There had been a card and punch club in one of the neighbouring rooms. The gentlemen had assembled at half-past six or seven, had hung up their wigs upon pegs provided for the purpose, and had made a great deal of noise in coming in and arranging themselves. There was then the brewing of the punch, the lighting of the pipes, and the laughing and jesting to which those important events generally give rise, at the meeting of persons of some importance in a country town; and then the cards were produced, and a great deal of laughing and talking, as usual, succeeded, in regard to the preliminaries, and also respecting the course of the game. There had been no slight noise, also, in the lower regions of the inn, much speaking, and apparently some merriment; and, from all these things put together--to say nothing of, every now and then, the pleasures of a comic song, given by one of the parties above or below--the young officer had been considerably disturbed, and had been angry with himself for being so. His thoughts, too, would wander, whether he liked it or not. "Digby must have seen her," he said to himself, "unless she be absent; and surely he must have found some opportunity of speaking with herself or her sister by this time. I wonder I have not heard from him. He promised to write as soon as he had any information; and he is not a man to forget. Well, it is of no use to think of it;" and he went on--"five and six are eleven, and four are fifteen, and six are twenty-one." At this interesting point of his calculation, a dragoon, who was stationed at the door, put his head into the room, and said, "Mr. Mowle, sir, wants to speak to you." "Let him come in," answered the officer; and, laying down his pen, he looked up with a smile. "Well, Mr. Mowle!" he continued, "what news do you bring? Have you been successful?" "No very good news, and but very little success, sir," answered the officer of customs, taking a seat to which the other pointed. "We have captured some of their goods, and taken six of the men, but the greater part of the cargo, and the greatest villain of them all, have been got off." "Ay, how happened that?" asked the gentleman to whom he spoke. "I gave you all the men you required; and I should certainly have thought you were strong enough." "Oh yes, sir, that was not what we lacked," answered Mowle, in a somewhat bitter tone; "but I'll tell you what we did want--honest magistrates, and good information. Knowing the way they were likely to take, I cut straight across the country by Aldington, Kingsnorth, and Singleton-green, towards Four Elms----" "It would have been better, I should think, to go on by Westhawk," said the young officer; "for though the road is rather hilly, you would by that means have cut them off, both from Singleton, Chart Magna, and Gouldwell, towards which places, I think you said, they were tending.