"No, sir," said she, then; "no, I thank you. I could not come in now. I could not eat here. But tell me, sir, I implore you, can you not even guess where I may find Mr. Butler?" "Butler!" said Mrs. Hobbs, whom curiosity had now drawn to the spot. "I remember that was the name of the gentleman who hired the place, and was robbed." "Robbed!" said Mr. Hobbs, falling back and relocking the gate--"and the new tea-pot just come home," he muttered inly. "Come, be off, child--be off; we know nothing of your Mr. Butlers." The young woman looked wildly in his face, cast a hurried glance over the altered spot, and then, with a kind of shiver, as if the wind had smitten her delicate form too rudely, she drew her cloak more closely round her shoulders, and without saying another word, moved away. The party looked after her as, with trembling steps, she passed down the road, and all felt that pang of shame which is common to the human heart at the sight of a distress it has not sought to soothe. But this feeling vanished at once from the breast of Mrs. and Mr. Hobbs, when they saw the girl stop where a turn of the road brought the gate before her eyes; and for the first time, they perceived, what the worn cloak had hitherto concealed, that the poor young thing bore an infant in her arms. She halted, she gazed fondly back. Even at that instant the despair of her eyes was visible; and then, as she pressed her lips to the infant's brow, they heard a convulsive sob--they saw her turn away, and she was gone! "Well, I declare!" said Mrs. Hobbs. "News for the parish," said Mr. Hobbs; "and she so young too!--what a shame!" "The girls about here are very bad nowadays, Jenny," said the mother to the bride. "I see now why she wanted Mr. Butler," quoth Hobbs, with a knowing wink--"the slut has come to swear!"