alarming nature. His temper, his craft, his impetus, were always driving him into projects and situations more or less critical. Sometimes he won, sometimes he failed; but his audacious energy hitherto had extricated him. The difficulties of his present situation were, however, appalling, and almost daunted his semidiabolical energies.

From Rachel to Dorcas, from Dorcas to the Attorney, and from him to Dutton, and back again, he rambled in the infernal litany he muttered over the inauspicious tarn, among the enclosing banks and undulations, and solitary and lonely woods.

"Lake Avernus," said a hollow voice behind him, and a long grizzly claw was laid on his shoulder.

A cold breath of horror crept from his brain to his heel, as he turned about, and saw the large, blanched features and glassy eyes of Uncle Lorne bent over him.

"Oh! Lake Avernus, is it?" said Lake, with an angry sneer, and raising his hat with a mock reverence.

Ay it is the window of hell, and the spirits in prison come up to see the light of it. Did you see him looking up?" said Uncle Lorne, with his pallid smile.

"Oh! of course-Napoleon Bonaparte leaning on old Dr. Simcock's arm," answered Lake.

It was odd, in the sort of ghastly banter in which he played off this old man, how much hatred was perceptible.

"No-not he. It is Mark Wylder," said Uncle Lorne; "his face comes up like a white fish within a fathom of the top, it makes me laugh. That's the way they keep holiday. Can you tell by the sky when it is holiday in hell? I can."

And he laughed, and rubbed his long fingers together softly.

Look! ha ha!-Look! ha! ha! ha!-Look!" he resumed, pointing with his cadaverous forefinger toward the middle of the pool.

"I told you this morning it was a holiday," and he laughed very quietly to himself.

"Look how his nostrils go like a fish's gills. It is a funny way for a gentleman, and he's a gentleman. Every fool knows the Wylders are gentlemen-all gentlemen in misfortune. He has a brother that is walking

‘Ay, ay—another time some night there's aurora borealis in the sky. You know this goes under ground all the way to Vallambrosa?"

"Thank you; I was not aware; that's very convenient. Had you not better go down and speak to your friend in the water?"

"Young man, I bless you for remembering," said Uncle Lorne, solemnly. "What was Mark Wylder's religion, that I may speak to him comfortably?"

An Anabaptist, I conjecture, from his present situation," replied Lake.

"No, that's in the lake of fire, where the wicked seraphim and cherubim baptize, and anabaptize, and hold them under with a great stone laid across their breasts. I only know two of their clergy-the African vicar, quite a gentleman, and speaks through his nose; and the archbishop with wings; his face is so burnt, he's all eyes and mouth, and on one hand has only one finger, and he tickles me with it till I almost give up the ghost. The ghost of Miss Baily is a lie, he said, by my soul; and he likes youhe loves you. Shall I write it all in a book, and give it you? I meet Mark Wylder in three places sometimes. Don't move, till I go down; he's as easily frightened as a fish."

And Uncle Lorne crept down the bank, tacking, and dodging, and all the time laughing softly to himself; and sometimes winking with a horrid, wily grimace at Stanley, who fervently wished him at the bottom of the tarn.

"I say," said Stanley, addressing the keeper, whom by a beck he had brought to his side, "you don't allow him, surely, to go alone now?"

'No, sir-since your order, sir," said the stern, reserved official. "Nor to come into any place but this-the park, I mean?"

66

66

'No, sir."

And do you mind, try and get him home always before nightfall. It is easy to frighten him. Find out what

She kneeled at her bedside, and wept and prayed, and then went down and talked with old Tamar, who was knitting in the shade by the porch.

Then the young lady put on her bonnet and cloak, and walked down to Gylingden, with an anxious, but still a lighter heart, to see her friend, Dolly Wylder.

Dolly received her in a glad sort of fuss.

