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"He is now at my house, in the custody of a constable, with irons, not only on his hands but on his legs."

"Is it possible!" exclaimed Aunt Eleanor: "why what in the world has he been doing?"

"The constable will have it that he's an escaped convict."

"A what!" cried Sylvester, bursting into a loud roar of laughter, in which Aunt Eleanor could not help joining.

"He will have it," repeated the reverend gentleman, gravely, "that he's an escaped convict; but I don't at present know the particulars, because the moment I ascertained that he had missed you in the night, I ran over to see if you were safe."

"Missed me, indeed!" exclaimed Sylvester, "I've no patience with the man!"

"But he may not be in fault after all, my dear," suggested Aunt Eleanor: "you had better go and see."

"Aye, come with me; come," said the reverend gentleman, "let's go and hear the particulars at once."

"I may not accompany you—may I?" inquired Aunt Eleanor.

"Yes," replied the reverend gentleman: "do, by all means."

Aunt Eleanor ran for her bonnet and shawl, and they left the cottage together.

On reaching the parsonage-house—at the door of which stood the chaise-cart in which the "escaped convict" had been brought—they proceeded to the library, and there found Judkins feeling much degraded and looking very ill.

"Well, Judkins," said Sylvester, sternly, "what have you been doing?"

"I an't been doing o' nothing, sir, but running after you."

"You ought not to have allowed me to leave you at all, sir."

"I can explain all that, sir—I know I can; if you will but satisfy this here person that I'm not what he takes me for."

"Why have you this man in custody?" demanded Sylvester of the constable.

"Why, sir, it's as this," replied the constable; "last night, when I was at Holler Bell, the prisoner came running into the house to ask if some gentleman had been there, and when he came into the room where I was, to look round, I saw that he had a handcuff on, and therefore, as he was a stranger to the place, I felt it my duty, as a constable, to take him into custody."

"What time was that?"

"About half-past eleven."

"Could you not have returned with him at once, or sent to inquire about him?"

"That's what I wanted him to do," exclaimed Judkins.

"And that's what I dare say I should have done—although not bound to do so—if you hadn't been so violent. In the first place, he tried to conceal the handcuff—that looked suspicious: in the second place, when I asked him to shake hands with me he wouldn't: in the third place, when I tried to raise his arm, he knocked me down: and in the fourth place, it required three powerful men to carry him off to the cage."