THE SMUGGLER. 101 



CHAPTER X. 



BEFORE I proceed farther with the events of that morning, I 

 must return for a time to the evening which preceded it. It 

 was a dark and somewhat dreary night, when Mr. Radford, 

 leaving his son stupidly drunk at Sir Robert Croyland's, pro- 

 ceeded to the hall door to mount his horse; and as he pulled 

 his large riding-boots over his shoes and stockings, and looked 

 out, he regretted that he had not ordered his carriage. " Who 

 would have thought," he said, " that such a fine day would 

 have ended in such a dull evening?'' 



" It often happens, my dear Radford," replied Sir Robert 

 Croyland, who stood beside him, " that everything looks fair 

 and prosperous for a time; then suddenly the wind shifts, and 

 a gloomy night succeeds." 



Mr. Radford was not well pleased with the homily. It 

 touched upon that which was a sore subject with him at that 

 moment; for, to say the truth, he was labouring under no 

 light apprehensions regarding the result of certain speculations 

 of his. He had lately lost a large sum in one of these wild 

 adventures; far more than was agreeable to a man of his 

 money-getting turn of mind; and though he was sanguine 

 enough, from long success, to embark, like a determined gam- 

 bler, a still larger amount in the same course, yet the first 

 shadow of reverse which had fallen upon him, brought home 

 and applied to his own situation the very commonplace words of 

 Sir Robert Croyland ; and he began to fancy that the bright 

 day of his prosperty might be indeed over, and a dark and 

 gloomy night about to succeed. 



As we have said, therefore, he did not at all like the baro- 

 net's homily; and as often happens with men of his disposi- 

 tion, he felt displeased with the person whose words alarmed 

 him. Murmuring something, therefore, about its being "a 

 devilish ordinary circumstance indeed," he strode to the door, 

 scarcely wishing the baronet good night, and mounted a 

 powerful horse, which was held ready for him. He then 

 rode forward, followed by two servants on horseback, pro- 

 ceeding slowly at first, but getting into a quicker pace when 



