rant." Howard, then, with a view to induce a full share of Phillips's confidence, partially disclosed the object that rendered him desirous of seeing the Colonel, and asked the servant if he remembered the visit of the lady he described.

"Lady-yes; there was but one lady who visited my master; and what she had to do with him I don't know; but I believe she was his own daughter; at least I found a letter as makes me think so, though she used to go under the name of Beresford."

"Beresford!" repeated Howard, in amazement, immediately calling to mind the young female whom, thus denominated, he had been accustomed to see seated at the Earl's table.

"Did she come here on Wednesday morning?" eagerly demanded he. "Yes, she did, the day my master left town," answered Phillips. "In a hackney coach ?" "Yes."

"Drest in black?"

But to this point Phillips protested, and with truth, that his intelligence did not extend.

Howard desired to see the letter, which Phillips had alluded to, and which he now drew from his pocket. The contents were as follow: but, to Howard's severe mortification and disappointment, it bore no date, probably an intentional omission, either of time or place.

"Dear Sir,-In consequence of the death of Mrs. Beresford, I have just received a very affectionate and urgent invitation from my grandfather, to come and be his nurse, companion, housekeeper, &c. an offer which, with your permission, I propose to accept. Now, that the old gentleman is so fast hastening to his grave, I should conceive his resentment against you must have died away; though he makes no mention of you in his letter, yet his sending for me wears a conciliatory aspect, and I hope, by a

little finesse, to bring you in at the death. Be so kind as to return an early answer to this. If I do go to Whitchurch, it will be in the course of a week at farthest.

"I remain, dear Sir, "Your affectionate child, "BRIDGET LEVISON BERESFORD." To Michael Levison, Esq.

Howard turned to the post-mark for information; it was nearly obliterated; but after poring over the half-effaced characters for a length of time, he fancied that he could decypher the remains of what had once been, "Saturday, July 3, Pimlico," which was about three weeks anterior to the present period. On communicating the result of his inspection to Phillips, the latter recollected to have seen a note lying on the table, but a few days previously, directed to Miss Beresford, at Pimlico, which his master had, at first, given into his hands, with instructions to carry it to the office; but shortly afterward countermanded the order, saying, he would himself drop it into the letter-box. Phillips had consequently caught but a transient view of the superscription, and the name, or number, of the particular street specified in the address, he was totally at a loss to conjecture. A map of London, and a court guide, were procured, when he declared it, to the best of his memory, to have been Belgrave Street. It was now growing late in the day, yet the indefatigable champion of justice and humanity resolved to prosecute his search and accordingly, after having anticipated Phil lips' fidelity and secresy, by a second fee, and caused him to afford a direction where he was to be found, left the house in the Strand, and, without stopping to take any refreshment on the way, repaired strait to the south-western extremity of the metropolis.

He knocked at every door, asked at every shop, in Belgrave-street, without being able to discover the object he was in quest of; but was told, to his consolation, that there was a row of houses, not far distant, called Belgrave Terrace, whither he proceeded, and went through a similar, yet still unsuccessful course of enquiry; though, from having heard

of another street, named Belgrave Place, he was not in despair. But, when he had visited, without exception, every house here also, where every one agreed in declaring, that they had never even heard of the name of Beresford, Howard's spirits began to fail. One resource, however, was still left. This unfinished street was continued a little farther on, under the title of Upper Belgrave Place. Of these few houses the whole were not habitable, and not more than the half of them were inhabited. At five of them Howard had reiterated his usual question, and received the usual answer. Two more only remained to rest his hope on; and he actually experienced a sort of sick apprehension and neryous tremor, as he laid his hand on the knocker of the last door but one. Having repeated the signal for admission more than once, a young girl at length appeared, to answer to his demand for Miss Beresford.

"Miss Beresford, sir," replied the girl, civilly," did live here, but she has just left us; however, if you will please to walk in, sir," continued she, "I will ask my mother if she knows her address in the country."

