Lucretia, Complete

half-complacent, half-ironical. "Mon fils!" said he, patting the boy's head gently, "why

are master o

nd his lips were tightly compressed; he shrank from the contents with a jealous pang; as a light quivers strugglingly in a noxious vault, love descended into that hideous breast, gleamed upon dreary horrors, and warred with the noxious atmosphere: but it s

;" we shall not wait long: before the year is out I shall be free. My uncle has had another and more deadly attack. I see its trace in his face, in his step, in his whole form and bearing. The only obstacle between us is fading away. Can I grieve when I think it,-grieve when life with you spreads smiling beyond the old man's grave? And why should age, that has survived all passion, stand with its chilling frown, and the miserable prejudices the world has not conquered, but strengthened into a creed,-why should age stand between youth and youth? I feel your mild eyes rebuke me as I write. But chide me not that on earth I see only you. And it will be mine to give you wealth

come back, my uncle will probably be restored to the false strength which deceives him; he will have less need of Dalibard; and then-then let the Frenchman beware! I have already a plot to turn his schemes to his own banishment. Come to Southampton, then, as soon as you can,-perhaps the day you receive this; on Wednesday, at farthest. Your last let

our meeting, my lover,

intimacy with Mainwaring, Dalibard had shrunk from the thought that the disclosure would lose her the heritage which had first tempted his avarice or ambition; but now his jealous and his vindictive passions were aroused, and his whole plan of strategy was changed. He must crush Lucretia, or she would crush him, as her threats declared. To ruin her in Sir Miles's eyes, to expel her from his house, might not, after all, weaken his own position, even with regard to power over herself. If he remained firmly established at Laughton, he could a

h was one of the lions of the neighbourhood, though not professedly a show-place), were expected. Aware

you can go in your garden-chair; you will have new companions to talk with by the way; a

mour and the hall and the staircase, paid due respect to the substantial old-fashioned luncheon, and the

t), smiling at his jests and charmed with his courteous high-breeding. A little in the rear walked Gabriel, paying special att

!" said the young lady. "How I e

hingly; "you were close by Sir Miles when we went through the picture-gallery, and

, what o

d boast of Sir Miles; you know his weakness. He looked so displeased

not offend dear Sir

you to see Guy's Oak, in the dell; that you have heard so much about it;

ing the hint. Gabriel had set other tongues on the same cry, so that there was a g

is pet ancestor produced, Sir Miles led the way to

honours; it is too steep for

fair companion whose

I am sure we could get down the chair without a jolt. Look there, how nicely the

such guidance; he kissed the fair hands that lay so tempting

oung again that I think I can walk d

hands extended to him, step after step, Sir Miles, with

-ears-I beg pardon, my dears; the rascally rebels-poked their swords through the fissure, and two went, one through h

nter the oak. Two got precedence, and went in and out, one after the other. Gabriel breathed

the fair object of his notice. "You must turn round three times, look carefully on the grou

ow slid through the crowd, and went timidly i

was the matter, and offering his hand as she ca

l. "What a strange place for a post-office!

a's hand; his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth; the blood surged, like a sea, in his temples; h

at a shame in Mainwaring not to

round and breat

lady, astonished. "What can make your l

the county paper for me; and as he was to pass close by the park pales, through the wood yonder, on his w

, and hung down his head, and seemed rather more disposed to cry than to recite. Sir Miles, with an effort at simulation that all his long practice of the world never

you. I will take charge of your verses, Master Gabriel;" and with a grave a

re; but it was not successful. Fortunately, the carriages were all at the door as they reached the house, and luncheon being over, nothing delay

dismissed his v

been in the secret of the correspondence? Speak t

hardly knew why, that both you and she would not have those people discover it, which they would if the letter had been circulated from one to the

then, with a forced and sickly smile, he added: "Some foolish vagary of Lucretia

no,

my dear

ece's name,-my mother's grandchild! O G

t recollection made the honourable old man pause; but his duty was plain and evident, as head of the house and guardian to his niece. Thrice he wiped his spectacles; still they were dim, still the tears would come. He rose tremblingly, walked to the window, and saw the stately deer grouped in the

of the heart starts up the form of Perfidy; when out from the reptile swells the fiend in its terror; when the breast on which man leaned for comfort has taken counsel to deceive him; when he learns that, day after day, the life entwined with his own has been a lie and a stage-mime,-he feels not the softness of grief, nor the absorption of rage; it is mightier than grief, and more withering than rage,-it is a horror that appalls. The heart does not bleed, the tears do not flow, as in woes to which humanity is commonly su

se man abandons it; he does not honour it by hate, still less will he lighten and share the guilt by descending to revenge.

hese wrongs old men are subjected,-they give mirth to our farces; maid and lover are privileged impostors. But to have counted the sands in thine hour-glass, to have sat by

s master's lap; and Dash, jealous, rose also, and sprang, not actively, for Dash was old, too, upon his knees, and licked the numbed, drooping hands. Now, people praise the fidelity of dogs till the theme is worn out; but nobody knows what a dog is, unless he has been deceived by men,-then, that honest face; then, that sincere caress; then, that coaxing whine that never lied! Well, then,-what then? A dog is long-lived if he live to ten years,-small career this to truth and frien

the scen