In which Guy meditates marriage à-la-mode.

A twelvemonth passed in silence. Doubts and surmises soon usurped the seat of love; and I once more entered into the temptations of everyday life, and the pleasures which accompany good fellowship. The impossibility of ascertaining any news of Agnes, and the barrier to all communication being impregnable, I returned to those excesses which, at the time I write of, were both fashionable and fascinating.

As for the profession which unfortunate circumstances had bound me to, I not only despised its little-mindedness and formalities, but thoroughly hated it; consequently, I found myself in the terrible position of one who looks forward without hope, and whose heart is beating. full of regrets-in fact, life itself I considered as scarcely worth the burthen that was tied to me. The millstone of the law weighed heavily around me: I was sinking beyond reclamation.

The only amusement or distraction from the ennui which I suffered from, and which really relieved me, was that I almost daily entered one or other of the hospitals, and, having made many acquaintances amongst that very abused class termed "medical students," I accompanied them to the dissecting-room, and enjoyed the society of those who jovially proved that, whilst they were in life, they were in the midst of death.

To represent a scene of what was considered, five-and-forty years ago, anatomical study, would not now be credited. Reformation, not only in the school-rooms of surgery, but in the classes of scholars, has long since altered and transformed the indecencies and brutalising vulgarities of its graduates and followers into a respectful and praiseworthy behaviour in the presence of death. Boxing-gloves, singlestick, smoking, singing, and drinking, besides obscenities which are unmentionable, were at that period altogether uninterfered with-nay, were even encouraged and practised, from the commonest student up to the highest demonstrator himself. By the cessation of these follies or ancient ignorances, this great and glorious profession has been raised from almost the lowest position to take rank in the estimation of the world as comparatively the highest. I kept up my love for it by dancing attendance around the various hospitals and schools of anatomy, to all of which I had a ready introduction through my acquaintance with the students and previous apprenticeship.

Thus, as it were, between the Scylla and Charybdis of Love, Law, and Physic, I was completely unsettled in body and mind, and wandered through the realms of my unguided fancy, at the mercy of

H

imagination or passion, uncontrolled by those principles which formerly "marshalled me the way that I should go."

How strange it seems to me that, in attempting to repeat the details of the next scene in my adventurous life, my feelings are attacked by a numbness, a kind of inaction, that refuses them the necessary esprit for so great an occasion, and although I am convinced that my intentions and sentiments were those of honour and gallantry, and directed by the spirit of youth and love, at the time of the momentous event, I nevertheless set down to recount them with a dread and heart sinking greater than I can express. I trust that should there be amongst my readers any who may be inclined to judge me harshly, that they will at any rate postpone passing sentence until the end of the chapter, and when they have been convinced of my much "bad luck.' I was exactly twenty years and three months old, and as I have just previously stated, I had, through the hopelessness of my first and tender attachment, returned again to those habits which the wise and wellbehaved denounce as "loose." All the resorts of gaiety, accompanied by the temptations which keep alive the high-spirited, and reanimate the sinking, I sought upon every opportunity with the eagerness of a newly acquired taste. I threw myself headlong into the vortex of Vauxhall, then in its infancy of fashion and fancy. "Sing-song' taverns were my real delight. I was to be found in the company of prize-fighters; gloried in dog-fighting and bear-baiting; betted lightly with Abberfield, and fraternised familiarly with the renowned Bill Gibbons. It was an age in which the coarser sports were looked upon as national, and patronized by the Corinthians, consequently I never missed a chance of joining. My brother clerks at the office were bitten with the same longings, and we all three looked upon business as a bore, and the profession as unfit for men of dash and spirit. This was the precise state of my morals, my habits, and my altered mode of life, when on reaching home at about one-o'clock in the morning, and entering the kitchen for a final warm up, it being a bitter frost in the month of February, I was received by my father, who was sitting smoking his pipe, with his toes in the fire-place. The old gentleman quietly looking over his shoulder and shaking out the ashes of his yard of clay, said, and certainly "more in sorrow than in anger," "Guy, this won't do; these late hours, night after night, will be your ruin. The company that you keep, too, is, I am told, of the worst description, and your conduct has brought upon you the reproof of the whole firm. When I think how opposite to all this was the example set by your poor brother, I am really heart-broken. Now, my dear boy, this must be all put a stop to, and if not totally changed from to night, I must give you up as lost. If you are entangled with any worthless female, break it off immediately, and set to work to replace yourself in the estimation of your well-wishers and best friends before too late."

