to the conclusion, that glory was well enough in its way; but still it was an awkward business to have to seek it at the other side of the Pyrenees; and, had it pleased Heaven to bring about a general pacification, I think that I would have borne the disappointment like a philosopher.

I took no formal leave of my gentle mistress, for that unnecessary infliction of pain Mr. Hartley very properly inhibited. Our parting, as she left the drawing-room for the night, was probably warmer than was customary. She little imagined that I was to start at cock-crow for embarkation; and, in the expectation of meeting me at breakfast, she sought her apartment to court the soft influence of the drowsy god in vain.

66

'Hector," said Mr. Hartley, as he addressed me, "I regret that you are at this moment obliged to leave me; for something tells me that a crisis in our mutual fortunes is approaching. Were it any thing but the call of honour that takes you from England, I would at once ask you to forego it."

"Believe me, my dear sir, never did a more unwelcome order. come than that which I am about to obey! Could I but honourably decline it,"

"Oh, no-that were impossible! Wellington has assumed the offensive, and every eye in Britain will watch the progress of his arms. A country's call is sacred, and it must be obeyed. God knows, in periling your safety, and exposing you to the common chances of war, I make a sacrifice that few could estimate. There is one tie that binds me alone to life; and, save for that alone, the sooner a spirit, soured by misfortunes, and wearied of a world it despises and detests, were freed from this 'mortal coil,' the better. But were I in the grave, who would watch over the happiness of that being whom I idolize ?To one only would I entrust that holy charge. Need I name him ?— Yourself!"

I gratefully thanked my uncle for the proof of confidence he had given, and he thus proceeded:

"As my life and actions must appear to you involved in mystery and concealment, it will not surprise you much when I tell you, that for years I have been intimately informed of every occurrence that happened in your father's house. A stern necessity of secrecy obliged me to remain unknown and unsuspected. Had I been where I was supposed to be for twenty years-in the grave-I could not have been more removed from the knowledge of the world than I have been ; and the reason I selected that wild and retired abode where you first found us, was to insure the incognito, which your interests and Isidora's demanded; for, strange as it may appear, from earliest infancy, you were destined for each other."

"You really astonish me, sir!"

With my past

"When you hear my story that surprise will cease. life none were even partially acquainted but a beloved child and faithful servant. You shall know more of that dark and painful history than they ever did; and when you have heard all that I have suffered and endured, then say whether, but for one endearing tie, a life,

wretched and valueless as mine, would have been worth retaining for an hour. Fill, Hector-fill freely-many a day may pass before you and I shall meet again!"

I obeyed him. Rising from the table, he took a few turns across the apartment; it seemed an exertion to regain composure; it was successful. He resumed his seat, emptied his glass to the bottom, and thus commenced, what was to me a narrative of perilous adventure, but all-engrossing interest.

My Uncle's Story.

The career of vice is generally a simple history; a progressive advance from bad to worse, as the feelings deaden and the conscience becomes seared and callous, by degrees. My earlier follies might have been easily arrested by parental intervention, but Mr. Clifford was reserved and proud; his displeasure was evinced by frigid mannerism, and his reproofs conveyed in the cold terms of general disapprobation. He never reasoned to the understanding-never appealed to the heart. I listened to him as I would to a lecture; and I came away without the slightest impression having been made upon an ardent disposition, which under better management might have been awakened and reclaimed.

My ruin at last was consummated. I was discarded by my father; avoided by the good-deserted by the bad-and, finally, driven from the land, dishonoured and disgraced, where, by inheritance and birth, I should have held a proud position.

Months had passed since I had been alienated from an angry father. The means by which I had managed, for a time, to obtain the sums of money my extravagance demanded, had been overtaxed, and consequently, my resources were completely exhausted. The woman who lured me on to crime and ruin had heartlessly abandoned me, and those who had plundered me of hundreds refused me a shilling to buy bread! For a whole day I had not tasted food, and for two nights no roof had sheltered me- -and without any definite object in my wanderings, I had turned my steps to the home from which I had been long since rejected. I was ashamed to let any who had known me in the palmy days of youth witness the degradation that crime had caused; and, after night-fall, avoiding the village, I stole unperceived through a broken paling, and, like a thief and not the heir, entered the grounds of Clifford Hall.

