Lucretia, Complete

an liked to prepare himself. He belonged to a school in which, amidst much that was hearty and convivial, there was much also that nowadays would seem stiff and formal

strides by the help of his crutch made a mile, and this was convenient. Moreover, he liked to look, when alone, on those old portraits of his ancestors, which he had religiously conserved in their places, preferring to thrust his Florentine and Venetian masterpieces into bedrooms and parlours, rather than to dislodge from the gallery the stiff ruffs, doublets, and farthingales of his predecessors. It was whispered in the house that the baronet, whenever he had to reprove a tenant or lecture a dependant, took care to have him brought to his sanctum, through the full length of this gallery, so that the victim might be duly prepared and awed by the imposing effect of so stately a journey, and the grave faces of all the generations of St. John, which could not fail to impress him with the dignity of the family, and alarm him at the prospect of the in

ear sprang to his eyes. He felt a rising at his thr

elf what you would like best, and what would best fit you. Yo

nything but law, except the Church; anything

birth should belong to it. Take money for lying,-shabby, shocking! Don't let that go any farther! The Church-Mother Church-I honour her! Church and State go together! But one ought to be very good to preach to others,-better than you and I are,

ldered. "What claim have I, Sir Miles, to such

ed, with a touch of melancholy in his voice; "let me die in peace with all! Pe

ss, generous-hearted young man; "and my

tly from the heart, was so excusable from its motive and the youth's ignoranc

s; I trust I shall be just to the poor young lady. And so, if we never meet again

ir Miles, if only to

re intimate, I find,

ge friendship

ill not do

clever fo

-glib tongue enough, and can talk w

, Sir Miles; but if you don't make him a lawye

y and

honour I

the lodge; for I see by the papers that, in spite of all th

om, Ardworth quitted it. He hurried into his own chamber to thrust his c

into the army; abroad; to be shot at, thank Heaven! Tha

ad passed to Mainwaring. He sighed when his frie

r as I had promised; but I have seen enough to know that she certainly loves you. Ah, when she changed flowers with you, you did not think I saw you,-sly, was not I? Pshaw! She was only playing with Vernon. But still, do

ged with m

e had been searching for him; Sir Miles requested to s

taking King George's pay to fight against the French? No use stopping now to moralize on such contradictions. John, Tom,-what's your name?-here, my man, here,

e by the cedars." She passed on towards the staircase, and glanced at the large clock that was placed there. "Past eleven! Vernon is never up before twelve. I must see him before my uncle sends for me, as he will send if he suspects-" She paused, went back to her room, rang for her maid, dressed as for walking, and said carelessly, "If Sir Miles wants me, I am gone to the rectory, and shall probably return b

arfully, and she pla

betray your uncle's trust, to convert your gratitude to him into hypocrisy. I have been unworthy of myself. I am poor, I am humbly born, but till I came here, I was rich and proud

her breast heaving, her hands, as he dropped the one he held, clasped together, her eyes full o

sought you out, I have wooed you, if you will; be it so. I cling to you, you are my all,-all that saves me from-from myself," she added faltering

hed at these burning words, bent his f

hood and his gratitude and his heart all moved by that sight in one so haughty, he opened his arm

t are we

has passed between

sultory ambition,' and observing that I changed countenance,-for I felt that I did,-his manner became more cold and severe. Lucretia, if he has not detected our secret, he more than suspects my-my presumption. Finally, he said dryly, that I had better return home, consu

de to me-to

know him so little,-hi

lent, and Mainw

leave of your uncle; I came hither wit

I can the more easily allay all suspicion, if suspicion exist. But I must write to you; we must correspond. William, dear William, w

est and imploring voice, "but you forget: the bag is always brought first to Si

: "But your father's house is not far from this,-not ten miles; we can find a spot at the remote end o

