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manity, and no more; but he looked through and through this boy with an eye of the most piercing investigation. All the thoughts of the usher seemed to converge to this one focus.

It was not in the least strange that this boy should have been selected out of the herd to be the especial favourite of Mr. Delaval; it was only strange that Mr. Delaval should in any instance have so far thrown off his habitual reserve, as to make a favourite of any one boy, however great his attractions may have been. We thought it strange; and many were the speculations to which this mysterious connexion gave rise; but, after all, there was nothing wonderful in the business, for they who are the least sociable with the community, are always the most ardent in their individual attachments.

The name of the usher's young friend was the Honourable Henry Leicester. He was the eldest and the only son of an English baron, and was said to have been descended on one side from John of Gaunt, and on the other, from Pierce Gaveston. Be that as it may; he was something much better than the heir apparent to a peerage : he was a fine, joyous, free-spirited boy, with an open, beaming countenance, plenty of ready wit, and great quickness of apprehension.

just what a school-boy ought to be.

He was

He was

lively without being flippant; he was active without being boisterous; he had courage without recklessness; generosity without folly; and was most entirely a gentleman, without the least odour of the fop.

Leicester joined our little community at the commencement of the same half-year which saw Delaval installed into the office lately held by the unfortunate Mr. Baker. He soon became a favourite amongst us. He had such an inexhaustible flow of jocund animal spirits; he was so imperturbably good-humoured, and so clever withal. His was the loudest laugh, the most elastic step, the clearest, merriest voice in the school. With all parties he was popular; standing mid-way, as he did, between the big boys and the little ones, the seniors admitted him into their society, and petted him; the juniors looked up to, and loved him; his class-fellows, of which I was one, never envied him, but did all they could to conceal his delinquencies from the master, whenever, by his idleness in the school-room, or by his frolicsome excursions in the playing fields, he transgressed the regulations of the establishment. In fact, young Harry Leicester was the rage; he was, beyond all dispute, the most popular boy in the academy.

But his popularity did not endure very long;

for Mr. Delaval gradually wormed himself into the affections of young Leicester, and prostrating himself before the idol of our little world, engrossed the divinity to himself, and dismissed all other worshippers from the temple.

It was not in a week or a month that Delaval contrived to do this. The ascendancy which he gained over the boy was the work of time; he advanced slowly, but he was most entirely successful. Gradually he weaned young Leicester from all his old companions and pursuits; till, at length, the most sociable boy in the school became, if not the most reserved, certainly the most exclusive. It was not that he cut his old friends, or appeared tired of their company; it was, that, in the person of Delaval there was centered a strong magnetic power, which attracted the needle of the boy's affections, and suffered it not to turn itself towards any other point of the universe. He was obliged to abandon the society of his school-fellows; he had no time that he could devote to it.

Rarely was it that, during the hours of recreation, these two were now known to be apart; and if they did happen to be sundered for a while, the eyes of the master were observed to follow every motion of his juvenile companion. They read together; they walked together; when abroad in the fields, they sometimes would stroll away

from the rest of the party, and wander nobody could ascertain whither. To tell the truth, we were fairly mystified; we set our brains to work, but elicited nothing; we wondered on to the end of the chapter.

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My brother said that it was very suspicious;" shrugged his shoulders, and looked volumes. One of the boys suggested that Mr. Delaval was "fishing for an invitation," to spend the holidays. at Lord Leicester's castle in shire; another, (and this was certainly a suggestion which displayed a remarkable degree of sagacity,) that the usher was no less a personage than "Lord Leicester himself, in disguise."

"I see nothing strange," said Everard Sinclair, "in this connexion, after all. Mr. Delaval is attached to Leicester, for the same reason that you are attached to him, or that I am attached to him,for his own sake. He has a multitude of endearing qualities. He is sincere, honest, generous, and courageous. I do not think it in the least strange, that Delaval should love one so highly-gifted as Leicester."

"Perhaps not," answered I; "but I do think it very strange that Leicester should be so attached to Delaval. What can a merry, high-spirited fellow see to fascinate him in the grave aspect, the reserved manners, and the studious habits of a

man like Delaval, who is old enough at least to be his father, and who has nothing at all in common with a light-hearted vivacious boy?"

"Gratitude," replied Everard Sinclair, who was always ready to put a charitable construction upon every action of a doubtful origin, which was canvassed in his presence.-"Gratitude is a strong tie; and kindness is sufficient of itself to breed love in every well-ordered mind. It seems to me quite natural that Leicester should requite the affection of one who has shown such marked favour towards him. It is not always that there is an impassable gulf between youth and age. The superior wisdom of Mr. Delaval, his varied knowledge, and his eloquent conversation may all have charms for Harry Leicester surpassing any, with which we, his school-fellows and coevals, are invested."

At this moment the usher passed before us, accompanied by his young friend. Delaval was talking earnestly, and the boy was looking up into the face of the speaker with an expression of the most wrapt and admiring attention upon his fair, open, but now unusually thoughtful counte

nance.

"Did you ever see," said I, "a change so entire as that which has passed over Leicester of

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