This was spoken in a tone of accustomed and easy authority, and taking the bridle over his arm, he followed his landlord to the stable; where, with indifferent extravagance which baffled any interference, he seized an immense armful of straw from a heap which lay in one corner, and threw it on the bed, which already seemed tolerably supplied. So rapid and easy were his movements, that, before his astonished landlord had framed the remonstrance he meditated offering, he announced himself ready to accompany him to the house. "Would you like dinner in the parlor, sir," enquired his sleepy host, leading him back through the court-yard. "No, I will take a glass of grog, in the bar." "The bar is full, sir; and maybe you will not like--." "What," enquired the stranger, "to sit side by side, with a poor man--you are mistaken, but heark-ye," said he, stopping, "the less civility you show me the better, I will pay you." "I twig," he replied, shutting one sleepy eye with an attempt to look cunning, while, at the same time, he was a little startled at the deep and peculiar tone of the voice which addressed itself so particularly to his ear, and he was not sorry to catch a full view of his own huge blazing fire, and the familiar faces around it. "A stranger wants a seat by the fire," muttered he, as he entered the bar. "A stranger should have the best seat," said old Giles, moving quietly to offer him his arm-chair. "I have been accustomed, sir, to take place according to my years," said the stranger, in a voice of peculiar melody, as he declined the offer, and, at the same time, chose a seat further from the fire, where the fitful light only sometimes partially illumed his countenance. "Landlord," said he, "your guests will, I dare say, join me in my grog; bring enough, not forgetting yourself."