42 THE SMUGGLER. 



up to the smuggler, and pulled his sleeve, saying, in a low 

 voice, "Come hither, come hither; I want to speak to yon." 

 The man took a step apart, and, bending down his head, 

 listened to something which the boy whispered in his ear. 

 "I will come, I will come directly," he said, at length, when 

 the lad was done. "Run on and tell him, little Starlight; 

 for I must get home first for a minute. Good night, gentle- 

 men,' 5 he continued, turning to Mr. Warde and his companion, 

 "I must go away for a longer walk;" and without further 

 adieu, he began to descend the bank, leaving the two friends 

 to take their way back to Hythe, conversing, as they went, 

 much in the same strain as that in which they had indulged 

 while coming thither, differing on almost every topic, but yet 

 with some undefmable link of sympathy between them, which 

 nevertheless owed its origin, in the old man's breast, to very 

 different feelings from those which were experienced by his 

 younger companion. 



CHAPTER V. 



THERE was an old house, built in a style which acquired the 

 mint-mark of fashion of about the reign of George the First, 

 and was considered by those of the English, or opposite party, 

 to be peculiarly well qualified for the habitation of Hanover 

 rats. It stood at a little distance from the then small hamlet 

 of Harbourne, and was plunged into one of the southern aper- 

 tures of the wood of that name, having its gardens and 

 pleasure-grounds around it, with a terrace and a lawn stretch- 

 ing out to the verge of a small parish road, which passed at 

 the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of a mile from 

 the windows. It was all of red brick, and looked square and 

 formal enough, with the two wings projecting like the a-kimbo 

 arms of some untamed virago, straight and resolute as a re- 

 doubt. The numerous windows, however, with very tolerable 

 spaces between them ; the numerous chimneys, with every sort 

 of form and angle; the numerous doors, of every shape and 

 size, and the square precision of the whole, bespoke it a very 

 capacious building, and the inside justified fully the idea which 

 the mind of a traveller naturally formed from the outside. It 

 was, in truth, a roomy, and in some cases a very convenient 



