At this moment the sound of wheels was heard, and the waggonette they had before passed came up, evidently from the station, with two gentlemen inside, the coachman pulling up on seeing that there was an accident, while the gentlemen leaped out. "I trust," said the elder, raising his hat, "that no one is hurt." "Er-rum! none; no one," said Sir Hampton, stiffly. "What misfortune!" said the younger, fixing his glass in his eye, and looking in a puzzled way at the ladies. "Under circumstances, Vanleigh?" "Yes, of course," said the other, and then raising his hat to the ladies, "as my friend here observes. You will allow me to place the carriage at your disposal?" Sir Hampton looked at the speaker, then at the carriage, then at his own. That was Trevor's carriage, but these were strangers, and he was not obliged to know. His legs ached; it was a long while to wait; and he was still pondering when the first speaker said-- "Allow me," and offered his arm to Tiny, who glanced at her father, and seeing no commands against the act, suffered herself to be led to the whole waggonette, the other stranger offering his arm to Fin, who just touched it, and then leapt in beside her sister. "Will you follow, Mr--Mr--?" "Er-rum! Sir Hampton Rea, at your service, gentlemen," said the knight, stiffly. "I beg pardon, Sir Hampton--strangers, you see. My friend here is Sir Felix Landells; my name is Vanleigh--Captain Vanleigh." "Guards," said Sir Felix, in the midst of a good deal of formal bowing; and then, all being seated, the waggonette drove off, Sir Hampton, in the conversation which ensued, being most careful to avoid any reference to the destination of his new friends, merely requesting to be set down at the end of the lane leading to Tolcarne, the party separating amidst a profusion of bows. "What a pair of dandies!" said Fin. "A most refined gentleman that Captain Vanleigh," said Sir Hampton. "What did you think of the other one, dad?" said Fin. "Aristocrat. Er-rum! aristocrat," said Sir Hampton. "Blue blood there, for a certainty. I hope they'll call. By the way, Tiny, I thought you unnecessarily cold and formal." "Did you, papa?" said Tiny. "Indeed, I did not mean to be so." Here they reached the hall, and the girls went to their room. "Dad's hooked," said Fin, throwing herself into a chair. "Tiny, that dandy would come to grief if I knew him long. I should feel obliged to singe his horrid little sticky mustachios; and as for the other--oh, how I could snub him if he looked and talked at me as he did at you." "I sincerely hope," said Tiny, "that we shall never see them again." Volume 1, Chapter XIV. POLLY'S TROUBLES. "By the way, Pratt," said Trevor, as they were strolling through the grounds, "what aged man should you take Vanleigh to be?" "Close upon forty," said Pratt; "but he takes such care of himself, and dresses so young, that he keeps off the assaults of old Father Time."