William Morley had been in boyhood my favourite companion. Although his birth was menial, I treated him, from regard, rather like an equal than an inferior. My purse was ever open to his wants; and my attachment gradually obtained for him the notice of my father. Step by step, he rose in Mr. Clifford's confidence, until he gained an influence over his easy master that none besides possessed. I fancied him a friend; and I had every reason to suppose him one, for his professions of regard were warm, and his assurances of gratitude unbounded. When the kindly relations between my parent and myself

were first disturbed, I trusted to Morley's good offices to extenuate my offendings, and soften down the displeasure of an angry father. He promised to exert his influence to the uttermost. I believed him; followed his advice; and acted as he counselled. Alas! I little dreamed that Morley was all the while a deadly enemy, and that he was sapping to the foundation any slight remains of parental affection, and alienating the father from the child. Why should he thus play me false? and wherefore wear the mask of friendship, and hate me in his heart? Unconsciously, I had provoked his deadliest animosity by crossing his path in love.

Morley was in heart a libertine; but he had sufficient cunning to conceal it from the world. A village beauty had been the object of his pursuit for months; and fascinated by her superior attractions, his secret attentions were incessant, and there was no reason to doubt but they would ultimately be rewarded by success. I returned, after a long absence, to the Hall. I heard of Mary Davis. A glowing description of her charms was given me.. I saw her-report had only done common justice to her beauty-and I became her slave. My attentions flattered her pride-and the heir of Clifford Hall supplanted the son of a deceased menial. In a word, the weak girl eloped with me— deserted her peaceful home for a brief career of splendid profligacy; broke her poor mother's heart; drew down on me the lasting displeasure of my father; and rendered Morley my enemy for life. But of the consequence of my misconduct, I remained as yet in ignorance. To obtain his revenge, Morley worked secretly and steadily. Every act of imprudence was artfully communicated to my father; while the treacherous scoundrel led his confiding master to believe that he was kindly, but unsuccessfully, endeavouring to hide from him the criminal proceedings of his child. My slightest failings, blazoned by false. colouring, appeared enormities. My letters in explanation were suppressed; the breach between us became wider every day; Morley's demoniac ingenuity at last was crowned with full success; I was discarded-looked upon as one dead-consigned to poverty and degradation-and became a beggar and an outcast.

What was the villain's triumph, when, stealing through the shrubberies, I sought the well-remembered window of his apartment! Lights were burning, and there sat Morley. He had numerous papers and accounts before him; bank-notes and gold were spread over the table carelessly; and a bottle of wine was opened, from which, as I peeped in, he liberally helped himself. Heavens! how low had I fallen!— how abject did I feel myself! With me, indeed, the cup of misery was at the overflow. I dreaded to knock! I-the born-heir of all around, fearful to disturb the son of my father's menial! At last I mustered sufficient resolution to tap gently on the casement. The steward expected a different visitor. He seized his hat, hurried from the room, locked the door carefully, let himself out by a private entrance, of which he kept a key, and in another minute approached the evergreens to which I had retreated, and softly pronounced a woman's

"Ha!—a man's voice!-Who's there?" he demanded.

"An unfortunate—your old playfellow-he who once was your master's son !" I answered.

"Heavens!" he exclaimed. "Is it possible! And have you dared to venture hither?"

"I once thought," I replied dejectedly, "that none would question my right of entrance to this domain, which by birth and descent is, or should be, mine. I am indeed fallen!"

"What do ye want?" he demanded, as I fancied, in a haughty tone. Why have you disturbed me at this unseasonable hour?"

"Dire necessity obliged me to come here. I am perishing; food has not crossed my lips since yesterday. I am without a home,—the humblest shelter would be acceptable."

"I cannot offer you one. Were it known that I spoke to you, or gave you the slightest assistance, your father would discharge me.” “Is his anger, then, so unmitigable?" I asked in a desponding voice. "It is beyond the power of being appeased. Advisedly, he would not breathe the same atmosphere that you did; and the most welcome tidings he could receive, would be those that assured him that you were no more;" returned the steward.

