would naturally invest him with. But this I lament to say has not been the case. At their first interview in Grosvenor Square, I perceived that my daughter and my nephew were by no means such absolute strangers to each other as I had imagined; though I am fully persuaded that Amelia at least was not aware of their affinity, when chance threw them into each other's company at one of the theatres. It was not without considerable surprise as well as displeasure, I now learned that during the time which on my first arrival I had inevitably dedicated to the discharge of official duties, my daughter, weary of a solitude to which she was unaccustomed, and dotingly fond of music, had prevailed upon Wilkinson, whose fondness I verily believe could deny her nothing, to take advantage of my unavoidable absence at the Colonial office, and to accompany her to hear an oratorio incog. This mad-brained plan a sister of the latter, who resides somewhere about St James's, enabled her to execute, without even my servants suspecting that they had any thing in view beyond a visit to Mrs Morgan. On this occasion, it seems, Amelia first encountered her cousin, who then received, as he asserted, so strong an impression as to be absolutely overwhelmed with joy, when, on calling to present your introductory letter, he discovered his unknown charmer in his cousin. Of the truth of this his statement, however, I could not help having my doubts, and was indeed soon convinced that, prior to his presenting himself at my house, he was perfect ly aware of her identity with the lady he had so casually encountered. This little piece of disingenuousness certainly did not tend to raise him in my estimation; still, though far from pleased with any part of the transaction, I saw nothing absolutely wrong in the thoughtless frolic, and was more disposed to blame Wilkinson than any body else, as she ought to have known better than to indulge Amelia in such a freak. The second day of his arrival I had resolved to dedicate to the study of my young relative's character, and, aware that the real disposition is usually most apt to exhibit itself in society, invited a few friends whose refined man

ners and enlightened conversation were calculated to draw forth any hidden resources of intellect, natural or acquired, which diffidence in the probationer, or lack of opportunity from the absence of mental collision, might suffer to remain concealed. Heartily did I repent the experiment, and deeply indeed did I blush for my protégé, on hearing him noisily and rudely interrupt every subject broached, by boisterous and vulgar jokes, which increased in frequency and coarseness as the inebriety, into which he was fast plunging, became more conspicuous. My interference, when I was at last compelled to employ it, he seemed much inclined to set at defiance; and it was with difficulty that I could prevent his exhibiting himself in so disgraceful a condition to my daughter. I will not enlarge upon the mortification I experienced at having it witnessed by my friends. The following morning-or rather noon, for till that hour did the effects of the orgies of the preceding evening confine him to his chamber-I requested his attendance in my study, and remonstrating with him on his behaviour, forcibly perhaps, but, I trust, without harshness, I stated at the same time most unequivocally my resolution never to bestow my daughter on a drunkard. He apologized with a very bad grace, and with much more, as I thought, of sullenness than penitence, when I left him alone with Amelia, while I acquitted myself of an indispensable engagement. I will not, my dearest sister, unnecessarily aggravate your distress by dwelling on the faults and follies which every succeeding hour developed during the whole of his short visit; it will be sufficient to inform you, that rightly conjecturing, as I imagine, from the disapprobation which I now strongly and repeatedly expressed of his conduct, that my intentions in his favour had undergone material alteration, he endeavoured to ascertain whether Amelia might not prove more accessible, and not only strove to prevail on her to consent to an elopement, but on her indignant refusal, actually formed a plan, as silly in conception as atrocious in design, for carrying her off to Scotland, with or without her inclination".

I had read thus far in my uncle's long epistle, with much such sensations as a man experiences when, half-awakened from a confused and heterogeneous dream, he feels his faculties bewildered with the strange images yet before his eyes, and is scarcely conscious even of his own identity but if thus far the letter were calculated to amaze and confound, the remainder was even still more inexplicable. Lord Manningham proceeded thus:

"In pursuance of this ridiculous scheme, he induced her to accompany him for a short drive in a curricle which I had placed at his disposal, attended only by a single groom newly taken into my service; this man he had, for pecuniary considerations no doubt, contrived to attach to his interests. They took the North road, but it was not till some time after they had surmounted Highgate hill that my daughter entertained any suspicion of his intention. His declining to comply with her request that he would return, and the sudden absence of the servant who, on some trivial pretence, had ridden forward, now first insinuated into her mind an apprehension of treachery. By no means intimidated, however, and finding all resistance for the present useless, she remained perfectly passive, and quietly listened to the strange farrago of nonsense with which her companion now thought proper to entertain her. His vows and protestations, &c. were couched in the highest style of the mock heroic; he attributed his conduct to the overwhelming force of his affection, and his despair of securing my consent to their immediate union, adding that the violence of his passion would brook no long delay, and expressing his confidence that, their marriage once completed, my forgiveness of this rash step would be the almost immediate consequence. With these and similar rhapsodies, alternately threatening and entreating, he conveyed her as far as St Albans, where at the inn door she perceived James, the servant who had preceded them, in conversation with a couple of postboys, who stood ready to mount their horses, four of which were harnessed to a hack chaise. Mr Stafford assisted my Amelia to alight,

