propriety of such a step--no shadow of remorse for him T
left behind. There was nothing,to disturb my joy but the
fear of detection; and every step removed us further from
the chance of that.

We had left Grassdale many miles behind us before the
round red sun arose to welcome our deliverance; and if any
inhabitant of its vicinity had chanced to see us then, as we
bowled along on the top of the coach, I scarcely think they
would have suspected our identity. As I intend to be
taken for a widow, I thought it advisable to enter my new
abode in mourning: I was, therefore, attired in a plain
black silk dress and mantle, a black veil (which I kept care-
fully over my face for the first twenty or thirty miles of the
journey), and a black silk bonnet, which I had been con-
strained to borrow of Rachel, for want of such an article
myself. It was not in the newest fashion, of course; but
none the worse for that, under present circumstances.
Arthur was clad in his plainest clothes, and wrapped in a
coarse woollen shawl; and Rachel was muffled in a grey
cloak and hood that had seen better days, and gave her
more the appearance of an ordinary though decent old
woman, than of a lady's-maid.

Oh, what delight it was to be thus seated aloft, rumbling
along the broad, sunshiny road, with the fresh morning
breeze in my face, surrounded by an unknown country, all
smiling--cheerfully, gloriously smiling in the yellow lustre
of those early beams; with my darling child in my arms,
almost as happy as myself, and my faithful friend beside me:
a prison and despair behind me, receding further, further
back at every clatter of the horses' feet; and liberty and
hope before! I could hardly refrain from praising God
aloud for my deliverance, or astonishing my fellow-pas-
sengers by some surprising outburst of hilarity.

But the journey was a very long one, and we were all
weary enough before the close of it. It was far into the
night when we reached the town of L--, and still we were
seven miles from our journey's end; and there was no more

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