement, on the part ofanother woman, as would be implied by the companionship of Mrs.Baggs on the journey to Scotland.

The next and last difficulty I had to encounter was necessarilyconnected with her father. He had never been very affectionate;and he was now, for aught she or I knew to the contrary, partedfrom her forever. Still, the instinctive recognition of hisposition made her shrink, at the last moment, when she spoke ofhim, and thought of the serious nature of her engagement with me.After some vain arguing and remonstrating, I contrived to quiether scruples, by promising that an address should be left atCrickgelly, to which any second letter that might arrive from thedoctor could be forwarded. When I saw that this prospect of beingable to communicate with him, if he wrote or wished to see her,had sufficiently composed her mind, I left the drawing-room. Itwas vitally important that I should get back to the inn and makethe necessary arrangements for our departure the next morning,before the primitive people of the place had retired to bed.

As I passed the back parlor door on my way out, I heard the voiceof Mrs. Baggs raised indignantly. The words "bottle!" "audacity!"and "nerves!" reached my ear disjointedly. I called out "Good-by!till to-morrow;" heard a responsive groan of disgust; then openedthe front door, and plunged out into the dark and rainy night.

It might have been the dropping of water from the cottage roofswhile I passed through the village, or the groundless alarm of myown suspicious fancy, but I thought I was being followed as Iwalked back to the inn. Two or three times I turned roundabruptly. If twenty men had been at my heels, it was too dark tosee them. I went on to the inn.

The people there were not gone to bed; and I sent for thelandlord to consult with him about a conveyance. Perhaps it wasmy suspicious fancy again; but I thought his manner was altered.He seemed half distrustful, half afraid of me, when I asked himif there had been any signs, during my absence, of those twogentlemen, for whom I had already inquired on arriving at hisdoor that evening. He gave an answer in the negative, lookingaway from me while he spoke.

Thinking it advisable, on the whole, not to let him see that Inoticed a change in him, I proceeded at once to the question ofthe conveyance, and was told that I could hire the landlord'slight cart, in which he was accustomed to drive to the markettown. I appointed an hour for starting the next day, and retiredat once to my bedroom. There my thoughts were enough. I wasanxious about Screw and the Bow Street runner. I was uncertainabout the stranger who had called at Number Two, Zion Place. Iwas in doubt even about the landlord of the inn. Never did I knowwhat real suffering from suspense was, until that night, Whatevermy apprehensions might have been, they were none of them realizedthe next morning.

Nobody followed me on my way to Zion Place, and no stranger hadcalled there before me a second time, when I made inquiries onentering the house. I found Alicia blushing, and Mrs. Baggsimpenetrably wrapped up in dignified sulkiness. After informingme with a lofty look that she intended to go to Scotland with us,and to take my five-pound note--partly under protest, and partlyout of excessive affection for Alicia--she retired to pack up.The time consumed in performing this process, and the furtherdelay occasioned by paying small outstanding debts totradespeople, and settling with the owner of the house, detainedus till nearly noon before we were ready to get into thelandlord's cart.

I looked behind me anxiously at starting, and often afterward onthe road; but never saw anything to excite my suspicions. Insettling matters with the landlord over night, I had arrangedthat we should be driven to the nearest town at which apost-chaise could be obtained. My resources were just as likelyto hold out against the expenses of posting, where publicconveyances could not be obtained, as against the expense ofwaiting privately at hotels, until the right coaches might start.According to my calculations, my money would last till we got toScotland. After that, I had my watch, rings, shirtpin, and Mr.Batterbury, to help in replenishing my purse. Anxious, therefore,as I was about other things, money matters, for once in a way,did not cause me the smallest uneasiness.