and was preparing to accompany her into the house, when his intention was apparently altered by some communication which his worthy coadjutor whispered in his ear, and he led the way directly to the chaise, the door of which he in an authoritative tone commanded the drivers to open. But secret as James's hint was intended to be, a sound most grateful to her ear had caught the attention of Amelia, and the words "Captain Fortescue in the house," distinctly heard, in spite of the lowered voice in which they were pronounced, decided her mode of proceeding. Suddenly disengaging her arm from that of her would-be bridegroom, she darted into the passage, calling aloud on the name of him who would, as she well knew, prove both an efficient and respectable protector. Her appeal was not unheard; a door opened, and the dear friend who, but for an event too mournful for me to do more than allude to, would have been connected with us by the closest ties, sprang forward to save the sister of her who, even in her grave, still maintains an undivided empire over him. It is needless to say, that the protection Amelia claimed from one of her oldest favourites was unhesitatingly granted, and that Fortescue hastened out to confront the author of this ridiculous abduction, but the latter had no doubt witnessed the recognition, and, finding the game was up, disappeared with his rascally. abettor in the chaise they had destined for a different purpose. When my friend reached the street, the vehicle was nearly out of sight on the road back to London. Amelia's nerves are fortunately pretty strong; though astonished at the folly, and vexed at the persevering effrontery of her cousin in this precious scheme, she had never for one instant entertained any alarm, nor doubted its ultimate failure; any little hurry of spirits, therefore, she might experience, ought perhaps to be attributed as much to her unexpected meeting with Eustace as to the strange occurrence which produced their rencontre. Such, at least, she assures me, is the case, and adds, that her forced march had by no means spoiled her appetite, so that, after partaking of a pretty substantial luncheon

sides. The recollection of my mother's letter too, of that letter so unaccountably lost and never recovered, seemed to give a colour to this mode of accounting for the occurrences said to have taken place; and a thousand times did I curse my own carelessness which alone could have put it in the power of any individual, however crafty, to carry on so impudent an imposition. The more I revolved the matter in my mind, after reading the letter carefully over again, the more convinced I became that this was indeed the fact, and my thoughts naturally began to turn on the perpetrator. Who could he be? Some one well versed in our family history, beyond all question, or he would at once have stood detected; then, too, the circumstance of his having been at the oratorioNicholas!-it was, it could be no other than that infernal Nicholas who had played me this abominable prank. His well known propensity to mischief, the comparative ease with which he might have succeeded in purloining my credentials, the confidence I had reposed in him as to my object in returning to London, all combined to fix him as the author of another of his "jolly good hoaxes." But then again there were difficulties, and those, too, apparently insurmountable, in the way of considering him as my pseudo-representative; one, of no ordinary magnitude, had that very morning made its appearance in the shape of a letter from Sir Oliver Bullwinkle. In it the Baronet informed us, that on his arrival at Oxford he had found his son slowly recovering from a fit of illness, which precluded the possibility of his having been in London on the evening he had suspected, and declared that he would never trust to the evidence of his own eyes again. He mentioned his intention of delaying his return for a few days longer on Nicholas's account, as he meant to bring him down with him to the Hall, as soon as he should be able to stand the journey; he said, too, that he should call on Lord Manningham in his way. This letter, which was almost as long, though not quite so pithy, as the Viscount's, had manifestly cost Sir Oliver no trifling pains in the manufacturing; it was addressed to my mother, and contained the whole of his eventful

history from the period of his quitting Underdown; but as Drench had strongly insisted on the necessity of keeping his patient perfectly undisturbed, I had taken a liberty which I knew she would pardon, and broken open the well-known “ fetterlocks" which identified her correspondent. My first impression was to write to my noble uncle immediately, but, on more mature reflection, as Sir Oliver and Nicholas were so soon to be at Underdown, I determined to delay my communication until I should be able to ascertain whether my hopeful cousin was or was not the happy contriver of this precious piece of knavery. Nor did I fancy that it would be a very hard task to put this beyond dispute, when once the object of my suspicions should favour me with an interview.

