WYLDER'S HAJVD. 25
hurled the stump of his cheroot at Fortune, and delivered
a fragmentary soliloquy through his teeth; and so. in a
sulk, without making his adieux, he marched off to his
crib at the Brandon Arms.
CHAPTER V.
IN WHICH MY SLUMBER IS DISTURBED.
The ladies had accomplished their ascension to the up-
per regions. The good Vicar had marched off with the
Major, who was by this time unbuckling in his lodgings;
and Chelford and I, tSte-d-tete, had a glass of sherry and
water together in the drawing-room before parting. And
over this temperate beverage I told him frankly the nature
of the service which Mark Wylder wished me to render
him; and he as frankly approved, and said he would ask
Larkin, the family lawyer, to come up in the morning to
assist.
The more I saw of this modest, refined, and manly peer,
the more I liked him. There was a certain courteous
frankness, and a fine old English sense of duty perceptible
in all his serious talk. So I felt no longer like a conspira-
tor, and was to offer such advice as might seem expedient,
with the clear approbation of Miss Brandon's trustee. And
this point clearly settled, I avowed myself a little tired; and
lighting our candles at the foot of the stairs, we scaled that
long ascent together, and he conducted me through the in-
tricacies of the devious lobbies up stairs to my chamber-door,
where he bid me good-night, shook hands, and descended
to his own quarters.
2