"I'm so glad to see you, Miss Lake," "Call me Rachel; and you must let me call you Dolly."

pale, "I feared it. I thought you might be troubled about money. I was not sure, but I was afraid; and, to say truth, it was partly to try your friendship with a question on that very point that I came here, and not indeed, Dolly, dear, from impertinent curiosity, but in the hope that maybe you might allow me to be of some use.'

"How wonderfully good you are! How friends are raised up!" and with a smile that shone like an April sun through her tears, she stood on tiptoe, and kissed the tall young lady, who-not smiling, but with a pale and very troubled face-bowed down and returned her kiss.

66

You know, dear, before he went, Mark promised to lend dear Willie a large sum of money. Well, he went away in such a hurry, that he never thought of it; and though he constantly wrote to Mr. Larkin-you have no idea, my dear Miss Lake, what a blessed angel that man isoh! such a friend as has been raised up to us in that holy and wise man, words cannot express; but what was I saying?-oh, yes-Mark, you know -it was very kind, but he has so many things on his mind it quite escaped him-and he keeps, you know, wandering about on the Continent, and never gives his address; so he can't, you see, be written to; and the delay-but, Rachel, darling, are you ill?"

She rang the bell, and opened the window, and got some water.

66

My darling, you walked too fast here. You were very near fainting. "No, dear-nothing-I am quite well now-go on."

But she did not go on immediately, for Rachel was trembling in a kind of shivering fit, which did not pass away till after poor Dolly, who had no other stimulant at command,

made her drink a cup of very hot milk.

"Thank you, darling. You are too good to me, Dolly. Oh! Dolly, you are too good to me."

Rachel's eyes were looking into hers with a care worn, earnest gaze, and her cold hand was pressed on the back of Dolly's.

Nearly ten minutes passed before the talk was renewed.

"Well, now, what do you thinkthat good man, Mr. Larkin, just as things were at the worst, found a way to make everything-oh, blessed mercy!the hand of Heaven, my dear quite right again-and we'll be so happy. Like a bird I could sing, and fly almost-a foolish old thing-ha! ha ha!-such an old goose!" as she wiped her eyes again. "Hush! is that Fairy? Oh, no, it is only Anne singing. Little man has not been well yesterday and today. He won't eat, and looks pale, but he slept very well, my darling man; and Doctor Buddle-I met him this morning-so kindly took him into his room, and examined him, and says it may be nothing at all, please Heaven," and she sighed, smiling

still.

"Dear little Fairy-where is he?" asked Rachel, her sad eyes looking

toward the door.

In the study with his Wapsie. Mrs. Woolaston, she is such a kind soul, lent him such a beautiful old picture book-Woodward's Eccentricities' it is called-and he's quite happy -little Fairy, on his little stool at the window."

"No head-ache or fever ?" asked Miss Lake cheerfully, though, she knew not why, there seemed something ominous in this little ailment.

'None at all; oh, none, thank you; none in the world. I'd be so frightened if there was. But, thank Heaven, Doctor Buddle says there's nothing to make us at all uneasy. My blessed little man! And he has his canary in the cage in the window, and his kitten to play with in the study. He's quite happy."

"Please Heaven, he'll be quite well to-morrow-the darling little man,' said Rachel, all the more fondly for that vague omen that seemed to say, "He's gone."

"Here's Mr. Larkin !" cried Dolly, jumping up, and smiling and nodding

at the window to that long and natty apparition, who glided to the hall-door with a sad smile, raising his well-brushed hat as he passed, and with one grim glance beyond Mrs. Wylder, for his sharp eye half detected another presence in the room.

He was followed, not accompanied -for Mr. Larkin knew what a gentleman he was-by a young and bilious clerk, with black hair and a melancholy countenance, and by old Buggs-his conducting man-always grinning, whose red face glared in the little garden like a great red hollyhock. He was sober as a judge all the morning, and proceeded strictly on the principle of business first, and pleasure afterward. But his orgies, when off duty, were such as to cause the good Attorney, when complaints reached him, to shake his head, and sigh profoundly, and sometimes to lift up his mild eyes and long hands; and, indeed, so scandalous an appendage was Buggs, that if he had been less useful, I believe the pure Attorney who, in the uncomfortable words of John Bunyan, "had found a cleaner road to hell," would have cashiered him long ago.

