Paul Clifford, Volume 6.

s when you h

ues tell you w

aw have a meth

stand at the

e maiden we

least to eac

we trample

rd that Love s

n,-courage,

l with the k

is loved by t

h as the ma

voice is superb to-night, and your song admirable. Really, Lovett, it doe

epper's voice is as sweet as a bagpipe! Ah! such a song would h

that establishment,"

y do they call Edinbu

at men it produces," returned M

d the modern Athens because you are all so like the modern Athenian

itic, "Mac is a good fellow, spare him. Gentlemen, your health. I

ill consult on the business of the morrow, and join you in th

raphernalia: after bustling soberly about for some minutes, he let down a press-bed in the corner of the cave (for he did not sleep in the robbers' apartment), and undressing himself, soon appeare

Have you well weighed the pros and cons? Remember that nothing is so dangerous to our state as reform; the moment a

a gives easy trust and ready promotion to all who will enlist in her service. But this language, my dear friend, seems strange from your lips. Surely you will join me in my separation from the corps? What! you shake your head! Are

many years older than you. I have lived as a rogue till I have no other nature than roguery. I doubt if I should not be a coward were I to turn soldier. I am sure I should be the most consummate of rascals were I to

umb to the feebleness of my own heart, I should be lost indeed. And perhaps, wrestle I ever so stoutly, I do not wrestle away that which clings within me, and will kill me, though by inches. But let us not be cravens, and suffer fate to drown us rather than swim. In a word, fly with me e

t cannot be! I wish you all joy, all success in your career. You are young, bold, and able; and you

man of many words, but he spoke with reluc

leave us?" as

visit London for a few hours, and

nger? Pooh! you do not know what you say: or do you thin

probability she would scarcely recognize me; for her habits cannot much have improved her memory. Would I could say as much for her neighbours! Were I to b

our face. I guess! Well, Love has ruined many a her

e conversation made a sudden an

n I could have thought it possible. I would fain join you; there is devilish good tobacco in Germany, I

eflect! how certain of destruction is the path you now

century in the immortality of a glass case in Surgeons' Hall, grinning from ear to ear, as if one had made t

he not

he Old Bailey. There is no hope for him; yet he is an excellent

ondon chief; it will explain all. And now to

id Augustus

save the heavy breath of Long Ned broke the stillness of the night, the intelligent countenan

ith the deep silence that, save the solitary interruption we have specified, reigned around, the learned disciple of Vatel rose gently from the bed, hurried on his clothes,

Orbilius from the pump. No sooner did Clifford recognize the magisterial face of the sapient Scot, than he boldly thrust himself into the middle of the crowd, and collaring the enterprising citizen who had collared MacGrawler, declared himself ready to vouch for the honesty of the very respectable person whose identity had evidently been so grossly mistaken. Augustus, probably foreseeing some ingenious ruse, of his companion, instantly seconded the defence. The mob, who never d

h Scotchmen it is all the same thing), despite these invaluable miscellanies, to say nothing of some glorious political articles, in which it was clearly proved to the satisfaction of the rich, that the less poor devils eat the better for their constitutions,- despite, we say, these great acquisitions to British literature, "The Asinaeum" tottered, fell, buried its bookseller, and crushed its author. MacGrawler only,-escaping, like

ted this narrative from MacGrawler, the barriers o

e justice, to hand him over to the secular power, when Clifford interposed in his behalf. From a robber the sage dwindled into a drudge; menial offices (the robbers, the lying rascals, declared that such offices were best fitted to the genius of his country!) succeeded to noble exploits, and the worst of robbers became the best of cooks. How vain is all wisdom but that of long experience! Though Cl

r of serious desire; the police was no longer to be bribed, nay, they were now eager to bribe. MacGrawler had watched his time, sold

which brought so startlingly before your notice the most in

half asleep, "methought I hear

" answered Clifford: "you s

omlinson, and in two min

death of shame; it is a life without hope! Every moment I feel, and shall feel to the last, the pressure of a chain that may never be broken or loosened! And yet, fool that I am! I cannot leave this country without seeing her again, without telling her that I have really looked my last. But have I not twice told her that? Strange fatality! But twice have I spoken to her of love, and each time it was to tear myself from her at the moment of my confession. And even now something that I have no power to resist compels me to the same idle and weak indulgence. Does destiny urge me? Ay, perhaps to my destruction! Every hour a thousand deaths encompass me. I have now obtained all for which I seemed to linge

were the midnight meditations of Clifford; they terminated, towards the morning, in an uneasy and fitful slumber.

we want to cash our notes and to move the old l

ghtcap; "it was but this instant that I was dreaming you were going t

your share last night, for you owed me three guineas for our last game at cribbage

ow one much truer,-namely, long friends will make short acc

ted Ned, as he now, struggling into his inex

ose bobbins of thine, which thou art pleased to

y, as he reluctantly left his couch, "will

d Ned, "why don't you a

's d

streamed full upon the astounded forms of Tomlinson and his gaunt comrade! In the dark shade of the background four or five forms were also

o the stables, leaving the rest in shadow. He made one stride to the place beside the cart, where, we have said, lay some

ett! Lovett!

ot even of the strong had been hardened, by perpetual exercise, into a consistency and iron firmness which linked power and activity into a union scarcely less remarkable than that immortalized in the glorious beauty of the sculptured gladiator. His right hand is upon the throat of

red Clifford to his friend; "I

robber. Meanwhile Ned was struggling, as he best might, with two sturdy officers, who appeared loath to use their w

the voice of the principal offi

whole interior of the cavern a dim but sufficient light now rapidly circled

both hands the broken shaft of a cart that lay in reach, received the foremost invader with a salute that sent him prostrate and senseless back among his companions. The second shared the same fate; and the stout leader of the enemy, who, like a true general, had kept himself in the rear, paused now in

could swear to you with half an eye, in your clothes or without,-you lay down your club there, and let me come alongside of you,

et you 'come alongsi

these here pops through

as such an esteem for you? Don't you remember the manner in which I brought yo

meet for the ears of his companions should transpire. "You knows you are! Come

daylight already glimmered through a chink in the secret d

d perhaps I may grant what you require!

