been accepted by the editor of a classical and ecclesiastical Review, who had forwarded to him a check for ten guineas. Mr Aubrey could scarce refrain from tears, when the simple-minded and generous Neville pressed upon him the acceptance of, at least, the half of these, the unexpected proceeds of his severe toil. While they were thus sitting together, in eager and delightful conversation, there came a knock to the door, which, as may be easily believed, a little disturbed them all; but it proved to be a gentleman who asked for Miss Aubrey; and on her requesting him to come forward, who should it be, but the “gentleman” of my Lord De la Zouch; and while the colour mounted into her cheek, and her heart fluttered, he placed in her hands a packet, which had just arrived from the Continent.

They all insisted on having it opened then and there; and in a few minutes' time, behold their eager admiring eyes were feasted by the sight of a most superb diamond necklace—and at the‍ bottom of the case was a small card—which Kate, blushing violently, thrust into her bosom, in spite of all Mrs Aubrey's efforts. There was a long letter addressed to Mr Aubrey from Lord De la Zouch, who, with Lady De la Zouch, had been for some weeks at Paris-and one from her ladyship to Kate; and, from its bulky appearance, 'twas evident either that Lady De la Zouch must have written her a prodigious long letter, or enclosed one to her from some one else. They saw Kate's uneasiness about this letter, and considerately forebore to rally her upon it. Poor girl! -she burst into tears when she looked at the glittering trinket which had been presented to her—and reflected that its cost would probably be more than would suffice to support her brother and his family for a couple of years. Her heart yearned towards them, and she longed to convert her splendid present into a form that should minister to their necessities. While touching upon this part of my history-which I always approach with diffident. reluctance, as matter too delicate to be handled before the public -I must nevertheless pause for a moment, and apprize the reader of one or two little circumstances, before returning to the main course of the narrative.

Mr Delamere was at that moment at Rome, in the course of making the usual tour of Europe, and was not expected to return to England for some months-perhaps for a year. But before

quitting England he had laid close siege to Kate Aubrey; and had, indeed, obtained from her a promise, that if ever she became any one's wife, it should be his. That their engagement was sanctioned most cordially by Lord and Lady De la Zouch-two persons of as generous and noble a spirit as breathed in the world -must have been long ago abundantly manifest to the reader; and they did not the less appreciate the value of the prize secured by their son, becaue of the proud and delicate sense Miss Aubrey manifested of the peculiarly trying position in which she stood with relation to them. Kate's own notion upon the subject was somewhat indefinite, she having resolved not to listen to any proposal for a union with Delamere, until her unfortunate brother's affairs had assumed a more cheering and satisfactory aspect ; and that might not be for some years to come. If she replied to the letter from Delamere, enclosed by Lady De la Zouch-and reply she must, to acknowledge his brilliant present—it would be the first letter she had ever written to him, which will account, in a measure, for her embarrassment. And although all of them kept up a correspondence with Lord and Lady De la Zouch-from obvious considerations of honourable delicacy and pride, they never gave the slightest intimation of the dreadful pressure they were beginning daily to experience. Lord De la Zouch remained under the impression that Mr Aubrey was struggling, it might be slowly, but still successfully, with his difficulties; and had made up his mind, when called upon, to pay the amount of the bond into which he had entered in Aubrey's behalf, almost as a matter of course. As Aubrey desired evidently to maintain a reserve upon the subject of his private affairs, Lord De la Zouch, whatever might be his fears and suspicions, forbore to press his enquiries. How little, therefore, were either Lord and Lady De la Zouch, or their son, aware of the position in which their packet would find the Aubreys!

Within a few days, Mr Runnington, by duly completing special bail in the two actions of Quirk and Others v. Aubrey, and Titmouse v. Aubrey, had relieved Mr Aubrey from all grounds of immediate personal apprehension for several months to come —for at least half a-year; and on quitting Vivian Street, one evening, after announcing this satisfactory result of his labours, he slipped into Mr Aubrey's hand, as he took leave of him at the

door, a letter, which he desired Mr Aubrey to read, and if he thought it worth while, to answer-at his leisure. Guess the emotions of lively gratitude, of deep respect, with which he perused the following:—

"Lincoln's Inn.