"There is that awful Mr. Buggs," said Dolly, with a look of honest alarm. "I often wonder so christian

a man as Mr. Larkin can countenance him. He is hardly ever without a black eye. He has been three nights together without once putting off his clothes-think of that; and, my dear, on Friday week he fell through the window of the Fancy Emporium, at two o'clock in the morning; and Doctor Buddle says if the cut on his jaw had been half an inch lower, he would have cut some artery, and lost his lifewretched man!"

"They have come about law business, Dolly?" inquired the young lady, who had a profound, instinctive dread of Mr. Larkin.

"Is it Mr. Larkin, my dear? Mr. Larkin! Why, my dear, if you knew him as we do, you'd trust your life in his hands."

"But there are people who know him still better; and I think they fancy he is a very crafty man. I do not like him myself, and Dorcas Brandon dislikes him too; and, though I don't think we could either give a reason-I don't know, Dolly, but I should not like to trust him."

"But, my dear, he is an excellent man, and such a friend, and he has managed all this most troublesome business so delightfully. It is what they call a reversion."

66 William Wylder is not selling his reversion?" said Rachel, fixing a wild and startled look on her companion.

"Yes, reversion, I am sure, is the name. And why not, dear? It is most unlikely we should ever get a farthing of it any other way, and it will give us enough to make us quite happy.'

66

But, my darling, don't you know the reversion under the will is a great fortune. He must not think of it;" and up started Rachel, and before Dolly could interpose or remonstrate, she had crossed the little hall, and entered the homely study, where the gentlemen were conferring.

William Wylder was sitting at his desk, and a large sheet of law scrivenery, on thick paper, with a stamp in the corner, was before him. The bald head of the Attorney, as he leaned over him, and indicated an imaginary line with his gold pencilcase, was presented toward Miss Lake as she entered.

The Attorney had just said "there, please," in reply to the Vicar's question, "Where do I write my name?" and red Buggs, grinning, with his mouth open, like an over-heated dog, and the sad and bilious young gentleman, stood by to witness the execution of the cleric's autograph.

Tall Jos Larkin looked up, smiling with his mouth also a little open, as was his wont when he was particularly affable. But the rat's eyes were looking at her with a hungry suspicion, and smiled not.

"William Wylder, I am so glad I'm in time," said Rachel, rustling

across the room.

"William Wylder, lay down that pen; as you love your little boy, lay it down, and hear me," continued Miss Lake.

The Vicar looked at her with his eyes wide open, puzzled, like a man who is not quite sure whether he may not be doing something wrong,

"I really, Miss Lake-pardon me, but this is very irregular, and, in fact, unprecedented!" said Jos Larkin. "I think-I suppose, you can hardly be aware, ma'am, that I am here as the Rev. Mr. Wylder's confidential solicitor, acting solely for him, in a matter of a strictly private nature."

The Attorney stood erect, a little flushed, with that peculiar contraction, mean and dangerous, in his eyes.

"Of course, Mr. Wylder, if you, sir, desire me to leave, I shall instantaneously do so; and, indeed, unless you proceed to sign, I had better go, as my time is generally, I may say, a little pressed upon, and I have, in fact, some business elsewhere to attend to.'

"What is this law-paper?" demanded Rachel, laying the tips of her slender fingers upon it.

Am I to conclude that you withdraw from your engagement?" asked Mr. Larkin. "I had better, then, communicate with Burlington and Smith by this post; as also with the sheriff, who has been very kind."

66

'Oh, no !-oh, no, Larkin !—pray, I'm quite ready to sign."

