"My pretty Kate, very soon!" said Harding, aloud; and the young officer turned suddenly round, and looked at him more attentively than before. "Ah, Mr. Harding!" he exclaimed, "is that you? We have met before, though perhaps you don't remember me." "Oh yes, I do, sir," replied the smuggler, drily. "But I must go, Kate;" and he added, in a low tone, "I shall be back by-and-by." Thus saying, he walked away; but before he had taken ten steps, Leyton followed, and took him by the arm. "What do you want with me, sir?" asked the smuggler, turning sharply round, and putting his hand in the bosom of his coat. "Hush!" replied the young officer; "I seek no harm to you--merely one word. For Heaven's sake, Harding, quit this perilous life of yours!--at least, before you marry that poor girl--if I have understood you rightly, that you are about to marry her. I speak as a friend." "Thank you, sir!" answered the smuggler, "I dare say you mean it kind; but it was hardly fair of you, either, to come and talk with me upon the cliff, if you are, as I suppose, the Sir Henry Leyton all the folks are speaking about." "Why, my good friend, my talking with you did you no harm," replied the young officer; "you cannot say that I led you to speak of anything that could injure either you or others. Besides, I have nothing to do with you gentlemen of the sea, though I may with your friends on land. But take the advice of one well disposed towards you; and, above all, do not linger about this place at present, for it is a dangerous neighbourhood for any one who has had a share in the late transactions." "That advice I shall take, at all events," answered Harding, bluntly; "and perhaps the other too, for I am sick of all this!" And thus saying, he walked away, passing close by the two dragoons, who offered no obstruction. In the meanwhile Leyton, returning to Widow Clare and her daughter, went into the cottage, and talked to them, for a few minutes, of old days. Gradually, however, he brought the conversation round to the inhabitants of Harbourne House, and asked if either the widow or Kate ever went up there. "Oh, Kate goes twice every day, sir," said Mrs. Clare, "for we have all the finest of the poultry to keep down here. But are you not going there yourself, Mr. Henry?" "Alas, no!" answered Leyton, with a sigh. "Those days have gone by, Mrs. Clare; and I am now a stranger where I was once loved." "Don't say so, sir," replied the widow, "don't say so! For, I am sure, where you were best loved of all, there you are best loved still." "That I believe," answered Leyton; "but, at all events, I am not going there at present; and if Kate would do me a service, she would, the first time she sees Miss Zara Croyland alone, tell her, that if ever she rides or walks out along the road by the Chequers, she will find an old friend by the way." "Miss Zara, sir, did you say?" asked Widow Clare.