and you can't shilly-shally any longer. You have had your full swing; your years are up, and you must die like a man! But I give

Clifford, "that I may plan

age so valuable a functionary, lost not the opportunity now afforded him. Down thundered the steps, clattering he

le of Augustus felled that hero. But Clifford bounded over his comrade's body, dodged from the stroke aimed at himself, caught the blow aimed by another assailant in his open hand, wrested the bludgeon

TER

abella, I off

abella, "what do I

of Ot

one time, the woman at another. Variable as the atmosphere,

to the belief of innocence in her lover? In breasts young and unacquainted with the world, there is so pure a credulity in the existence of unmixed good, so firm a reluctance to think that where we love there can be that which we would not esteem, or where we admire there can be that which we ought to blame, that one may almost deem it an argument in favour of our natural power to attain a greater eminence in virtue than the habits and arts of the existing world will allow us to reach. Perhaps it is not paradoxical to say that we could scarcely believe perfection in others, were not the germ of perfectibility in our own minds! When a man has lived some years among the actual contests of faction without imbibing the prejudice as well as the experience, how wonderingly be smiles at his worship of former idols, how different a colour does history wear to him, how cautious is he now to praise, how slow to admire, how prone to cavil! Human nature has become the human nature of art; and he estimates it not from what it may be, but from what, in the corruptions of a semi-civilization, it is! But in the same manner as the young student clings to the b

rocess of a woman's reasoning? Alas! she is too credulous a physiognomist. The turn of a throat, with her, is the unerring token of nobleness of mind; and no one can be guilty of a sin who is blessed with a beautiful forehead! How fondly, how fanatically Lucy loved! She had gathered together a precious and secret hoard,- a glove, a pen, a book, a withered rose-leaf,-treasures rendered inestimable because he had touched them; but more than all, had she the series of his letters,-from the first formal note

uncle knocked at her door for admittance. She hurried

who dines with us to-day. But, stay, Lucy, your hair is ill-arranged. Do not let me di

uncle lingered for a few moments, surveying her with mi

earl approached with the same grace which had in his earlier youth rendered him almost irresistible, but which now, from the contrast of years with manner, contained a slight mixture of the comic. He paid his compliments,

everer has literally endured the moving accidents of flood and field,-for

r ridicule; judge for yourself whether I deserve it!" and Mauleverer proceeded to give, with all the animation which belonged to his character, the particulars of that a

conversation, more than he had hitherto deigned to do, to the temper of Lucy, and more anxious to soften than to dazzle, he certainly never before ap

ight not have been so successful in pleasing Lucy. As for himself, all the previous impressions she had made on him returned in colours yet more vivid; even the delicate and subdued cast of beauty which had succeeded to her earlier brilliancy, was far more cha

ence; but knowing that too long an absence is injurious to a gr

More and more enchanted by her assent, he drew the music- stool to the harpsichord, placed a chair beside her, and presently appeared lost in transport. Meanw

ed by Clifford; and as she sang, her voice took a richer and more t

E VIOLETS WHICH LOS

hat falls from

in our gre

showers were

rts wit

we lay in a

hings lov

bee left her

us to

May came in h

of our ho

just felt his b

weets n

r reigns on t

l, and its su

our sisters' h

ot to

bloom, but

m of the ea

e heavens, tha

id u

bable and thrilling pathos, Lucy ceased her song, Mauleverer, charmed out of himself, gentl

like your own music, if I could

and even as it was, a suppressed and half-arch smile played in the dimples of h

Mauleverer rapturously continued, still detaini

t last. I have long, very long, struggled against my attachment to you. Alas! it is in vain; and you behold

self from his hand, "I feel it difficult to suppose you serious; and

ven for a moment, affect to mistake me! Do not for a moment jest at what, to me, is the bane or bliss o

a look of serious inquiry; B

r the friend of my uncle I shall always have esteem; believe that I am truly sensible of the

than esteem. You are not to be won precipitately; a long trial, a long course of attentions, a long knowledge of my devoted and ardent love, alone will entitle me to hope for a warmer feeling

me for believing your proposal can be nothing but a jest; but here, I be

"this is too cruel. Brandon, i

lly enough, from his slumbe

t benefactor! I sue to your niece; she affects to disbelieve

e honour you have done her, and for which the noblest damsels in England have sighed in vain. Lucy, will you be cruel to Lord Mauleverer? Believe me, he has often

urned to

of expression. "I feel highly flattered by his lordship's proposal, which, as you say, I might well doubt to be gravely meant. I wish him all happiness wi

r and vanished, leaving the two friends t

with your precipitat

ing up my mind to marry; and now when I have not a day to lose, you talk

ars making up your mind to marr

nd that too at my age and with all my experience!-a country girl without rank, ton, accomplishments!

n, mastering the strange feeling which made him always rejoice in whatever threw ridicule on his friend, approached, laid his hand kindly on Mauleverer'