66

'Now, William Wylder, you shan't sign until you tell me whether this is a sale of your reversion."

The young lady had her white hand firmly pressed upon the spot where he was to sign, and the ring that glittered on her finger looked like a talisman interposing between the poor Vicar and the momentous act and deed.

"I think, Miss Lake, it is pretty plain you are not acting for yourself here you have been sent, ma'am," said the Attorney, looking very vicious, and speaking a little huskily and hurriedly; "I quite conceive by whom."

"I don't know what you mean, sir," replied Miss Lake, with grave disdain. "You've been commissioned, ma'am, I venture to think, to come here to watch the interests of another party." "I say, sir, I don't, in the least, comprehend you."

"I think it is pretty obvious, ma'am -Miss Lake, I beg pardon-you have had some conversation with your brother," answered the Attorney, with a significant sneer.

'I don't know what you mean, sir, I repeat. I've just heard, in the other room, from your wife, William Wylder, that you were about selling your reversion in the estates, and I want to know whether that is so; for if it be, it is the act of a madman, and I'll prevent it, if I possibly can."

Upon my word! possibly"-said the Vicar, his eyes very wide open, and looking with a hesitating gaze from Rachel to the Attorney-"there may be something in it which neither you nor I know; does it not strike you-had we not better consider ?"

66

"Consider what, sir ?" said the Attorney, with a snap, and losing his temper somewhat. It is simply, sir, that this young lady represents Captain Lake, who wishes to get the reversion for himself."

"That is utterly false, sir!" said Miss Lake, flashing and blushing with indignation. "You, William, are a gentleman; and such inconceivable meanness cannot enter your mind."

The Attorney, with what he meant to be a polished sarcasm, bowed and smiled toward Miss Lake.

Pale little Fairy, sitting before his "picture-book," was watching the scene with round eyes and round mouth, and that mixture of interest, awe, and distress, with which children witness the uncomprehended excitement and collision of their elders.

"My dear Miss Lake, I respect and esteem you; you quite mistake, I am persuaded, my good friend Mr. Larkin; and, indeed, I don't quite comprehend; but if it were so, and that your brother really wished-do you think he does, Mr. Larkin ?-to buy the reversion, he might think it more valuable, perhaps."

"I can say with certainty, sir, that from that quarter you would get nothing like what you have agreed to take; and I must say, once for all, sir, that, quite setting aside every con

So you see, my dear Miss Lake, there is no more to be said," said the Vicar, with a careworn smile, looking upon Rachel's handsome face.

We

Now, now, we are all friends, aren't we?" said poor Dolly, who could not make anything of the debate, and was staring with open mouth from one speaker to another. are all agreed, are not we? You are all so good, and fond of Willie, that you are actually ready almost to quarrel for him." But her little laugh produced no echo, except a very joyless and flushed effort from the Attorney, as he looked up from consulting his watch.

66

Eleven minutes past three," said he, "and I've a meeting at my house at half-past; so, unless you complete that instrument now, I regret to say I must take it back unfinished, and the result may be to defeat the arrangement altogether, and if the consequences should prove serious, I, at least, am not to blame."

"Don't sign, I entreat, I implore. of you. William Wylder, you shân't.'

But, my dear Miss Lake, we have considered everything, and Mr. Larkin and I agree, that my circumstances are such as to make it inevitable."

Really, this is child's play; there, if you please," said the Attorney, once more.

Rachel Lake, during the discussion, had removed her hand. The faintly traced line on which the Vicar was to sign was now fairly presented to him.

66

Just in your usual way," murmured Mr. Larkin.

So the Vicar's pen was applied, but before he had time to trace the first letter of his name, Rachel Lake resolutely snatched the thick, bluish sheet of scrivenery, with its handsome margins, and red ink lines, from before him, and tore it across and across, with the quickness of terror, and in fewer seconds than one could fancy, it lay about the floor and grate in pieces little bigger than dominoes.

The Attorney made a hungry snatch