Would it be an _awful_ bother, Mr Armstrong ?" "What! to have Jill for my little wife ?" said he.

"Not a bit.

If ever I want one, she's the first person I mean to ask." With this declaration Jill had to rest content.

It solaced her sorrow vastly; and even though Rosalind, to whom she confided the compact under a pledge of secrecy, scolded and laughed at her alternately, she felt a new prospect open before her, and set herself resolutely to the task of growing up worthy of Mr Armstrong's affection.
But amid all these troubles and hopes at Maxfield, two questions were on every one's lips: "Where was Roger?
Where was Robert Ratman ?" Roger had written once after reaching Paris, a letter full of hope, which had arrived a few days before Captain Oliphant's death.

He had succeeded at last in tracking the man Pantalzar to a low lodging in the city, and from him had ascertained somewhat of the history of the Callot family.