CHAPTER XVI

OF GABBING DICK, A PEDDLER, HIS VIEWS The steak and kidney pie was no more, and Sir Marmaduke, lounging beside the cheery fire, knew that sense of placid and reposeful comfort which is the aftermath of a good supper (or should be); but all at once, becoming aware of a dismal wheezing, he sat up to peer into the adjacent shadows, for evening had fallen and the leafy dingle was full of a fragrant dusk. "It sounds as though some one were choking," said he, rising. "Horace!" exclaimed Eve. "'Tis Horace! He must have …