“No, no, my young lady; it’s not papas or mammas either that can give that permission. As long as my head’s above ground, there shall no promiscuous company enter there; but never vex your sweet heart,” he continued, more mildly, (observing Leila’s expression of blank dismay,) “never vex your heart; you shall see the place for all that;” then added with a sigh, “but Woodlands has gotten a new master, one Squire Howard, they tell me--a fine man from the Indies. Heaven send he may be a kind one; but they tell queer stories about him too. It was I that showed the two gentlemen that came to settle about it all over the place, and they said something of his having lived in a desert island, a Robinson Crusoe sort of an affair that I could not make out at all; but if we are to have a master from a desert island, I hope he will keep more company about him than his man Friday, or Woodlands will be a changed place.” “My papa had no man Friday with him in the island,” Leila meekly answered; “but we do not live there now. We came into the world last May, and our man-servant’s name is John; in the island we had only Nurse--look, she is coming up to us now, and she is to be my papa’s housekeeper at Woodlands.” The ruddy face of the countryman became actually pale, as he pulled off his hat, and stood immovable before Leila. “My master’s daughter; it’s not possible. Surely----” Matilda, who from the moment she had joined them, had continued walking with the others, and had hitherto remained wonderfully silent, could now no longer restrain herself. “You may indeed look surprised,” she said, “for you have made a fine mistake. Yes, it is quite true: you have all this time been speaking to Miss Howard. She is the young mistress of Woodlands. And now will you open the gates?” “Don’t, Matilda, pray don’t,” Leila exclaimed in a voice of entreaty; “do you not see how sorry he looks?” then turning with a smile to the poor man, who still remained uncovered before them, “Do put on your hat,” she said; “the sun is hurting your eyes, and you need not be the least sorry for what you have said. I dare say you were told to take care of it; that was just the way Nurse used to watch over every thing in the island, only there we had no gates to lock.” In a few minutes longer they had reached the lodge, a pretty small thatched house in the cottage style, with a profusion of China roses and honeysuckles on its white walls. Leila instantly thought how delightfully it would have suited Peggy Dobie, but she did not say so. The gates were no longer shut, they stood most invitingly open; a tidy, pleasant-looking young woman seemed to have been watching for them at the door of the cottage. “Oh, Bill, Bill,” she exclaimed, “you have been long, and to have been away to-day of all days in the year, and a fine lady and gentleman away up the approach in the carriage, and the squire himself, and a kind, civil-spoken gentleman he seems to be.”