TER

kon by the hairs of my head. Now I feel I can love but one, and that one has desert

uld suggest, in order to gain at least a foundation for the raising of his scheme. Among other resources of his worldly tact, he hinted at Lucy's love for Clifford; and (though darkly and subtly, as befitting the purity of the one he addressed) this abandoned and wily person did not scruple to hint also at the possibility of indulging that love after ma

the wishes of its owner; and Lucy, who loved and admired him sincerely,-not the less, perhaps, for a certain modicum of fear,-was greatly grieved at perceiving how rooted in him was the desire of that marriage which she felt was a moral impossibility. But if Brandon possessed the secret of sway, Lucy was scarcely less singularly endowed with the secret of resistance. It may be remembered, in

er? Was it- was it Clifford?" She remained for some moments motionless, and literally unable to move; at length she summoned courage, and smiling with self-contempt at a notion which appeared to her after thoughts utterly absurd, she descended to the drawing-room. The first

syllable; and Lucy, after pausing in expectation of his voice, looked up, and caught, in alarm, the strange and peculiar aspect o

me, you love me, and I shudder while I feel it; after all I myself have borne and resisted, I once more come wilfully into your presence! How have I burned and sickened for this moment! How have I said,

eloquent face. It seemed as if he were moved beyond all the ordinary feelings of reunion and of love. He did not attempt to kiss the hands he held; and though

en, Lucy; your laugh came from the heart, your step spurned the earth. Joy broke from your eyes, everything that breathed around you seemed full of happiness and mirth; and now, look upon me, Lucy! lift thos

forgive?" said

deceit and injury been my crimes against you? Your peace of mind, your

me, indeed you do not,-you are ignorant even of the very nature of a woman, if you think me unworthy of your confidence! Do y

impassioned caress; and Lucy, as her breath mingled with his, and her cheek drooped upon his bosom, did indeed feel as if the past could contain no secret powerful enough even to weaken the affection with which her heart clun

(here the smile withered from Lucy's lips). "My poor father is dead. I can injure no one by my conduct; there is no one on earth to whom I am bound by duty. I am independent, I am rich. You profess to love me. I am foolish and vain, and I believe you. Perhaps, also, I have the fond hope which so often makes dupes of women,-the hope that if you have e

might otherwise appear unmaidenly, there was a chaste, a proud, yet not the less a tender and sweet propriety and dignified frankness in her look and manner; so that it would have been utterly imp

that varied at every word she uttered,-now all hope, now all despondency. As

worthy! Generous, noble girl! had I been an emperor, I would have b

ement in love?"

lt to be thus loved and by such a creature was matter of pride, even in the lowest circumstan

n outcast, without birth

e this now, bu

sh, and you all devoted? Are you to yield everything to me, and I to accept everything and yield none? Alas! I have but one good, one blessing to yield, and that is yourself. Lucy, I deserve you; I outdo you in generosity. All that you would desert for me is nothing-O God!-nothing to the sacrifice I make to you! And now, Lucy, I have seen you, and I must once more bid you farewell; I am on the eve of quitting this country forever. I shall enlist in a foreign service. Perhaps" (and Clifford's dark eyes flashed with fire) "you will yet hear of me, and not blush when you hear! But" (and his voice fal

moment she heard his step on the stairs, the door closed heavily and jarringly upo

TER

l between the c

n does

his c

. . . .

Hugh accout

gui

I to gull th

ng you for a

. . . .

able was m

ck Tator b

ON-Tale

d turning to an obscurer quartier of the town, entered a gloomy lane or alley. Here he was a

, "you are beyond your

ession which generally marked his address to his compani

at! are the pri

all in good time. It is a little too much to expect the justice

asked Cliffor

I arrived, though I set off the moment you told me, and did the journey in four hours. The examination lasted all

t seems that the only thing buffed hard against them was by a stout grazier, who was cried 'Stand!' to, some fifty miles o

rney; if they once get to prison, their only chances are the file and th

t a stone-wall in Englan

hrough, I'll swear!" sai

oad the pistols! I will

eady, the false hair, et

ree Feathers is th

minutes on

ctua

ontinued his course till he came to the door of a public-house. The sign of a seaman swung aloft, portraying the jolly tar with a fine pewter pot in his hand, considerably huger than his own circumference. An immense pug sat at t

and crossing the threshold, c

joining the tap. There, seated by a round oak table, he found mine host,-a red, fier

his discourse with certain Dutch graces, which with our reader's leav

business keeps me to-day. I came to as

t to the b

ite of my late delays he wil

ty years! He would lie like a log in a calm for ten months tog

and well manned, in cas

your grandmother. The 'Black M

e alight. We shall not meet within the three seas again, I

when the lads come to know their loss, they will know they have lost the brave

t released Clifford; and the robber hasten

Irish breed, of remarkable strength and bone, and save only that it was somewhat sharp in the quarters (a fault which t

rearing from the hand of the attendant robber, the sagacious animal freed itself of the rein, and as i

robber fondly stroked the shining neck of his favourite steed; and as the animal returned the caress by rubbing its head against the hands and the athletic breast of its master, Clifford felt a

sharing. Thou wilt now be my only familiar, my only friend, Robin; we two shall be strangers in a foreign land. But thou wilt make thyself welcome easier than thy lord, Robin; and thou wilt forget the old days and thine old comrades and thine old lo

l wooden gates into the street, the imperfect gleam of the wintry sun falling over himself and his steed, it was scarcely possible, even in spite of his disguise and rude garb, to conceive a more gallant and striking specimen of the lawless an

robber said to the hostler of the inn, an aged and withered ma

e bravest heart, the frankest hand, the best judge of a hor

ng back to the tap-room,-"for all that, master, his time be up. Mark my w

t makes you so wise? You

nowing or stupid, as outlived his seventh year. And this will be the captain's seven

y,-he himself was verging towards

d I has experience in these things-by the fey, of his eye and t

but the closest interpretation of

der of evil against the wall, he turned on his heel, and so

Pepper, handcuffed and fettered, were jogging along the road in a postchaise, with Mr. Nabbem squeezed in by the side of the former, and two other gentle

s snuffbox, and helped himself largely to the intoxicating dust; "you had best prepare yourself, Mr.