"I am starving!-pennyless! By Heaven, I will crawl into these evergreens, and die in sight of that mansion which once was destined to be mine."

Morley started at the declaration. "Pshaw!" said he, with an appearance of more feeling than before; "this is mere folly! Let me see-I dare not afford aught but temporary relief; and in doing so I risk the loss of Mr. Clifford's favour, were the thing discovered. Stay; I will bring you some refreshment, and see whether I cannot do something to save you from actual starvation afterwards:" he then returned to the house, and in a few minutes reappeared with the remnant of the supper he had eaten, and a portion of the wine I noticed on the table. I ate ravenously-drank to the bottom of the flask— and then listened to the false scoundrel as he thus continued:

To save

"I have a relation in London, who perhaps might enable you to leave the country for a season. It is possible that time might soften your father's animosity, were you removed beyond his notice; and the violence of his resentment might happily cool down. Here. It is a guinea, and some silver; 'twill carry you to London; and when you get to town, inquire at the Post Office, and you will find an anonymous letter to give you future directions how to act. myself from ruin, requires the greatest caution on my part. Push forward to the next village on the London road; and when you have reached the metropolis to-morrow, you will be fully instructed what to do. For Heaven's sake, stay not another moment !- Steal secretly from the park, as you entered it; and all I can do for you shall be done." He hastily left me, as if in fear; I heard him bar the private entrance, and observed him close the shutters of his chamber, while I, in a state of humiliation bordering on insensibility, obeyed the order, and, like a felon, stole out of that domain where, two years previously, my will was absolute.

I slept at a mean public-house; but what a luxury was a bed to me! and yet the lowliest servant on my father's establishment would have rejected what his fallen child gratefully received!

Next morning I put myself on the roof of a coach which in other days I had frequently driven. Neither guard nor coachman remembered me. Of course, the vulgar scoundrels had heard of my downfall. Well, they only imitated men of better birth! They forgot me when it was convenient

I entered London. It was the anniversary of a victory, and I remembered it well. Two years before, by a singular coincidence, I had driven in with my own four-in-hand-and as the slang went then, it was "the best appointed drag in England." Mary Davis was on the box. Ah, two years had made a difference! I was a pauper on a stagecoach-Mary Davis, a wanderer on the streets! Vice, with her, poor girl, commenced in luxury, but to both it brought what it generally does ruin and disgrace!

The paltry supply that Morley had given was half consumed by my journey; and I sought one of the humblest hostleries which London, in its infinity of accommodation, presents. The extent of my degradation had nearly stupified me; but next morning I went to the Postoffice to inquire for the promised communication, scarcely caring whether it arrived or not. The steward, however, had been punctual; and the expected letter was delivered. It was brief-written in a disguised hand-and merely desired me to call at some rascally place in one of the worst localities of the oldest portion of the city.

I proceeded to find out the street, and with some difficulty succeeded. The person I inquired for was from home, but I was directed to a low public-house in the neighbourhood, and there I found him in company with several blackguard-looking personages. The room reeked with tobacco smoke; the table was splashed over with spilt liquors; the ceiling in many places had fallen in; and the contrivances to stop the broken casement, and exclude the air, were extraordinary. The man I sought took me to an inner closet, called for a stoup of gin, shut the door carefully, and then proceeded to business. "You are the gentleman Mr. M. has recommended to me?" said the stranger.

"I am that unfortunate person."

"And you want to leave the country for a while? Well, there's no great difficulty in doing that, if a person was not very particular about the way he travelled. It's only getting lagged, you know." Lagged! I don't understand you."

66

66

"Don't ye?" replied my new acquaintance. Why I'm certain I speak plain English. I mean, if you did not mind transportation, why you could travel at the king's expense. But I see you're raw. Well, I'll try how far I can oblige the gentleman who takes an interest about ye. Let me see I have some appointments to keep which will detain me all morning; but meet me at eight this evening. in the Borough," and on the back of an old tavern bill he scrawled, in villanous characters, the place and hour of meeting; told me to be punctual; drank the gin; desired me to pay for it; and conducting