Charles Luxmore, who entered the cottage, was a tall man, he looked ragged and wretched. His shoes were worn out, and his feet, stockingless, showed through the holes. His military trousers were sun-scorched, worn, badly patched, and in tatters about the ankles. His coat was split down the back, brown where exposed to the brunt of the weather. His whole appearance was such, that one who met him in a lonely lane would be sensible of relief when he had passed him, and found himself unmolested. ’Halloo! there,’ said he, drawing near to the fallen table, picking up the broken jug, and swearing, because the last drops of cyder were out of it. ’What are you staring at me for, as if I were a wild beast escaped from a caravan? Curse me, body and bones, don’t you know me?’ ’Charles!’ exclaimed Honor, ’you home, and in this condition?’ ’Dash it! is that you, Honor? How you have shot up. And this you, Kate? Thunder! what a pair of pretty girls you are. Where are the rest of the panpipes? Let me see them, and get my greeting over. Lug them out of bed that I may see them. Curse it, I forget how many of them there are.’ ’Seven, beside our two selves,’ said Honor. ’Nine in all.’ ’Let me see them. Confound it! It must be got over.’ ’The rest are in bed,’ said Honor. ’They must not be disturbed out of their sleep.’ ’Never mind. Where is the old woman?’ ’I do not know whom you mean, Charles.’ ’Mother. Where is she?’ ’Dead, Charles.’ He was silent for a moment. Then he said, ’Fetch the little devils, I want to see them.’ ’Charles, for shame!’ exclaimed Honor, reddening and frowning, and her brown eyes flashed an angry light. ’Tut, tut! soldier’s talk. You won’t find my tongue wear kid gloves. I meant no harm.’ ’You shall not speak of the children in such terms,’ said Honor, firmly. ’Halloo! Do you think I will stand being hectored by you?’ ’There, there,’ threw in Oliver Luxmore, ’the boy meant nothing by it. He has got into a careless way of expressing himself. That is all.’ ’That is all,’ laughed Charles, ’and now I have a true soldier’s thirst, and I am not a dog to lap up the spilt liquor off the floor. What is it, beer? Is there any brandy in the house?’ ’You can have a drop of cyder,’ said Honor, with frowning brows. ’Or, if that does not please you, water from the spring. The cyder is middling, but the water is good.’ ’No water for me. Fetch me the cyder.’ ’There is a hogshead in the cellar under the stairs in the back kitchen,’ said Honor. ’Fill yourself a mug of it.’ ’You can fetch it for me.’ ’I can do so, but I will not,’ answered Honor. ’Charles, I will not stir hand or foot for a man who will speak of his innocent little brothers and sisters as you have done.’ ’Take care of yourself!’ exclaimed Charles, looking at her threateningly. She was not overawed by his look. Her cheeks glowed with inner agitation. ’I am not afraid of you,’ she said, and reseated herself at her work.