mself, as well as he was able, in order to deliver his body from the pointed elbow of Mr. Nabbem. "

does not sinnify a pin; for directly we does our

cause you have scrouged us, neck and crop, into this horrible hole, like turkeys fatted for Christmas. 'Sdeath! one's hair is flatted down like a panc

your eyes, Ned," said Tomlinso

o go in a cart like the rest of your profession; and when I puts myse

age's dignity; "you must allow a little bad h

the nose of his unfortunate prisoner. Shutting his eyes, Tomlinson long and earnestly sniffed up the luxury, and as soon as,

irits are not broken too. In our time we have had something to do with the ad

ethodist line before yo

bb

ch; namely, we lived upon our flock without a legal authority to do so, and that which the

d for my part, I thinks all who sarves the king should s

ng also. "And I will now, since you like politics, point

that?" sa

n adorning his Majesty's senate and the life of the ge

ARALLEL OF AUGU

rue, your patriot calls it 'distress of the country;' but does he ever, a whit more than we do, mean any distress but his own? When we are brought low, and our coats are shabby, do we not both shake our heads and talk of 'reform'? And when, oh! when we are up in the world, do we not both kick 'reform' to the devil? How often your parliament man 'vacates his seat,' only for the purpose of resuming it with a weightier purse! How often, dear Ned, have our seats been vacated for the same end! Sometimes, indeed, he really finishes his career by accepting the Hundreds,-it is by 'accepting the hundreds' that ours may be finished too! [Ned drew a long sigh.] Note us now, Mr. Nabbem, in the zenith of our prosperity,-we have filled our pockets, we have become great in the mouths of our party. Our pals admire us, and our blowens adore. What do we in this short-lived summer? Save and be thrifty? Ah, no! we must give our dinners, and make light of our lush. We sport horses on the race-course, and look big at the multitude we have bubbled. Is not this your minister come into office? Does not this remind you of his equipage, his palace, his plate? In both cases lightly won, lavishly wasted; and the public, whose cash we have fingered, may at least have the pleasure of gaping at the figure we make with it! This, then, is our harvest of happiness; our foes, our friends, are ready to

tice of fortune, were rankling in his breast. Long Ned sat in gloomy silence; and even the hard heart of the severe Mr. Nabbem was softened by the affect

to be carried off like muttons, without attempting to rescue us by the way! I

im as he shows for you! Why, Lord now, I doesn't want to 'tice you; but this I does know, the justices are very anxious to catch Lovett; and one who gives hi

ely have assisted us. One man alone, even Lovett, clever as he is, could not have forced us out of the clutches of you and your myrmidons, Mr. Nabbem! And when we were once at ---, th

m. Long Ned's face fell. "And what if he d

too old a hand for the herring-pond. They're resolved to ma

ullen look a

with a pleasanter fellow, I'll swear! You may call me an apple if y

cing pun, the lengthy hero re

ent, and on the other by a thick hedgerow, which through its breaks gave occasional

trapping fellows like that Captain Lovett, as the blowens raves about, but a, nice, tight little body, with a face like a carrot! That's a beauty for my money! Honesty's stamped on his face, Mr. Tomlinson! I dare says" (and the officer grinned, for he had been a lad of the cross in his own day),- "I dare says, poor innocent booby, he knows none of the ways of Lunnun town; and if he has not as merry a life as some folks, mayhap he may have a longer. But a merry one forever for such lads as us, Mr. Pepper! I say, has you heard as how Bill Fang went to Scratchland [Scotland] and was stretched for smashing queer screens [that is, hung for uttering forged notes]? He died 'nation game;

ke stranger, who had kept up by the side of the chaise, suddenly r

oad belonging to your party? They w

our party!" So saying, he tipped a knowing wink at the

oing all alone?"

hink, in the daytime, with the sun out as big as a sixpe

, and in the same instant that he arrested the horses of the chaise, struck the postilion to the ground with a short heavy bludgeon which he drew from his frock. A whistle was heard and answered, as if by a signal: three fellows, armed with bludgeons, leaped from the hedge; and i

ered them easily to be surprised. The two guardians of the dicky leaped nimbly to the ground; but before they had time to use their firearms, two of the new aggressors, who had appeared from the hedge, closed upon th

isguise hides me at present. Lean on me,-only throu

you could say "Laudamus," he was on the other side of the hedge. The two men engaged with the police-officers were not capable of an equal celerity; but Clifford, throwing himself into the contest and engaging the policemen, gave the robbers the opportunity of escape. They scrambled through the fence; the officers, tough fellows and keen, clinging lustily to them, till one was felled by Clifford, and the other, catching against a stump, was forced to relinquish his hold; he then sprang back into the road and prepared for Clifford, who now, however, occupied himself rather in fugitive than warlike measures. Meanwhile, the moment the other rescuers had passed the Rubicon of the hedge, their flight, and that of the gentlemen who had p

set spurs in his horse and turned to fly. Clifford's head drooped to the saddle-bow. Fiercely the horse sprang on. The robber endeavoured, despite his reeling senses, to retain his seat; once he raised his head, once he nerved his slackened and listless limbs, and then, with a faint groan, he fell to the earth. The horse bounded but one step more, and, true to the tutorship it had received, stopped abruptly. Clifford raised himself with great difficulty on one arm; with the other hand he drew forth a pistol. He pointed it deliberately towards the officer that wounded him. The man stood motionless, cowering and spellbound, beneath the dilating eye of the

den panic of the officer, was already out of reach, and darting

TER

e I

fortune could

hope, lif

. . . .

essons he from

in his mind

do he read, an

ded was with p

hout a passio

. . . .

