Chapter 28

"Hear me a little;
For I have only been silent so long,
And given way unto this course of fortune,
By noting of the lady: I have mark'd
A thousand blushing apparitions start
Into her face; a thousand innocent shames
In angel whiteness bear away those blushes--"
SHAKESPEARE

I reached the Wallingford before eleven, where I found Neb in
attendance with my trunks and other effects. Being now on board my own
craft, I gave orders to profit by a favourable turn in the wind, and
to get under-way at once, instead of waiting for the flood. When I
left the deck, the sloop was above the State Prison, a point towards
which the town itself had made considerable progress since the time I
first introduced it to the reader. Notwithstanding this early start,
we did not enter the creek until about eight in the morning of the
second day.

No sooner was the vessel near enough, than my foot was on the wharf,
and I began to ascend the hill. From the summit of the latter I saw my
late guardian hurrying along the road, it afterwards appearing that a
stray paper from town had announced the arrival of the Dawn, and that
I was expected to come up in the sloop. I was received with extended
hands, was kissed just as if I had still been a boy, and heard the
guileless old man murmuring his blessings on me, and a prayer of
thankfulness. Nothing ever changed good Mr. Hardinge, who, now that he
could command the whole income of his daughter, was just as well
satisfied to live on the three or four hundreds he got from his glebe
and his parish, as he ever had been in his life.

"Welcome back, my dear boy, welcome back!" added Mr. Hardinge, his
voice and manner still retaining their fervour. "I said you
_must_--you _would_ be on board, as soon as they reported
the sloop in sight, for I judged your heart by my own. Ah! Miles, will
the time ever come when Clawbonny will be good enough for you? You
have already as much money as you can want, and more will scarce
contribute to your happiness."

"Speaking of money, my dear sir," I answered, "while I have to regret
the loss of your respectable kinswoman, I may be permitted to
congratulate you on the accession to an old family property--I
understand you inherit, in your family, all of Mrs. Bradfort's
estate-one valuable in amount, and highly acceptable, no doubt, as
having belonged to your ancestors."

"No doubt--no doubt--it is just as you say; and I hope these
unexpected riches will leave us all as devout servants of God, as I
humbly trust they found us. The property, however, is not mine, but
Lucy's; I need not have any reserve with you, though Rupert has hinted
it might be prudent not to let the