Howard was on the point of exclaiming, "God bless you, my dear," but, repressing the fervent and premature benediction, he contented himself with simply expressing his thanks as he followed his conductor into a neat little parlour, where the damsel left him, but returned in a few minutes, and seating herself near to him, began to be very communicative: "I am extremely sorry, sir," said she, "that my mother is quite unacquainted with Miss Beres ford's direction; but my sister knows it, and if you are particularly anxi

ous

"Yes, particularly anxious," interrupted Howard.

"Well then, sir, perhaps you will not mind the trouble of a long walk." "No, no, where is your sister ?" said Howard, impatiently.

"My sister, sir, works at a ready made linen warehouse in Hounds, ditch; the name of the people who keep it is Isaacs; do you think you will remember it, sir, or shall I write it down for you?"

"I shall not fail to remember it," assured Howard.

.

“Well, sir, if you will go to Isaac's warehouse, No. 91, Houndsditch, and ask to see Miss Sarah Cormack, she is sure to be there; and I know she can tell the place where Miss Beresford is gone to live at; because, sir, to say the truth, Bridget, before she left town, bought part of a ticket in the lottery, a sixteenth I believe it was, and she told my sister Sarah to look after it, and send her word whether it came up a blank or a prize."

With this direction impressed on his recollection, Howard rose to take leave, and after making his acknowledgments to the pretty black-eyed Hibernian for her information, and, what spoke more eloquently, putting a

sovereign into her hand, hurried from the house; but as it was now growing dark he resolved not to travel any farther on his voyage of discovery till the next day; and, harassed and fatigued in the greatest degree, returned to a coffee-house near Buckingham-gate, where, having ordered dinner, or more properly supper, he took up his abode for the night. Before ten o'clock on the next morning Howard was in Houndsditch, where he obtained all the intelligence he was in search of, namely, Miss Beresford's present place of abode. The direction given to him was simply this:-Miss B. L. Beresford, Mr. Beresford, Forest Farm, Whitchurch, Hampshire, not more than twenty-five miles from London.

But now a most perplexing difficulty presented itself. By what means could Howard hope to induce the young lady and her estimable father to return to the metropolis? the latter having quitted it with an intention, perhaps, never again to revisit the scene of his iniquity and disgrace; and the former considering herself finally established in her then place of residence. It was obvious that neither of them would consent to appear to give testimony on the benevolent principles of jus tice, charity, and a desire to clear the fame of an injured female. Had the matter been brought indeed to a public and regular trial, Howard would have been empowered to subpoena them as witnesses, but he was anxious, for the sake of the countess, to avoid pushing the question to this extremity. After pondering on the

circumstance for a length of time, he felt that he should be reduced to have recourse to stratagem for the accomplishment of his purpose; and accordingly determined to put in practice the following expedient, viz. that Layton should write to Miss Beresford, requesting to know the exact number of the lottery ticket which she had purchased, since, through the negligence of one of the clerks, a mistake that might prove of much importance in the drawing, had arisen, in transcribing the figures into their own books. Previously to this Howard waited himself on the proprietor of the office where the ticket had been purchased, and made him, in part, privy to the plot he was carrying on; at the same time taking out a whole ticket, which he did in the name of Emma Jerningham, Meliora's mother, thereby inducing his consent to and connivance in the scheme.

When Miss Beresford should have answered the first letter satisfactorily, a second was to be sent, as if from the lottery contractor, stating, that two gentlemen had taken up the whole ticket of the number she had chosen prior to her purchase, consequently to the exclusion of Miss Beresford's share in it; and finally, it was planned that Layton, in the character of one of Bish's clerks, should take a journey into Hamp shire, to desire the actual presence of the young lady in London, as being requisite to settle the difficulty; that he should escort her to town, defraying all the expences on the road, which, he was to make it appear, was partly the purpose of his coming down The lady, on her arrival in London, after having visited the lottery office, in order to dispel any suspicion that could have arisen in her mind on the subject, was to be referred and conveyed to the house of Mr. Twiss, in Abing don-street, which he had lent to be the place of general rendezvous. Leaving the execution of this ar rangement in the hands of Twiss and Layton, Howard prepared to set out on his journey of pursuit to the Continent, having obtained from Phillips an insight into Levison's intended route.