ved those pass

AB

, and life's e

burning a Pac

d sad a

ts folded in th

could'st wa

HEM

alleviation of the bitter feelings at her heart, or for a transient forgetfulness of their sting. The whole world of her mind had been shaken. Her pride was wounded, her love galled; her faith in Clifford gave way at length to gloomy and dark suspicion. Nothing, she now felt, but a name as well as fortunes utterly abandoned, could have justified him for the stubbornness of heart in which he had fled and deserted her. Her own self-acquittal no longer consoled her in affliction. She condemned herself for her weakness, from the birth of her ill-starred affection to the crisis it had now acquired. "Why did I not wrestle with it at first?" she said bitterly. "Why did I allow myself so easily to love one unknown to me, and equivocal in station, despite the cautions of my uncle and the whispers of the world?" Alas! Lucy

e

r thoughts whe

urselves at

of the Lyre

every word and look! Bitter, then, and dark must be that remorse which could have conquered every argument but that which urged him to leave her, when he might have claimed her forever. True, that when his letter formally bade her farewell, the same self-accusing language was recurred to, the same dark hints and allusions to infamy or guilt; yet never till now had she interpreted them rigidly, and never till now had she dreamed how far their meaning could extend. Still, what crimes could he have committed? The true ones never occurred to Lucy. She shuddered to ask herself, and hushed her doubts in a gloomy and torpid silence. But through all her accusations against herself, and through all her awakened suspicions against Clifford, she could not but acknowledge that something noble and not unworthy of her mingled in his conduct, and occasioned his resistance to her and to himself; and this belief, p

ore and more capable of comprehending a very subtle and intricate character. There is no secret for discovering the human heart like affliction, especially the affliction which springs from passion. Does a writer startle you with his insight into your nature, be sure that he has mourned; such lore is the alchemy of tears. Hence the insensible and almost universa

h, Honour, and Virtue,-the callousness of his fossilized affections, which no human being softened but for a moment, and no warm and healthful impulse struck, save into an evanescent and idle flash;-in spite of this consummate obduracy and worldliness of temperament, it is not paradoxical to say that there was something in the man which Lucy found at times analogous to her own vivid and generous self. This was, however, only noticeable when she led him to talk over earlier day

ack to the present,-his features withered abruptly into their cold placidity or latent sneer; the seal closed suddenly on the broken spell, and, like the victim of a fairy-tale, condemned at a stated hour to assume another shape, the very being you had listened to seemed vanished, and replaced by one whom you startled to behold. But there was one epoch of hi

e wrecks of all other feelings this imperial survivor made one great palace for its residence, and called the fabric "Disdain." Scorn was the real essence of Brandon's nature; even in the blandest disguises, the smoothn

al virulence had, despite his personal affability, made him many foes-was driven into acknowledging the profundity of his legal knowledge, and in admiring the manner in which the peculiar functions of his novel dignity were discharged. No juvenile lawyer browbeat, no hackneyed casuist puzzled, him; even his attention never wandered from the

he robber could be prevailed on to prosecute; on the contrary, they always talked of the event as one of the most agreeable remembrances in their lives, and seemed to bear a provoking gratitude to the comely offender, rather than resentment. All the gentlemen were not, however, of so placable a temper; and two sturdy farmers, with a grazier to boot, were ready to swear, "through thick and thin," to the identity of the prisoner with a horseman who had civilly borne each of them company for an hour in their several homeward rides from certain fairs, and had carried the pleasure of his society, they very gravely asserted, considerably beyond a joke; so that the state of the prisoner's affairs took a very sombre aspect, and the counsel-an old hand-intrusted with his cause declared confidentially that there was not a chance. But a yet more weighty accusation, because it came from a much nobler quarter, awaited Clifford. In the robbers' cavern were found several articles answering exactly to the description of those valuables feloniously abstracted from the person of Lord Mauleverer. That nobleman attended to inspect the

on's library, informed him that Sir William was particularly engaged, but would join his lordship in the drawing-room. While Barlow was yet speaking, and Mauleverer w

lar engagement," though

those old fellows

liant, nearly always wore one pervading character,- calmness; whether in the smoothness of social courtesy, or the austerity of his official station, or the bitter sarcasm which escaped him at no unfrequent intervals, still a certain hard and inflexible dryness stamped both his features and his air. But at this time a variety of feelings not ordinarily eloquent in the outward man struggled in his dark face, expressive of all the energy and passion of his powerful and masculine nature; there seemed to speak

ou ill; or has anything

e; and from under the letters he drew some ringlets of an aubu

nts, changed colour, but shook his head with a nega

udge, in a yet more impressive and pain

o that whatever his features might have betrayed was hidden from his compan

at this distance of time; thi

absence of nearly twenty-five years; they are the letters she wrote to me in the days of our courtship" (here Brandon laughed scornfully

on, whatever it might b

uneasily on his chai

ut so unhappily; but it was not our fault, dear Brandon. We were men of

nd loud disdain, the intense force of which it would be in vain to att

that fellow Clifford, who had the insolence to address himself to your adorable niece? I told you I suspected that long friend of his of having made my acquaintance som

thetically, as he slowly gathered his pape

the very identical highwaymen who robbed me on my road from Bath. N

ndon, who appeared a

this indifference. "But do you not

eated Brandon,

young, when at Bath. She suffered this fellow to address her too openly.

ng the malignant coldness of his eye upon the suitor. "An

disconcerted. "I trust not, for th

because she is an heiress of great fortune, and you suppose that my wealth will in all probability swell her own. Moreover, she is more beautiful than any other young lady of your acquaintance, and, polished by your example, may do hon

lifford from being known. I do not see why it should be. No doubt he was on his guard while playing the gallant, and committed no atrocity at Bath. The name of Clifford is hitherto per

y that this Lovett will be tried some seventy or eighty mil

over, if the dog has any delicacy, he will naturally dislike to be known as the gallant of that gay city where he shone

lf on the point between

an

ss very unpleasant to him, under his 'present unfortunate circumstances' (is not that the phrase?), to be known as the gentleman who enjoyed so deserved a popularity at Bath, and that, though 'the laws of my country compel me' to prosecute him, y

nd fortune has made her independent. Who knows but that she might commit some folly or another, write petitions to the king, and beg me to present them, or go- for she has a world of romance

will not cause you to be less severe than you usually are. They say

cies; I loathe their folly and their half vices. 'Ridet et odit'-["He laughs and hat

