“Thank you very much,” said Lawrence, in a tone which betrayed no reserves.

As he rode away that afternoon, Lawrence Croft, as his habit was on such occasions, revolved in his mind what he had heard and said and done during this little visit to the Keswick family.  “Nothing could have turned out better,” he thought.  “To be sure the young man could not or would not be of any assistance to me, which is probably what I ought to have expected, but the strong-tempered old lady, his aunt, promises to be of tenfold more service than he could possibly be.  As to that very odd young lady, Mrs Keswick’s niece, I imagine that she does not regard me very favorably, for she was quite cool after I refused to let her into the secret of my desire to find her cousin, but as I did not ask for her confidences, she had no right to expect a return for them.  And, by-the-way, it’s odd how many confidences have been reposed in me since I’ve been down here.  Keswick begins it; then old Brandon takes up the strain; after that Mr Candy’s ex-cashier tells me the story of her life, and entrusts me with the secret of her marriage with a man of wind—­that most useful Mr Null; after that, her aunt makes me understand how much she hates Mr Null, and how she would like me to find out something disreputable about him; and then—­, by George!  I forgot the old negro woman in the cabin!” At this he put his hand in the side-pocket of his coat, and drew out the pair of little blue shoes.  “Why in the name of common sense did the old hag give me these?  And why should she suppose that Mrs Keswick intended me a harm?  The old lady never saw or heard of me until yesterday, and her manner certainly indicated no dislike of me.  But, of course, Aunt Patsy’s brain is cracked, and she didn’t know what she was talking about.  I shall keep the shoes, however, and if ever the venerable purple sun-bonnet runs afoul of me, I shall hold them up before it and see what happens.”

And so, very well satisfied with the result of his visit to Hewlett’s, he rode on to the Green Sulphur Springs.

On the afternoon of the next day Miss March received an invitation from Mrs Keswick to spend a few days with her, and make the acquaintance of her niece who had recently returned to the home of her childhood.  The letter, for it was much more than a note of invitation, was cordial, and in parts pathetic.  It dwelt upon the sundered pleasant relations of the two families, and expressed the hope that Mr Brandon’s visit to her might be the beginning of a renewal of the old intimacy.  Mrs Keswick took occasion to incidentally mention that the house would be particularly dull for her niece just now, as Junius was on the point of starting for Washington, where he would be detained some weeks on business; and she hoped, most earnestly, that Miss Roberta would accept this invitation to make her acquaintance and that of her niece; and she designated Thursday of the following week as the day on which she would like her to come.