John Halifax, Gentleman 66 BY DINAH MARIA MULOCK (MRS. CRAIK) AUTHOR OF "OLIVE" "THE OGILVIES" "AGATHA'S HUSBAND" "AVILLION" "A HERO, AND OTHER TALES" ETC. "OLIVE" "THE OGILVIES" "AGATHA'S HUSBAND" "AVILLION" "THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY" "NOTHING NEW" "A HERO, AND OTHER TALES" ETC. HARVARD COMERE FEB 7 1920 LIBRARY Transferred from Social Lewice Committee Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 1 JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN. CHAPTER I. "GET out o' Mr. Fletcher's road, ye idle, lounging, little--" "Vagabond," I think the woman (Sally Watkins, once my nurse), was going to say, but she changed her mind. My father and I both glanced round, surprised at her unusual reticence of epithets; but when the lad addressed turned, fixed his eyes on each of us for a moment, and made way for us, we ceased to wonder. Ragged, muddy, and miserable as he was, the poor boy looked anything but a "vagabond." "Thee need not go into the wet, my lad. Keep close to the wall, and there will be shelter enough both for us and thee," said my father, as he pulled my little hand-carriage into the alley, under cover, from the pelting rain. The lad, with a grateful look, put out a hand likewise, and pushed me further in. A strong hand it was-roughened and browned with labor-though he was scarcely as old as I. What would I not have given to have been so stalwart and so tall' Sally called from her house-door, "Wouldn't Master Phineas come in and sit by the fire a bit ?"-But it was always a trouble to me to move, or walk; and I liked stay. ing at the mouth of the alley, watching the autumnal shower come sweeping down the street; besides, I wanted to look again at the stranger-lad. He had scarcely stirred, but remained leaning against the |