icked his teeth; "but I am glad you see the absolute necessity of keeping this se

f my poor brother's recent death, she sees nobody but us, there is little chance, shou

confounde

or gentleman, a friend of the late squire, whom your mistress used to dance with, and you must have seen,-Captain Clifford,-is to be tried for his life. It will shock her, poor thing! in

ce poor Clifford is gone,- fallen from a high estate,-we may break the matter gently to her; and as I intend th

n," added Brandon, "surely a lord in existen

a departed lover, I do not think she will when the memory is allied with shame. Love is nothing more than vanity pleased; wound the vanity, and you des

e certain of her!" sa

ope I am," said Mauleverer; and the conversation turned. Mauleverer did not stay much longer

and fortune and ambitious prospects, to which she alluded: at other times, a vein of latent coquetry seemed to pervade the style,-an indescribable air of coolness and reserve contrasted former passages in the correspondence, and was calculated to convey to the reader an impression that the feelings of the lover were not altogether adequately returned. Frequently the writer, as if Brandon had expressed himself sensible of this conviction, reproached him for unjust jealousy and unworthy suspicion. And the tone of the reproach varied in each letter; sometimes it was gay and satirizing; at others soft and expostulatory; at others gravely reasoning, and often haughtily indignant. Still, throughout the whole correspondence, on the part of the mistress, there was a sufficient stamp of individuality to g

he snake which my foot disturbed glided across your path. You did not know I was within hearing of the tent where you made so agreeable a repast, and from which your laughter sent peals so many and so numerous. Laughter! O Julia, can you tell me that you love, and yet be happy, even to mirth, when I am away! Love! O God, how different a sensation is mine! Mine makes my whole principle of life! Yours! I tell you that I think at moments I would rather have your hate than the lukewarm sentiment you bear to me, and honour by the name of affection.' Pretty phrase! I have no affection for you! Give me not that sickly word; but try with me, Julia, to invent some expression that has never filtered a paltry meaning through the lips of another! Affection! why, that is a sister's word, a girl's wo

e a more grave if not a deeper gush

and tranquil feeling. No feeling that I can possibly bear to you will ever receive those epithets,-I know that I shall be wretched and accursed when I am united to you. Start not! I will presently tell you why. But I do not dream of happiness, neither (could you fathom one drop of the dark and limitless ocean of my emotions) would you name to me that word. It is not the mercantile and callous calculation of chances for 'future felicity' (what homily supplied you with so choi

. . . . . .

vivial dog, a fox-hunter, a drunkard, yet in his way a fine gentleman,-and a very disreputable member of society. The first feelings towards him that I can remember were those of shame. Not much matter of family pride here, you will say! True, and that is exactly the reason which made me cherish family pride elsewhere. My father's house was filled with guests,-some high and some low; they all united in ridicule of the host. I soon detected the laughter, and you may imagine that it did not please me. Meanwhile the old huntsman, whose family was about as ancient as ours, and whose ancestors had officiated in his capacity for the ancestors of his master time out of mind, told me story after story about the Brandons of yore. I turned from the stories to more legitimate history, and found the legends were tolerably true. I learned to glow at this discovery; the pride, humbled when I remembered my sire, revived when I remembered my ancestors. I became resolved to emulate them, to restore a sunken name, and vowed a world of nonsense on the subject. The habit of brooding over these ideas grew on me. I never heard a jest broken on my paternal guardian, I never caught the maudlin look of his reeling eyes, nor listened

t was a fine thing to get a prize, but it was ten times a finer thing to get drunk with a peer. So, when I had done the first, my resolve to be worthy of my sires made me do the second,-not, indeed, exactly; I never got drunk: my father disgusted me with that vice betimes. To his gluttony I owe my vegetable diet,

e eldest sons of baronets are allowed to

ell you two little anecdotes that first ini

good a fellow as my father,-have such a cellar or keep such a house. 'I have met six earls there and a marquess,' quoth the other senior. 'And his son,' returned the first don, 'only keeps company with s

s this: On the day I g

iends to dine with me

ged (they had been ask

man at the Universit

e time, threw me int

an of the world. I no

t after the glory of

d to become rich, po

pu

thers. I analyzed my talents, and looked to the customs of my country; the result was my resolution to take to the Bar. I had an inexhaustible power of application; I was keen, shrewd, and audacious. All these qualities 'tell' at the courts of justice. I kept my legitimate number of terms; I was called; I went the circuit; I obtained not a brief,- not a brief, Julia! My health, never robust, gave way beneath study and irritation. I was ordered to betake myself to the country. I came to this village, as one both salubrious and obscure. I lodged in the house of your aunt; you came hither daily,-I saw you,-you know the rest. But where, all this time, were my noble friends? you will say. 'Sdeath, since we had left college, they had learned a little of the wisdom I had then possessed; they were not disposed to give something for nothing; they had younger brothers, and cousins, and mistresses, and, for aught I know, children to provide for. Besides, they had their own expenses; the richer a man is, the less he has to give. One of them would have bestowed on me a living, if I had gone into the Church; another, a commission if I had joined his regiment. But I knew the day was past both for priest and soldier; and it was not merely to live, no, nor to live comfortably, but to enjoy power, that I desired; so I declined these offers. Others of my friends would have been delighted to have kept me in their house, feasted me, joked with me, rode with me, nothing more! But I had already the sense to see that if a man dances himself into distinction, it is never by the steps of attendance. One must receive favours and court patronage, but it must be with the air of an independent man. My old friends thus rendered useless, my legal studies forbade me to make new, nay, they even estranged me from the old; for people may say what they please about a similarity of opinions being necessary to friendship,-a similarity of habits is much more so. It is the man you dine, breakfast, and lodge with, walk, ride, gamble, or thieve with, that is your friend; not th

. . . . .