While I was yet balancing the pros and cons of the measure, another billet was put into my hands by Jennings, signed "Edward Maberly, Captain *** regiment," requesting an interview, that he might acquit himself of a commission of some delicacy, with which he was charged by a brother officer. Wondering what on earth Captain Maberly, whose name I merely knew as that of a young officer in a corps quartered in the neighbourhood, could possibly have in common with myself, the thought suddenly occurred to me that his business might relate to my eccentric fellow-traveller, about whom I had felt so strong an interest, till he and his concerns were totally driven out of my head by the succession of unpleasant surprises I had since experienced. Of course I gave directions that the "gallant officer," as the phrase goes, should be admitted immediately.

The Captain, a gentlemanly, soldier-like man, whose air and manner evinced that he moved in the best society, while a scarcely perceptible touch of "the brogue," betrayed that he had drawn his first breath in the sister island, was ushered into the room, and received my compliment with the unembarrassed ease of a man of the world. Jennings, who, as I fancied, surveyed the stranger with looks that betokened more of curiosity than he was in the habit of displaying, placed chairs and with

drew, when my unexpected visitor proceeded to open his commission. This was, he informed me, to place in my hand a letter from his friend Captain Fortescue of the ** Dragoons, who felt himself compelled to call upon me for an explanation of my conduct towards a young lady of rank, with whose family he was intimately connected, and announced himself as deputed by his aforesaid friend, to arrange with any friend of mine the time and place of meeting. Having delivered himself to this effect, the Captain quietly proffered me the billet alluded to, and, retiring to the other side of the room, amused himself by reconnoitring through his eyeglass a Dutch Fair, by Teniers, that hung against the wall, leaving me at full leisure to peruse the agreeable despatch of which he was the bearer.

"SIR,-It is with painful reluctance that I yield to the dictates of an imperious and irresistible necessity, which forces me to the performance of a task the most revolting to my nature. An interview of the kind I am compelled to demand of you, is at all times a matter to be deprecated, and is rendered doubly distressing when, in seeking it, I feel that I am repaying benefit with injury, by aiming at a life which has been risked to preserve my own. A miserable destiny, however, which I am unable to control, will have it so, and forces me to be ungrateful rather than perjured. Be assured, sir, no merely human power could have swayed me to the performance of an act which I detest; but Fate wills it, and I bow to the decree. My friend, who honours me by conveying this to your hands, is fully authorized to make every arrangement requisite; and I have only to add, that the earlier the hour may be that suits your convenience, the more desirable it will be to

"EUSTACE FORTESCUE. "C. Stafford, Esq. &c. &c."

"Mighty civil, upon my word!" I half uttered to myself, as I refolded the note; then, in a louder tone, "A most singular invitation indeed!Pray, sir, is your friend mad?"

"What, sir, can possibly induce you to doubt his sanity ?" returned

"my gallant friend," moving away from the picture, and planting himself vis-a-vis to me, while his heightened complexion evinced the offence he took at my interogatory.

Simply, sir," replied I, "because I cannot conceive that any man in his senses would think of sending such a letter as this which I hold in my hand to a man who knows no more of him than of Harry the Eighth, nor has ever so much as seen him in the course of his life. He talks of benefits which I never can have conferred, and regrets being obliged to seek the life of one who has never given the slightest cause of offence, either to the lady you have alluded to, or to himself."

"These are matters of which I am no judge, sir," said Maberly coldly, nor do I pretend to explain what the motives may be which, as he says, compel Captain Fortescue to adopt the line of conduct he is pursuing. I have no doubt of their sufficiency, nor do I question either the soundness of his intellect, or his honour."

“But, sir,” returned I, heartily provoked at the turn this affair seemed likely to take, "if your principal indeed seeks redress for any insult offered to Miss Stafford, I am not the person to whom he should apply."

"I believe I am addressing Mr Charles Stafford!" was his reply, accompanied with a look of mingled doubt and surprise.

"Undoubtedly you are, sir, but Charles Stafford is as incapable of offering insult to a lady as Captain Fortescue or yourself."

"With that, sir, I must repeat, I can have nothing to do; my business is simply to ascertain whether you will favour my friend with the meeting he desires-I am not here to discuss its propriety. I cannot help observing, however, that you do not appear altogether unacquainted with the lady whose cause he advocates, a lady whose name certainly never passed my lips."

"That Miss Stafford has been protected by Captain Fortescue from a most audacious and unprincipled attempt I am unquestionably aware; the only thing which I mean to deny is that I have been at all concerned in it."