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 cellar to attic, to discover if that prisoner is hid anywhere within it. I told him that it was a most monstrous project, and one more monstrous still to undertake, as by that means our house and all its contents would be quite exposed to the mercy of his men, who being of the very scum can no more be trusted with good furniture than can a cat with a jug of cream."

"Very true, dear aunt," says I, "and I trust you will oppose it."

"I have opposed it," says my aunt, grimly; "but the Earl, your papa, and this Captain man are really most unreasonable men."

"Prisoner!" cried Miss Prue. "Search the house! La! we shall have some fun, I'm certain."

"We shall, indeed!" says I, even more grimly than my aunt.

Here it was that the dowager, to my infinite relief, bowed stiffly to Miss Prudence, and renounced the room in a distinctly disdainful manner.

"Bab," says the prisoner so soon as she was gone, "I consider that I have carried this off gallantly. But I fear, dear Bab, that if I stay here any longer than a day I shall prove a thorn in the flesh of that old lady. Her icy mien provokes me."

"Prue," says I, unable to repress the admiration that I felt for the agile fashion in which he had crept out of a corner uncomfortably tight, "you will either attain to the post of Prime Minister of England or a public death by hanging There will be no half course in your career, I'm certain. For your