ven then you force yourself before me, and I feel that one glance from your eye is more to me than all. If you could bear with me,-if you could soothe me,-if when a cloud is on me you could suffer it to pass away unnoticed, and smile on me the moment it is gone,-O Julia! there would be then no extreme of poverty, no abasement of fortune, no abandonment of early dreams which would not seem to me rapture if coupled with the bliss of knowing that you are mine. Never should my lip, never should my eye tell you that there is that thing on earth for which I repine or which I could desire. No, Julia, could I flatter my heart with this hope, you would not find me dream of unhappiness and you united. But I tremble, Julia, when I think of your temper and my ow

. . . . .

lightness, Julia, make me foresee an eternal and gushing source of torture to m

ence of the writer and some treacherous inclination on the part of the mistress, ultimately conquered; and that a union so little likely to receive the smile of a prosperous star was at length concluded. The letter which termi

me that you love me; and my fears are banished. Love, which conquered my nature, will conquer the only thing I would desire to see altered in yours. Nothing could ever make me adore you less, though you affect to dread it,-nothing but a knowledge that you are unworthy of me, that you have a th

he least durable, is often the most susceptible of the fiercest extremes of hatred or even of disgust; secondly, that the character opened by this sarcastic candour evidently required in a mist

ing through these monuments of former folly and youthful emotion, the further elucidation of those events, now rapidly urging on a f

ER XX

k veil of years! B

t. Vast city

d all vileness

ough the roar o

the Darling S

et a poison

. . . .

Thy

ve changed that

Thy

trikes home,-my

Hatred,

nately together, and it was observed with what care Welford adjusted his wife's cloak or shawl around her slender shape, as the cool of the evening increased. But often his arm was withdrawn; he lingered behind, and they continued their walk or returned homeward in silence and apart. By degrees whispers circulated throughout the town that the new-married couple lived by no means happily. The men laid the fault on the stern- looking husband; the women, on the minx of a wife. However, the solitary servant whom they kept declared that though Mr. Welford did sometimes frown, and Mrs. Welford did sometimes weep, they were extremely attached to each other, and only quarrelled through love. The maid had had four lovers herself, and was possibly experienced in such matters. They received no visitors, near or from a distance; and the postman declared he had never seen a letter directed to either. Thus a kind of mystery hung over the pair, and made them still more gazed on and still more disliked-which is saying a great deal-than they would have otherwise been. Poor as Welford was, his air and walk eminently bespoke what common persons term gentility. And in this he had greatly the advantage of his beautiful wife, who, though there was certainly nothing vulgar or plebeian in her aspect, altogether wanted the refinement of manner, look, and phrase which characterized Welford. For about two years they lived in this manner, and so frugally and tranquilly that though Welford had not any visible means of subsistence, no one could well wonder in what manner they did subsist. About the end of that time Welford suddenly embarked a small sum in a county speculation. In the co

ut then, unhappily, no debts could be discovered. Their bills had been "next to nothing;" but, at least, they had been regularly paid. However, before the rumoured emigration took place, a circumstance equally wonderful to the good people of occurred. One bright spring morning a party of pleasure from a great house in the vicinity passed through that town. Most conspicuous of these was a young horseman, richly dressed, and of a remarkably showy and handsome appearance. Not a little sensible of the sensation he created, this cavalier lingered behind his companions in order to eye more deliberately certain damsels stationed in a window, and who were quite ready to return his glances with interest. At this moment the horse, which was fretting itself fiercely against the rein that restrained it from its fellows, took a fright at a knife-grinder, start

id the cavali

interrupting him, and glancing round. "B

ucky for their friend, yet they could do nothing for him at present; and promising to send to inquire after him the next day, they remounted and rode homeward, with an eye more attentive than usual to the motion of their steeds. They did not, however, depart till the surgeon of the town had made his appearance, and declared that the patient must not on any account be moved. A lord's leg was a windfall that did not happen every day to the surgeon of ----. All this while we may imagine the state

d; he was unnoticed by either; and he stood at the door contemplating them with a smile of calm and self-hugging derision. The face of Mephistopheles regarding Margaret and Faust might suggest some idea of the picture we design to paint; but the countenance of Welford was more lofty, as well as comelier, in character, though not less malignant in expression, than th

had sat abstracted and apart, stealing ever and anon timid glances towards her husband and looks of a softer meaning towards the patient, retired from the room. Welford then gave a turn to the conversation; he reminded the nobleman of the pleasant days they had passed in Italy,-of the adventures they had shared, and the intrigues they had enjoyed. As the conversation warmed, it assumed a more free and licentious turn; and not a little, we ween, would t

's door was closed on Welford, he stood motionless for some moments; he then with a soft step ascended to his own chamber. His wife slept soundly; beside the bed was the infant's cradle. As his eyes fell on the latter, the rigid irony, now habitual to hi

ut glancing towards his wife, who, disturbed by the loudness of his last words, stirred uneasily, he left the room, and descended into that where he had conversed with his guest.

ng. I fancy I could have become what your moralists (quacks!) call 'good.' But this fretting frivolity of heart, this lust of fool's praise, this peevishness of temper, this sullenness in answer to the moody thought, which in me she neither fathomed nor forgave, this vulgar, daily, hourly pining at the paltry pinches of the body's poverty, the domestic whine, the household complaint,-when I-I have not a thought for such pitiful trials of affection; and all this while my curses, my buried hope and disguised spirit and sunken name not thought of; the magnitude of my surrender to her not even comprehended; nay, her 'inconveniences'-a dim hearth, I suppose, or a daintiless table-compared, ay, absolutely compared, with all which I abandoned for her sake! As if it were not enough,-had I been a fool, an ambitionless, soulless fool,-the mere thought that I had linked my name to that of a tradesman,-I beg pardon, a retired tradesman!-as if that knowledge-a knowledge I would strangle my whole race, every one who has ever met, seen me, rather than they should penetrate-were not enough, when she talks of 'comparing,' to make me gnaw the very flesh from my bones! No, no, no! Never was there so bright a turn in my fate as when this titled coxcomb, with his smooth voice and gaudy fripperies, came hither! I will make her a tool to carve my escape from this cavern wherein she has plunged me. I will foment 'my lord's' passion, till 'my lord' thinks 'the passion' (a butterfly's passion!) worth any price. I will then make my own terms, bind 'my lord' to secrecy, and get rid of my wife, my shame, and the obscurity of Mr. Welford forever. Bright, bright prospects! let me shut my eyes to enjoy you! But softly! my noble friend calls himself a man of the world, skilled in human nature, and a derider of its prejudice

