CHAPTER XXVI.

MR. GRANBY IS A LITTLE BAFFLED.

MR. GRANBY's meeting with Letty afforded him great satisfaction. He felt that he had made a point for Bradley, and at the same time he rejoiced in a good action, feeling the pleasure experienced only by those who take

up the interests of their inferiors in order to serve their own. It is true, he wished Bradley to cut out Ralph, or, at least, to remove a temptation from his way; but if we kill two birds with one stone, we deserve as much credit for one hit as the other. There could be no doubt that he was managing capitally. He had written to Ralph to remain abroad; he had established an acquaintance with Letty, and holding the notice to quit in terrorem over her father, he was

bringing everything to bear effectively on Bradley's suit. Unluckily for his object, all depended on his keeping Ralph at the other end of Europe; and at the moment when success seemed certain, when he considered his purpose already gained, he suddenly met Ralph in his own avenue.

"Where the deuce have you come from ?" he exclaimed. "It is only this morning I wrote to you."

"How did you address the letter?" asked Ralph, innocently.

"To the hotel you dated from the day before yesterday. You have been in a confounded hurry, to come from the heart of Switzerland in such a short time."

"I wanted to get home."

"So it appears.

Only from the post

marks on your letters, I couldn't believe you had been away."

"I can't see that I went so fast. You know I left here by the night express. I reached London in the morning, Paris in the evening, went straight on to Geneva, and arrived at Chamouni the next evening,

took two days for training, and then did Mont Blanc: then I had a rest, and started for the Matterhorn, and here I am back. Nothing so wonderful, I think."

"I don't know about its being wonderful, but it is deucedly provoking. There, don't interrupt me, for I have no wish to argue the point I simply state my opinion. I sent you abroad to travel, and you should have kept on travelling till I called you home."

"I didn't understand that; and if you recollect, you only stipulated for Mont Blanc, and I have thrown the Matterhorn in."

Mr. Granby could not deny the fact.

"Of course, if you wish me to travel further, you have only to say so," pursued Ralph, relying on not being taken at his word.

"Well, I do wish it," rejoined the Squire, slightly mollified; "and if you had waited for my letter, you would have gone off to Constantinople, instead of coming here. However, we must now make the best of it. When can you start again?"

t

"I can set off comfortably in a month." "A month! you must go to-morrow." Impossible, uncle ! Think what a scamper I have just had! I shall be ashamed to look a railway in the face for at least a fortnight."

"I enter into your feelings on that point," said Mr. Granby, magnanimously; "but the truth is, your being here puts me in a very awkward position, for I have given out you were not coming back for some time. Now I expect you to get me out of this dilemma, and can listen to no further demur."

Mr. Granby's air, indeed, intimated that demur would be useless.

"Give me a couple of days," urged Ralph. "I really must have a rest.”

A couple of days seemed to allow little margin for mischief, and it could not be denied that Ralph needed rest, so Mr. Granby growled acquiescence. At dinner he thought of questioning Ralph about Letty, but he remembered the impolicy of explanations, and kept clear of the subject.

After all, he might be alarming himself without cause; for if Ralph's return was suspicious, his readiness to set off again was reassuring, and Mr. Granby derived the same impression from his own conversation with Letty. Nevertheless, he resolved to keep a vigilant eye on Ralph during his stay at home, and meanwhile to urge on Bradley.

Next morning the steward found him turning over the leaves of Dugdale, a volume which always denoted that he intended to enter somebody's feelings. In fact, he was considering how to touch those of Bradley on the tenderest point-namely, the possibility of his having a rival in his suit; and he conceived that his suspicions about Ralph would be either confirmed or dispelled by the answer.

A few minutes served for the morning's business, and Mr. Granby then put his chin at the proper degree of elevation, and approached the question.

"By-the-way, you know Mr. Ralph has come back, I suppose ?" he said.