Page:Paul Clifford Vol 1.djvu/297

Rh for the last meal of the old-fashioned and hospitable family.

"There is a pleasure in this!" said the stranger, unconsciously, and with a half-sigh: "I wish I had a home!"

"And have you not a home?" said Lucy, with naïveté.

"As much as a bachelor can have, perhaps," answered Clifford, recovering without an effort his gaiety and self-possession. "But you know we wanderers are not allowed the same boast as the more fortunate Benedicts; we send our hearts in search of a home, and we lose the one without gaining the other. But I keep you in the cold, and we are now at your door."

"You will come in, of course!" said Miss Brandon, "and partake of our evening cheer."

The stranger hesitated for an instant, and then said in a quick tone.

"No! many—many thanks; it is already late. Will Miss Brandon accept my gratitude for her condescension, in permitting the attendance of one unknown to her?" As he thus spoke, Clifford bowed profoundly over the hand of his beautiful