At this he gave a sigh, and put out his pipe.

"Father," I replied, awfully chap-fallen, "you need not be afraid, there is no woman in the case."

"Oh, don't tell me a lie, Guy !" he exclaimed," for there has been one here, no less than three times this evening, with a note for you, which she refuses to give into the hand of anyone but yourself per

sonally. She has left a message, to tell you that she will call again by daylight in the morning. Therefore, don't deceive me by such a profound falsehood."

I was so taken aback, and surprised at the information, that I sat down, silenced by wonderment, and the effects of the wellmerited lecture. The hour being not exactly suited for a long séance, or an argumentative discussion on the follies of youth, and the improprieties of preferring its pleasures to the drudgery of a dry-as-dust profession, we shortly broke up the interview in the kitchen, my worthy parent taking up his nightcap in one hand and his candle in the other, I very dutifully accompanying him to his bedroom, where I gave him the only satisfaction and consolation that lay in my power, namely, vows for my future reformation, and a promise that he should know the truth about the letter, and its female guardian as soon as I received it. When I reached my own little dormitory, I need scarcely say I gave way to all sorts of useless guesses and surmises concerning the mysterious and highly-prized note, and that I was as far off as ever from its author when I concluded my worrying fit, as I was before I received the news of its existence. Under the anxiety and excitement of a sudden call upon it, the mind generally displays considerable sympathy and activity even when calmed by slumber. I soon fell asleep, with the determination to be up in time in the morning to take the doubtful billet doux from the hand of the faithful messenger. The strong impression that its contents were something of vital importance to me haunted me the whole night through, and I dreamt accordingly of nothing but notes, some winged, some of love, others of death, some with good news, some with bad, and the whole a confusion, which at any rate had the desired effect of disturbing me just in time to hasten to the door and admit the bearer of all my hopes and fears. She was a young woman of most respectable appearance and respectful manners. I could perceive at the first glance that although she bore the type of the domestic plainly enough, yet that it was equally certain that the person she was serving was of no doubtful position or doubtful character. It was a very cold morning, and I begged her to follow me into the parlour. This she immediately complied with, and on entering it and closing the door, she drew from her bosom-that sweet repository of love's tender secrets-the longed-for letter. It was a very small one, thought I, to contain such great consequences. As she held it towards me, she cautiously, before parting with her treasure, said, "You are Mr. Guy May himself, I presume, sir." On my answering in the affirmative, "Miss Agnes told me to tell you, sir," she continued, on no account to delay doing as she requested, or you would be too late." At the first mention of my beloved one's name, I could scarcely proceed to the reading of it: so utterly unexpected was the possibility of my renewing my hopes in that quarter, that I may truly say I had dismissed the subject altogether from my mind, and my feelings, and even memory of her, had become obliterated and changed by the pursuits and gaieties I had since adopted and so greatly indulged in. As I tore open the delicate envelope, I trembled with the thousand various sensations that at the moment filled my heart and head. It was very short, but spoke volumes for itself.

"My dearest Guy,-Come to the butler's room on receipt of this; never mind at what time. Use the greatest caution. Beware of the Colonel. Come disguised, if you like, only come. Yours, ever, AGNES. P.S. I must see you once more."

I was electrified by a revolution of my own faithless conduct, as I read and re-read this token of her truth and constancy. Seizing the hand of the patient Abigail, "Fly back," I exclaimed, agitated beyond expression; fly on the swift wings of love, and tell dear Agnes I will lose not a single moment. But tell me first I pray what has happened, or is happening by this sudden return."

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"I can tell you nothing, sir," she replied; "only take care that the Colonel don't catch you: he is a very horrid man, and very cross."

As I saw it would be useless to put more questions, and I was burning for the interview with my love, and the explanations that it would produce, I dismissed the bearer of my happy summons with a thousand thanks and a guinea, the last I possessed, as a reward for her good services.

