‘Will you let me speak?’ said Julia.  ’I think Gideon had better leave this dreadful houseboat, and wait among the willows over there.  If the piano comes, then he could step out and take it in; and if the police come, he could slip into our houseboat, and there needn’t be any more Jimson at all.  He could go to bed, and we could burn his clothes (couldn’t we?) in the steam-launch; and then really it seems as if it would be all right.  Mr Bloomfield is so respectable, you know, and such a leading character, it would be quite impossible even to fancy that he could be mixed up with it.’

‘This young lady has strong common sense,’ said the Squirradical.

‘O, I don’t think I’m at all a fool,’ said Julia, with conviction.

‘But what if neither of them come?’ asked Gideon; ’what shall I do then?’

‘Why then,’ said she, ’you had better go down to the village after dark; and I can go with you, and then I am sure you could never be suspected; and even if you were, I could tell them it was altogether a mistake.’

‘I will not permit that—­I will not suffer Miss Hazeltine to go,’ cried Mr Bloomfield.

‘Why?’ asked Julia.

Mr Bloomfield had not the least desire to tell her why, for it was simply a craven fear of being drawn himself into the imbroglio; but with the usual tactics of a man who is ashamed of himself, he took the high hand.  ’God forbid, my dear Miss Hazeltine, that I should dictate to a lady on the question of propriety—­’ he began.

‘O, is that all?’ interrupted Julia.  ‘Then we must go all three.’

‘Caught!’ thought the Squirradical.

CHAPTER XII.  Positively the Last Appearance of the Broadwood Grand

England is supposed to be unmusical; but without dwelling on the patronage extended to the organ-grinder, without seeking to found any argument on the prevalence of the jew’s trump, there is surely one instrument that may be said to be national in the fullest acceptance of the word.  The herdboy in the broom, already musical in the days of Father Chaucer, startles (and perhaps pains) the lark with this exiguous pipe; and in the hands of the skilled bricklayer,

‘The thing becomes a trumpet, whence he blows’

(as a general rule) either ‘The British Grenadiers’ or ‘Cherry Ripe’.  The latter air is indeed the shibboleth and diploma piece of the penny whistler; I hazard a guess it was originally composed for this instrument.  It is singular enough that a man should be able to gain a livelihood, or even to tide over a period of unemployment, by the display of his proficiency upon the penny whistle; still more so, that the professional should almost invariably confine himself to ’Cherry Ripe’.  But indeed, singularities surround the subject, thick like blackberries.  Why, for instance, should the pipe be called a penny whistle?  I think no one ever bought it for a penny.  Why should the