But before the Duchess obeyed, she held out her hand to Ned.
"Goodbye," she said.
Ned seized her hand and kissed it.
"Goodbye," he said, with a triumphant glance at Seth; "there's one at all events with a heart in her bosom."
The whining tone in which he spoke was so distasteful to Seth Dumbrick that he averted his eyes from the lovely lad, and presently, when he looked up, he saw that he was alone. At the same time he observed that a pair of boots which he had newly mended was missing. For a moment he thought of pursuing the thief, but he relinquished his intention, and continued his work, with a frown on his face.
"Sally," he said, that night, when the shutters were up, "that brother of yours is a bad lot."
Sally nodded an emphatic assent.
"You're not over-fond of him."
"I've got nothink to be fond on him for," was Sally's rejoinder. "But mother she jist worships him, she does."
"It would make her sorry to hear that he'd got into any trouble--eh, Sally?"