Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 349: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

332 REYNOLDS’ WORKS but only on condition that you come and dine with me first.. My house is barely two miles distant, and if you are too much fatigued to go so far, I will seamper home and send down a gig to fetch you. Come, give your assent at once, _ for I shall take no refusal.” ‘Indeed, Mr. Hawkshaw,’’ responded Frank, “‘ I know not how to decline your courtesy without seeming positively rude and churlish. But the fact 1s, my servant is at Gains- borough; he will be very uneasy — ”’ “Your servant?’’? and the squire could not avoid the ejaculation, for it certainly struck him as most singular that this shabbily dressed youth, of poverty-stricken appear- ance, should be attended by a valet. ‘“‘ Well,’? Hawkshaw immediately continued, fearful that he himself had been guilty of rudeness, “‘ the moment we get to the Hall, one of my men shall take a chaise cart across to Gainsborough and fetch your servant.” At this moment the sounds of a vehicle coming along the lane were heard, and a gig, in which a stout, jolly-looking man was seated, came in sight. “This is most opportune,’’ ejaculated Hawkshaw, looking through the cottage window. “ Here’s Farmer Sladden, — a capital tenant of mine, by the bye, — and he will drive you on to the Hall. It won’t be a quarter of a mile out of his way.’ Frank could no longer refuse. He was too tired to think of walking any farther, and he had moreover conceived a friendship for the kind, frank-hearted Hawkshaw. He was likewise dispirited enough to feel that the companionship of such a host would be far from disagreeable, and he there- fore accepted the proposed arrangement, with due acknowl- edgments of gratitude. “You have nothing to thank me for, my young friend,” said the squire. ‘‘I owe you a great obligation.’”’ ‘Then rushing forth from the cottage, he beckoned Farmer Sladden to stop. The gig drew up accordingly. Frank entered it; Mr. Hawkshaw requested Mr. Sladden to drive the young gentle- man as far as the Hall, and remounting his horse, which the peasant had meanwhile been holding, he rode on a little in advance. In a short time a large and imposing-looking mansion, in the Elizabethan style of architecture, gradually Gomichbooks (Ee)