i86 HARK FORRARD! 



that he would like us to be married, it won't 

 matter what anyone in the world says. Father 

 thinks a good deal of the Queen, but he thinks 

 a very deal more of the squire.' 



' Well, Phoebe, my love, I'll go then,' said 

 Wadding. ' I'll start first train to-morrow 

 morning.' 



' Quite right, Jack, and I'll ask Mrs. Pratt, 

 the housekeeper, what time the train leaves 

 Bredford; she knows all about us, and she 

 won't tell father.' 



At five o'clock the following morning 

 Wadding jumped into a milk-cart belonging 

 to one of the tenants, reached Bredford in 

 plenty of time to catch the 6.18 train to 

 London, and landed at St. Pancras at 9.45. 

 Twenty minutes saw him at Reginald's town- 

 house in Portland Place, and after at least 

 ten minutes' funking, he at last summoned up 

 sufficient courage to ring the bell. To put it 

 into words, he would far sooner have ridden 

 the shortest shouldered, most uneducated brute 

 in the world at six feet of stiff timber than 