. If any of Sir Miles'

am, this is not the

me,-I thi

nd wild power on her brow and in her eyes. "Fear not for me; I am sufficient guard upon myself. Even while I speak, I think,-yes, I have thought of the very spot. You remember that hollow oak at the bottom of the dell, in which Guy

his own,-its gentleness, its fear of inflicting pain, its reluctance to say "No,"-that simple cause of misery to the over-timid. A few sentences more, full of

park, passed the dell and the hollow tree, commonly called "Guy's Oak," and across woodland and fields golden with ripening corn, took his way

ed his own room, where he always breakfasted alone, and who was now languidly stretched on a bench, and basking in the sun. Like all who have abused life, Vernon was not the same man in the early part of the day. The spirits that rose to temperate heat the third hour after noon, and expanded into glow when the lights shone over g

h; not a hue too much. And there is Sir Miles's valet gone to the rectory, and the fat footman puffing away to

Lucretia, with the full blaze o

thee, O damsel! The knight of the Bleeding

ove, at least, it trembled always a little before

idle words!" said Lucreti

cerity, unless thou takest my life

by her side. Lucretia's eyes were still downcast, and she remained silent; Vernon, suppressing a

ke the heiress after all; the sooner 't is ov

provokingly handsome! Sir Miles, your good uncle, is pleased to forgive all my follies and faults upon one condition,-that you will take on yourself the task to reform me. Will you, my fair cousin? Such as I am, you behold me. I am no

n light to his eyes, and color to his cheek. Amidst all the ravages of dissipation, there was something interesting in his countenance, and manly in his tone and his gesture. But Lucre

dour in me; I cannot affect to misunderstand you. But you take me by

country; you can reflect more am

en, till I find

h a semi-genuflection which seemed to imply, "Consider yourself knelt to,"-just as a co

, had no capacity for humour, recoile

u, Mr. Vernon," she sai

d Charley Vernon, with imperturbable assurance. "You will wait to reflect till you a

that Sir Miles requested to see her. She replied hurriedly to this last, that she would be with her uncle imme

d the passive obedience I owe to him, to force me into a step of which-of which-I have not yet sufficiently considered the results. If you really desire tha

laimed Verno

be a free agent in a choice on which my happiness depends, forbear to urge Sir Miles further at present; forbe

e of your expectations and my poverty. And, believe me, I would rather rot in a prison than enrich myself by forcing your inclinations. You have but to say the word, and I will (

ned aside to conceal the glad light of her eyes,-"pardon me; an

with a profound reverence, to his cousin, and they took their way to the house. Not till they had pass

iss Clavering? On what fo

ping short with well-feigned confusion, as if suddenly

tchless neck, partially and advantageously turned from him, he began, with his constitutional admirati

red Lucretia; and drawing her arm gently from his, she pa

household gods, contemplate us still. They appear to confide to us the charge of their unblemished names. They speak to us from the grave, and heard aright, the pride of family is the guardian angel of its heirs. But Lucretia, with her hard and scholastic mind, despised as the veriest weakness all the poetry tha

"Faith!" he muttered, "if my boyhood had been passed in this old gallery, his Royal Highness would have lost a good fellow and hard drinker, and his Majesty would have had perhaps a mor

spicion that her heart was pre-occupied; entirely to remove from Sir Miles's thoughts the image of Mainwaring; and a denial of one suitor might quicken the baronet's eyes to the concealment of the other. Nor was this all; if Sir Miles was seriously bent upon seeing her settled in marriage before his death, the dismissal of Vernon might only expose her to the importunity of new candidates more difficult to deal with. Vernon himself she could use as the shield against the arrows of a host. Therefore, when Sir Miles repeated his question, she answered, with much gentleness and seeming modest sense, that Mr. Vernon had much that must prepossess in his favour;

to think that I could have wronged you for a moment, my own noble child; that I could have been dolt enough to suppose that the good looks of that boy Mainwaring might have caused you to forget what-But you change colour!"-for, with all her dissimulation, Lucretia loved too ardently not to shrink at that name thus suddenly pronounced. "Oh," continued the baronet, drawing her still nearer towards him, while with one hand he put back

tia summoned all the dark wile of her nature to mislead the intruder

ove you,-the puppy!-and you feel the compassion yo

etected hovering near the domain, in the exchange of their correspondence, it might appear but the idle, if hopeless, romance of youth, which haunts the mere home of

lied me on the subject, and I was so angry with him that when you touched on it, I thought more of my quarrel with him than of

ould have lost my librarian. No, I assure you, it

familiarly back into the channel it had lost; and when at last she escaped, it was with the understanding that, without promise or compromise, Mr.