leeping. Her beauty was of the fair and girlish and harmonized order, which lovers and poets would express by the word "angelic;" and as Welford looked upon her face, hushed and almost hallowed by slumber, a certain weakness and irresoluti

d with his child disappeared forever from the town of ---. From that day no tidings whatsoever respecting him ever reached the titillated ears

n and address, whom she had habitually met. Thus her vanity had assisted her affection, and something strange and eccentric in the temper and mind of Welford had, though at times it aroused her fear, greatly contributed to inflame her imagination. Then, too, though an uncourtly, he had been a passionate and a romantic lover. She was sensible that he gave up for her much that he had previously conceived necessary to his existence; and she stopped not

o an abyss with her lover, but equally ready to fret away all love with reproaches when the plunge had been made. Of all men, Welford could bear this the least. A woman of a larger heart, a more settled experience, and an intellect capable of appreciating his character and sounding all his qualities, might have made him perhaps a useful and a great man, and, at least, her lover for life. Amidst a harvest of evil feelings the mere strength of his nature rendered him especially capable of intense feeling and generous emotion. One who relied on him was safe; one who rebelled against him trusted only to the caprice of his scorn. Still, however, for two years, love, though weakening with each hour, fought on in either breast, and could scarcely be said to be entirely vanquished in the wife, even when she eloped with her handsome seducer. A French writer has said pithily enough: "Compare for a moment the apathy of a husband with the attention, the gallantry, the adoration of a lover, and can you ask the result?" He was a French writer; but Mrs. Welford had in her temper much of the Frenchwoman. A suffering patient, young, handsome, well versed in the arts of intrigue, contrasted with a gloomy husband whom she had never comprehended, long feared, and had lately doubted if she disliked,-ah! a much weaker contrast has made many a much better woman food for the lawyers! Mrs. Welford eloped; but she felt a revived tenderness for her husband on the very morning that she did so. She carried away with her his letters of love as well as her own, which when they first married she had in an hour of fondness collected together,-then an inestimable board!-and never did her new lover receive from her beautiful l

ney can replace the rights of which you have robbed me? Can you make me agai

lt without a scruple of remorse. She saw in either-as around-only a reciprocation of contempt. She was in a web of profound abasement. Even that haughty grief of conscience for crime committed to another, which if it stings humbles not, was swallowed up in a far more agonizing sensation, to one so vain as the adulteress,-the burning sense of shame at having herself, while sinning, been the duped and deceived. Her very soul was appalled with her humiliation. The curse of Welford's vengeance was on her, and it was wreaked to the last! Whatever kindly sentiment she might have experienced towards her protector, was swallowed up at once by this discovery. She could not endure the thought of meeting the eye of one who had been the gainer by this ignominious barter; the foibles and weaknesses of the lover assumed a despicable as well as hateful dye. And in feeling herself degraded, she loathed him. The day after she had made the discovery we have referred to, Mrs. Welford left the house of her protector, none knew whither. For two years from that date, all trace of her history was lost. At the end of that time what was Welford? A man rapidly rising in the world, distinguished at the Bar, where his first brief had lifted him into notice, commencing a flattering career in the senate, holding lucrative and honourable offices, esteemed for the austere rectitude of his moral character, gathering the golden opinions of all men, as he strode onward to public reputation. He had re-assumed his hereditary name; his early history was unknown; and no one in the obscure and distant town of --- had ever guessed that the humble Welford was the William Brandon whose praise was echoed in so many journals, and whose rising genius was acknowledged by all. That asperity, roughness, and gloom which had noted him at ---, and which, being natural to him, he deigned not to disguise in a station ungenial to his talents and below his hopes, were now glitteringly varni

over him, he would mentally say, "You shall build up our broken name on a better foundation than your sire. I begin too late in life, and I labour up a painful and stony road; but I shall make the journey to Fame smooth and accessible for you. Never, too, while you aspire to honour, shall you steel your heart to tran

even in the worst and hardest bosom find some root, turned towards his child, and that th

it was thus, for the first time since they laid their heads on the same pillow, that the husband met the wife. The skies were intensely clear, and the lamplight was bright and calm upon the faces of both. There was no doubt in the mind of either. Suddenly, and with a startled and ghastly consciousuess, they recognized each other. The wife staggered, and clung to a post for support; Brandon's look was calm and unmoved. The hour that his bitter and malignant spirit had yearned f

wn, and was easily accessible to robbery. He was awakened by a noise; he started, and found himself in the grasp of two men. At the foot of the bed stood a fema

shame! Man, you shall teach that child no further lesson whatever: you shall know not whether he live or die, or have children to carry on your boasted race; or whether, if he have, those children be not outcasts of the earth, the accursed of man and God, the fit offspring of the thing you have made me. Wretch! I hurl back on you the denunciation with which, when we met three nights since, you would have crushed the victim of your own perfidy. You shall tread the path

e before him curdling through his veins, even the haughty and daring character of William Brandon quailed! He uttered not a word. He was found the next morning bound by strong cords to his bed. He spoke not when he

ional experience, he employed for years in the same pursuit. Every research was wholly in vain; not the remotest vestige towards discovery could be traced until were found (we have recorded when) s