According to promise I reported the contents of the suspected letter to my father at once, disturbing him for that purpose. Of course I was too much of a lawyer to show it, I merely informed him that it was a notice, a private one of Agnes's return to Brompton, and that I was going to see her.

"Guy, my dear boy," he affectionately replied, "I sincerely wish you good luck in so desirable a quarter, and I trust now to hear that there is an end to your stupid goings on. Nothing will give me greater pleasure than to add to your happiness, but your idleness and extravagance I cannot countenance."

My sisters, at whose door I knocked, and announced the morning's news, were delighted to think they should once more see their amiable young companion and friend. The knowledge of the Colonel's presence threw a severe damper on my spirits, for, being aware of his power over his niece, and the natural, determined, cold, and unfeeling disposition of the man, I felt certain he would stick at nothing if crossed in his views. His first lesson, indeed, had well prepared all to keep a sharp look out, and not give him the ghost of a cause for even a suspicion of the slightest false play. Thus elated, and at the same time fearing, I started on my second expedition on the troubled waters of Love. Nevertheless, as I trudged on my errand of joy and its dangers, I cheered myself with the chivalric adage, and like a knight of old exclaiming

"Faint heart never won fair lady,"

I rushed along the well known road, which led to the prison of my bird of Paradise. Arriving at its gates, I stopped to consider my next best stop. The probability is, said I, as I surveyed the appearance of the house, that the heads of the family have not yet risen, in which case my victory is an easy and a safe one, and the sooner I march into it the better and as hesitation in such a case would be an unpardonable loss of opportunity, which, under the circumstances is everythiug, "Here goes," I cried, and walked boldly and quickly in without further parley. Taking the servants' entrance, which was a path inside of the shrubbery, rounding gradually to the back part of the premises, I had

nearly reached the desired spot, when in voice like thunder, from an open window, there belched these terror-striking words:

"Who goes there?"

Presence of mind, which is partly a constitutional gift and partly acquired, although not my forte, came instantly to my assistance, I popped behind a tree like a rabbit, from making sure that he could not see me, I answered:

"I'ts only me, sir."

This being the perfection of evasive answers, I awaited the grand effect.

"D―n you," roared the Colonel, for it was no less a person than the tyrant himself, "who the devil's me?"

By this time I had nimbly skipped unnoticed behind a large bush of holly which sheltered the corner of the house, and was now safe for the moment. I had out-generalled the Colonel, who was shouting, to the great disturbance of all within,

"D-n it, if you don't show yourself I'll shoot."

And sure enough to our consternation, "bang" went a pistol, followed by the sound of a second barrel. Taking instant advantage of the blood-thirsty old soldier's vain and empty shots, I had gained noiselessly on tip-toe the friendly quarters of my old bottle-companion, the true-hearted butler. John, who had been warned of my intended visit by Miss Agnes and the female messenger the night before, was delighted to receive me, with a welcome which showed how sincere was his regard for me. Hearing, however, the rampant tones of the Colonel, as he descended, vowing to have the whole place searched, even if he turned it inside out,

"Master Guy," said John, "hurry in here whilst I and this milintary scorpion just comes to a hunderstanding," at the same time shoving me by force on to a shelf in his large cupboard. The old saying of when

"Greek meets Greek the tug of war is sure to come,"

was soon verified to the letter, for as the Colonel announced his approach with,

"I'll have this house and premises searched instanter," so the staunch "Simon the Cellerer" took up his position manfully at the door of his sanctuary, and retorted with,

"You won't come in here Colonel or General, or any other man, and so I'll let you know."

"What! by God do you defy me?" bawled the astonished man of

war.

"Yes, by God, old Swear fast, I do defy yer, and more nor that, you don't upset my missus's quiet home neither, as yer did when yer carried off Miss Agnes like a wolf."

"Why, you infernal scoundrel," roared the exasperated and nonplussed warrior, "if you say much more I'll knock you down!"

"Ah! you'll find, Mr. Redcoat, that two can play at that game as well as swearing."

And, stepping back, he produced a short thick cudgel, that was not at all suited to a close acquaintance with a commanding officer's cranium.

'Every cock fights best, they say," he continued, waving the weapon