"I would, sir, if I could be with father, too."
"So you shall; and what about old Peggy?"
The child paused.
"I like to give her a pen'north of snuff and a piece of tobacco every week, for she said the other day that that would make her quite happy."
Mr. Hewson laughed, and Billy prattled on, still seated on his knee; when a noise of footsteps on the ground, mingled with low suppressed talking, was heard outside.
"James, listen! there's the noise again."
It was now nearly dark, but Mr. Hewson, still holding the boy in his arms, walked toward the window and looked out.
"I can see nothing," he said; "stay, there are figures moving off among the trees, and a man running round to the back of the house—very like Gahan he is, too."
Seizing the bell-rope, he rang it loudly, and said to the servant who answered his summons,
"Fasten the shutters and put up the bars, Connell; and then tell Gahan I want to see him."