"MY DEAR SIR,-You have once or twice, lately, been so kind as to express yourself obliged by the little professional services which I have recently rendered you in the ordinary course of practice. Permit me, in my turn, then, to ask a great favour of you; and, knowing your refined and exquisite sensibility, I make the request with some little apprehension, lest I should in any way wound it. I earnestly beg that you will accept a trifling loan of three hundred pounds, to be repaid as soon as you may be enabled to do so with perfect convenience to yourself. If, unhappily for yourself, that time should never arrive, believe me, you will not occasion me the slightest imaginable inconvenience; for a long and successful practice has made me long since independent of my profession, and of the world, as will, I am confident, be the case with you, should Providence spare your life. I happen to have been aware that, but for recent occurrences, it was your intention, about this time, to have commenced a second year's study, with either Mr Crystal, or Mr Mansfield the conveyancer. You will now, I trust, carry your intention into effect, without delay. I should venture to suggest, that at this period of the year, when the gentlemen of the common-law bar quit town for the circuit, (as will be the case within a few weeks with Mr Crystal,) it would hardly answer your purpose to enter the chambers of a gentleman in that department; but that, as conveyancers remain very much longer in town, you will find it answer your purpose immediately to enter the chambers of Mr Mansfield, and re-occupy your mind with those invigorating and invaluable studies in which you have already made, as I hear, so great a progress; and which will serve to divert your thoughts from those wretched objects on which otherwise they will be too apt to dwell.

"You will find that I have this day paid in to your credit, at your bankers, the sum of £300. And believe me to remain, my dear sir-Ever your most sincere and faithful friend, "C. RUNNINGTON.

"P. S.-Do not give yourself one moment's concern about the expense of the recent proceedings, which is, I assure you, very trifling."

I say that Mr Aubrey read this letter with heartfelt gratitude, and permitted no morbid fastidiousness to interfere with his determination to avail himself of the generous and opportune assistance of Mr Runnington; and he resolved, moreover, to profit by his very judicious suggestions as to the course of his study, and to commence, as soon as possible, his attendance at the chambers of Mr Mansfield. Thus, guddenly relieved, for a considerable and a definite interval, from the tremendous pressure to which he had been latterly subject, he, and indeed all of them, experienced great buoyancy and exhilaration of spirits. Could, however, their sense of tranquillity and security be otherwise than shortlived? What sort of a prospect was that before them? Terrifying and hopeless indeed. As daily melted away the precious interval between the present time and the dreadful month of November-midst whose gloomy haze was visible to his shuddering eyes the dismal porch of a prison, where he must be either immured for his life, or its greater portion, or avail himself of the bitter ignominious immunity afforded by the insolvent laws the hearts of all of them sunk to their former depth of oppression. Still, he resolved to work while it was day; and he addressed himself to his studies with redoubled energy, and of course made proportionate advances. But all this suffering—amid all this exertion, mental and physical-began to leave visible traces in his worn and emaciated appearance; and I grieve to add, that the same cause not a little impaired the beauty and injured the spirits of the devoted and incomparable women whom Heaven had given to him like angels for his companions.

Such being the footing upon which matters stood between Mr Delamere and Kate Aubrey, what chance had Mr Gammon of obtaining the bright object upon which he had set his dark and baleful eye, and to secure which he was racking his brain, and devising such intricate schemes of deliberate and cruel villany? As well might Gammon have sighed after the planet Venussweet star of eve !—as sought to get Kate Aubrey into his arms.

Yet full before his mind's eye stood ever her image—though one would have thought that there was sufficient in his own circumstances to occupy every spare thought and feeling. Suppose the action of penalties went against him, and he should be at once fixed with a liability for some five thousand pounds, including debt and costs? And more than that sum he had recently lost in a speculatiou in foreign stock, besides standing in a very precarious position with respect to certain of the many speculations in which he had launched both himself and others. Under these circumstances, it became hourly of greater importance to him to secure the annuity of £2000 on the Yatton property, which he had with such difficulty extorted from Titmouse. He resolved, moreover, to try the experiment of raising money on the bond of Lord De la Zouch; and it also occurred to him as possible, that even if he should fail in the main object which he had proposed to himself, in his artful and oppressive proceedings against Aubrey, yet they might be the means of bringing forward friends to extricate him from his difficulties, by discharging the sums for which he was liable. It was, therefore, not till he had set into train the various matters which have been laid before the reader, that he set off on a hurried visit to Yorkshire, in order to ascertain the state of Lady Stratton's affairs; to make arrangements for collecting the evidence against the impending trials for bribery; and carry into effect some preliminary measure for augmenting the whole of the Yatton rent-roll, by nearly £2000 a-year. His first interview with Mr Parkinson apprized him distinctly of the exceedingly precarious nature of the alleged intestacy of Lady Stratton. Good Mr Parkinson was no match for Mr Gammon, but would have been much more nearly so if he could have done but one thing-held his tongue : but he was a good-natured, easy-tempered chatterer, and Gammon always extracted from him, in a few moments, whatever he knew upon any subject. 'Twas thus that he succeeded in obtaining conclusive evidence of the intestacy; for Gammon discovered that the unexecuted draft of the intended will had never been seen by Lady Stratton, or read over to her; but had been drawn up by Mr Parkinson himself, a day or two after receiving her ladyship's instructions ;-that those instructions, moreover, had been merely oral.