and aquiline, and denoting (as Georgina, who had studied Lavater, said to herself) a disposition to dignity and sensibility.

Be this as it may, he had more than once missed his way, spite of the sensible remonstrances of Bay Malton, and the scarcely less intelligible representations of Jonathan his groom. At length, however, about midnight he found himself in the act of retiring, with the ever-faithful Monsieur Dupuis at his side, unfolding his night-cap.

But the age of confidents is gone; at least, of male confidents; for observe, gentle reader, we will not swear that the sweet Seraphina, or Zephyrina, or the Lady Olivia, or Mary, or Ellen, or whatsoever else the name by which thou designatest the lady' whom thou lovest, does not, for want of a better, confide to the supposed faithful bosom of Mrs. Betty, or Mrs. Sally, all that she thinks of him who gazed upon her so tenderly at the Opera, or pressed her hand so gently as he led her through the mazes of the waltz.

Leaving the more learned to settle this point, 'tis certain that Tremaine went to bed, without vouchsafing one single word to Monsieur Dupuis, of what he thought of the Rector-squire's daughter, or of the Rector-squire himself.

And yet think of both of them he did, with interest, and even with tenderness, insomuch that

he had turned oftener in his bed than that Sybarite who was so molested with the double rose-leaf, before his eyes were visited with sleep.

Yet was it not a feverish restlessness, for he had neither heat, nor thirst, nor pain. On the contrary, though his senses were watchful, they were not tormented nor even displeased, particularly when he found that in real beauty, Lady Gertrude Bellenden herself did not exceed Georgina, and that in natural grace, far more in naïveté and sense, she was not to be compared with her.

Two considerations alone made him a little restless: the recollection of all the unsettled collisions of thought which he had had with the father, and the uncertainty he was in as to the disposition towards him of the daughter; an interruption not a little heightened by another uncertainty, how far it was even possible for a girl of twenty to be in love with a man nearly twice her age.

Yet, to love a woman who could not love again, revolted his mind, whatever might be the disparity, and however reasonable the objection of the lady. But, notwithstanding all this, the night of Tremaine, though indubitably not quiet, was yet as indubitably among the least unpleasant he had passed for a longer time than he would have chosen to confess.

In the morning when he awoke, a letter was put into his hands, which he desired Dupuis to open; the said letter being in fact in a very dirty state, and plaistered, moreover, with a more than reasonable quantity of red wafer, still wet from the thumbs of the writer. It was as follows:

"HONERED SIR,

"This cums to tell you, that yure honered father was good to me when a boy-and wold be a frend to me now, if he knowd. And I marryd Mary of the Chekers, nere Squire Careless his hous, and my father-in-law, turnt us both out, because we marryd, tho he givd consent before the same, and is diing, and is cut us of with nothing, tho Mary is his only

child, and yure honer being his landlord might do us a power of good, and yure Petishiners shall ever pray. "JOHN and MARY CHRISMASS.

"P.S.-Doctor Evelin, he is our frend, and Mary's mother, she was Miss Georgi's mother's maid, and she is ded, and Miss Georgi she said she wold do all she cold, but cold not do much, seeing my father be so hard.”

"And who is this Christmas?" said Tremaine.

'Twas more than Monsieur Dupuis could tell, though he observed "apparemment, from the manufacture of the letter, quelqu'un de la canaille."

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Inquire; and order my horses immediately," said Tremaine; "I will ride out to breakfast."

Monsieur Dupus with infinite wonder obeyed; calling out in the court-yard, "holla! Monsieur Jonathan groom! you no longer lie abed-my master, he ride before breakfast." Then, as if struck with astonishment, he betook himself (as upon these occasions he always did) to the housekeeper's room, exclaiming," il n'est plus philosophe, notre maître ;— he go to breakfast out of door-et il veut sçavoir who is one Chrismass; begar, he know how to fold de lettre ver vel, dat Monsieur Chrismass."

;

The good Watson, who, though accustomed to Dupuis, did not always make him out, on this occasion understood him perfectly; for Mary Christ

mas had been her protégée when a child, before she left the country, and Miss Evelyn had recommended her to her good offices after her return; and to serve Miss Evelyn gave an additional impulse to the good woman's naturally kind disposition.

In fact it was she who gave Christmas's homely epistle to Mr. Dupuis, to be delivered to his master when he awoke; for she knew that old Giles, the father, was not expected to live through the day, and that he had not only always threatened to leave the world without forgiving his daughter, but had actually sent for an attorney to bequeath the whole of his property to a distant relation.

All these circumstances Watson desired Dupuis to communicate to his master; but the valet's powers to comprehend them, particularly in English, were not very capacious; and finding that the fortune of a young couple depended upon it, and being moreover not an ill-natured fellow at bottom, he very wisely told Watson she would do much more good by telling the story herself.

Watson thought so too, and desiring an audience of her master, while he was dressing related the tale with great effect; particularly when she interlarded it, as she frequently did, with the fact of its giving so much pleasure to Miss Georgina, who she knew had been so fond of her mother, to whom she had made a promise always to be a friend to Mary.