mother's discussions of clothes, of linen, and of furniture were
constant reminders of its imminence, and the mere fact that
the servants of Greenwood and the neighbourhood accepted
the matter as settled, made allusions to it too frequent for
Janice not to feel that her bondage was inevitable. A dozen
times a day the girl would catch her breath or pale or flush over
the prospect before her, frightened, as the bird in the net, not
so much by the present situation, as by what the future was
certain to bring to pass.

A still more serious matter was further to engross her parents'
thoughts. One evening late in April, as the squire sat
on the front porch resting from his day's labour, Charles, who
had been sent to the village on some errand, came cantering
up the road, and drew rein opposite.

[Illustration: "The prisoner is gone!"]

"Have better care how ye ride that filly, sir," said the
squire, sharply. "I'll not have her wind broke by hard
riding."

"I know enough of horses to do her no harm," answered
the man, dismounting easily and gracefully; "and if I rode a
bit quick, 't is because I've news that needs wings."

"What's to do?" demanded the master, laying down the
"Rivington's Royal Gazette" he had been reading.

"As I was buying the nails," replied the servant, speaking