Just before his departure for France, however, a note was deli

vered to Howard from Lord Annesley:--

"Sir,--Three days have elapsed without my having either seen or heard from you on the subject of our last meeting: if you have proved the fallacy of your conjectures and suspicions, and wish on your part to decline any further interference, do not hesitate to acknowledge it. I am sorry to say that my opinion has been greatly strengthened since I saw you; I could almost declare that it was confirmed. Miss Jer ningham, by her own confession, was absent from our house at the identical period, during which the circumstances appearing in evidence were said to have taken place: I was anxious that she should establish an alibi, but she asserted that the object of her walk had been to visit her mother, whom she very opportunely met in the street, and accompanied some way on the road to Kensington.

"I am in a state of the most painful suspense; and desire that this unfortunate transaction may be further enquired into, and brought tó an issue, with all the speed it may.

"Your's, Annesley.”

To which appeal Howard returned the following caustic reply:

"Make not more haste than good speed, my Lord. The fruit of my exertions is nearly ripe, but not ready to be gathered immediately.

"So, my Lord, you could not resist the pleasure of teasing Miss Jerningham a little; forgetting a stupid promise that you made, on your honour, as long as three days ago, not to speak to her on the subject. How convenient it is to have a short memory! Perhaps I shall call upon you to discuss this matter more seriously, elsewhere.

"GODFREY HOWARD, "A man of his word yet no Lord!"

Having dispatched this, Howard set off in a chaise and four for Dover, that being the road which, according to Phillip's information, Levison had taken; nor was he misled; for on arriving at Boulogne, after a remarkably quick and favourable passage, almost the very

first person whom he encountered at the English hotel there, was the Colonel himself: Howard instantly recognized him with much real glee, though the greeting was by no means returned with the same degree of cordiality by the other. Howard in answer to Levison's enquiries, invented some plausible pretence, for being seen on that side of the Channel; and by the time they had entered more into conversation, and Howard had invited Levison to dine with him in the true John Bull style, the air of apprehension, of disturst and reserve which had characterized the behaviour of the latter on their first meeting, gradually and entirely disappeared. In the discourse that took place during dinner, Levison unhesitatingly remarked that he had quitted London almost a week previously to the present period; but that owing to a trunk belonging to him having been left behind at the inn at Dover, he had been detained most reluctantly, he said, on the French coast, to await its arrival.

Howard exerted himself in being unusually communicative, and, free, and facetious; and in order to put Levison in complete good humour with his companion, observed that he had had a very pleasant game of whist on board of the packet: Levison instantly asked with much eagerness, if he was fond of cardsHoward replied in the affirmative,a pack of cards were procured, and they played several rubbers of cas, sino, at which Howard, who hardly knew any thing of the game, lost every thing he played for. During all this time, Howard continued to supply Levison with potent libations of champagne; till having rendered him completely insensible of all that was passing around, he had him carried on board a vessel, and they sailed back for England. The effect of the motion of the vessel on Levison's intemperance, prevented him from sleeping on the passage; but being landed on the British shore, he sunk exhausted into a profound slumber; and in this state Howard had him put into a carriage with six horses, that in little more than seven hours, brought them to town.

The expression of Levison's sensations when he opened his eyes, as

the coach stopped in Abingdon-street, was ludicrous in the extreme: his sentiments of wonder were mixed with terror; he fancied himself in a dream; he appeared to entertain no recollection of the past; he was utterly bewildered; and before he had collected his ideas, or taken time to reflect on what he was doing, Howard had induced him to alight, and enter Twiss's house: all he seemed conscious of was that he was in England; how he came to be there was a question, which was to him involved in the most imprenetable mystery: he only knew that he was in London, and that he would rather have been in any other city in the world. A multitude of swindled creditors, of baffled bailifs, of friends betrayed and plundered by his avarice, and of ruthless desperadoes, copartners in his villanies, presented themselves to his dismayed imagination; and he indignantly demanded of Howard an explanation of his situation.

Howard, at first, somewhat evaded the question, merely by replying, that the most noble Colonel should have an explanation in full, in the course of an hour, if he could restrain his impatience so long; whereon Levison became absolutely furious; accused Howard of harbouring some design against his life and property; ran through the whole vocabulary of Billingsgate; protested that he would set fire to the premises, if not permitted instantly to depart unmolested; and, in short, raved and stamped, and swore, like a maniac.

