"Let go, Very. I can't stand it, I tell you," said the Doctor. But Veronica threw her arms now about his neck, and laid her head close to his cheek, and clung there. "Will you let go?" "No, papa." "Do you want me to hit you?" "Yes, papa dear." "Hang it, Very, it's too bad! You're a coward. You know I can't." "Yes, papa dear; I know you'd sooner cut off your hand." "A blackguardly old scoundrel!" floated through the window. "Yes? my lord." "Ah! I am, am I?" cried the Doctor. "Let go, Very." "No, papa dear: never." "Out, I suppose?" came, as if shouted for the inmates of the cottage to hear. "I will be directly, you pompous, titled bully," muttered the Doctor. "Buzz-buzz--buzz-buzz," in two different keys. "Yes, I suppose so," cried his lordship; "but if he thinks he is going to defeat me he is sadly mistaken." "Yes, my lord." "Very! will you untie those wretched little arms of yours from about my neck?" "No, papa dear; and I'm not afraid of your hitting me." "Then, if you don't let go, I'll hit myself." Veronica raised her head a little, and kissed him. "No: at home, and dare not show his face!" roared Lord Pinemount. "There!" cried the Doctor. "Every word is a stinging blow in the face, Very." "Yes, papa; but I'm kissing the places to make them well," said Veronica, suiting the action to the word. "But I'll let him see." "Buzz-buzz-buzz,--boozz-boozz-boozz," and the sound of horse's hoofs slowly dying away. "Gone!" cried the Doctor passionately. "Very, you've made me seem like a miserable cowards that man will despise me, and insult us more than ever." "You are angry, papa dear; but when you grow calm you will tell me I've done quite right." "Humph! I'll tell you so now, my darling," said the Doctor, kissing her affectionately; "but my fingers itched to knock him down." "And when you had done so, you would have been very sorry, papa dear; for you would have hurt yourself." "What, my knuckles?" "No, papa--your dignity as a gentleman; and you would have hurt me, too, very much." "You're a witch, Very," said the Doctor, drawing a long sigh. "What an overbearing brute it is! and I'll be bound to say that son of his will develop into just such another animal." "Papa!" "Hallo! what have I said?" cried the Doctor, with his eyes winking. "Hit me after all," said Very to herself, as she ran sobbing out of the room, but only to be caught upon the stairs and tenderly kissed and petted till her eyes grew dry, and the hysterical sobs which would rise to her lips had cleared. VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FOUR. STOP!