Howard listened to this ebullition of vengeance, lounging in a listless position in an arm chair, occasionally taking a calm survey of the impassioned speaker, who having made a pause in his harrangue from absolute exhaustion of words, as well as of physical energy, Howard seized the moment of silence, thus cooly and impressively to address his prisoner, for such in fact he was:-" Colonel Levison, or, I should rather say, no Colonel at all-I beg your pardon, Sir, were you about to speak?

I entreat, that you will make yourself perfectly easy, with respect to any apprehensions that you may feel, concerning the security of your life, and property. For the first, I am not aware that it is of any con

sequence to any one, excepting your daughter, the amiable and all-accomplished Miss Beresford, as she is vulgarly called; by the bye, I think it was a pity that you did not give her mother a title to your own name; it is so much prettier-nay, do not interrupt me, Sir: it would disconcert me to hear your arguments just now; I doubt not that you had wise reasons for the precaution; I only meant to offer the hint, in a friendly waybut you're not going to be angry again?-Suppose we shake hands. No!-well, as you will. But to proceed with my defence against the charge of meditating an attack on your fortune. I am really so overstocked with the dross myself, that if now you were to take a liking to me, and make me a present of all your property, I should hardly know what to do with it,-unless, indeed," 'continued he," unless I were to deposit it with the rightful owners; for instance, we'll say the Countess Annesley-the young Lord Stanton, or a silly, beardless rustic, on board a vessel where I happened to be about thirty years ago; I noticed the lad, because his name chanced to be the same as my own. You look astounded, my good Sir!-Ha, ha, ha! -that's natural. I believe I did not acquaint you that I am something of an astrologer; I have looked into the past, and dived into the future; I can tell fortunes by the hand, or the face; nay, I have been making .calculations since we have been here, which seem to prove, that some one, now present, is destined for the gallows! Mr. Twiss, are you aware of any repugnance that you experience at the sight of a rope? I hope, Layton, you have not got a mole behind the ear."

In this manner did Howard contrive to banter, and play, with Levison, until such time as he might expect the return of the messenger, who had been despatched to all the various parties concerned in the developement of the still unexplained circumstance of the forgery; and, in little more than an hour from the time of his arrival, he had the satisfaction of learning, that the Earl and Countess of Annesley, Mr. Singleton, brother to the Countess, and Meliora, were waiting in the parlour for his promised communication.Eur. Mag. Vol. 82.

He ordered, that the two ladies might be conducted into the conservatory, while the Earl and Singleton were ushered into court, as Howard termed a spacious apartment, into which several others opened; indeed, it was the peculiar fitness of the arrangement of the rooms for this occasion, that had caused Howard to adopt Twiss's dwelling for the scene of the eclaircissement.

When the Earl, and Singleton, who was a magistrate, and Howard and Twiss, had taken their station in the hall of audience, the proceedings commenced, in due form, and Twiss was ordered to read over the evidence, as it had been taken down, about a week before, to which notes had since been added by his Lordship; wherein he accused Miss Meliora Jerningham as a party concerned, from the circumstance of her being unable to afford, what the Earl considered to be, a satisfactory account of the employment of the identical period of time consumed in the execution of the forgery.

Singleton listened attentively to the recital of the various depositions, and declared, at its conclusion, that appearances went strongly to criminate Miss Jerningham. Howard smiled to himself, as he remembered how fallacious the magistrate's judgment would soon be proved to have been, and then, with an air of deference and respect, proffered his defence.

"The explanation that I have in my power to afford, Gentlemen," said he, "consists rather of a singular combination of facts, than in making a verbose and fluent appeal; but facts are stubborn things. My mode of proceedure, too, will be very summary. I shall not detain your attention long, Gentlemen;" then advancing to one of the side doors, he called aloud on Thomas Cater, whom, when he came forward, Howard presented to the court, saying, "This man is the coach-driver, mentioned in evidence." Singleton asked Cater a few questions; but finding that his answers tallied precisely with his former testimony, he was quickly dismissed.

Layton was the next witness produced, who, having repeated his former asseverations, now added, "That if a dozen ladies were shewn

F