Our strife was suddenly at an end. His appearance amongst us, so unexpected and spectral as it was, had the effect of immediately subduing us. Evans and Brown endeavoured to slink into the crowd, but the quick eye of Delaval had marked them. Everard Sinclair stood firm; he was the only one amongst us, who, in the crisis, had preserved his tranquillity.

"My young friends," said Mr. Delaval, "what means this scene of unexampled confusion? Why is the hand raised to strike? Why is this contention amongst you? Dogs fight because they are brute beasts; children because they know no better; soldiers because it is their business; but you, my friends, are free to exercise your own. judgments, and are capable of reflection. You ought to, and you do, know better. Let me entreat you to remember yourselves,-let order and good feeling be restored amongst you; be friendly one to another. Believe me, that it goes to my heart to see any contention amongst you. Jerningham, Claude Jerningham, I mean, come hither, and explain to me the cause of this uproar."

The assembly was broken up; the crowd dispersed itself about the room. Notwithstanding that Delaval himself was the object of their universal disapprobation-notwithstanding that in his

absence they had passed a vote of censure upon him, and had loudly expressed their abhorrence of what they were pleased to call his impiety, when the criminal in person appeared amongst them, they were afraid to make manifest their displeasure; they were awed into silent submission, and skulked away muttering to themselves. It is true that one or two of the boys, with averted faces and closed lips, had the courage to hiss as they walked off, but there was nothing electrical in this; these tokens of displeasure were uncommunicated, and therefore they were not repeated. The sentence which they had passed was abrogated through a total inability to execute it, like that of the members of Brookes' against fighting Fitzgerald.

Mr. Delaval desired me to follow him up stairs, into his own private room; I could not help thinking, at the time, that this was inconsiderate in the usher, for I fully expected that his departure would have been a signal for the recommencement of the tumult. However, my surmises were without foundation; the fire had been extinguished altogether, not smothered, as I anticipated, for a time.

"Jerningham," said Mr. Delaval, when we were alone, "I put implicit confidence in your veracity; I have singled you out from the many, to acquaint me with the history of this disturbance.

I observed that you were one of the combatants, but I know that you are naturally of a peaceable and quiet disposition. Your friend Sinclair is another at whose unwonted pugnacity I marvel; he is the gentlest creature in the world; how came he to be betrayed into ferocity? I desire to know every circumstance connected with this extraordinary affray."

I felt myself delicately situated, but I saw not any passage of escape. I would have given almost all that I possessed to have been spared this recital of events, but I saw not a single outlet of evasion; my character for veracity, upon which Mr. Delaval had complimented me, was not to be lightly regarded, and the main cause of this unfortunate uproar involved such an unpleasant history, that for some time I was distracted between two warring opinions. Rapidly I turned over in my mind every circumstance of the confusion we had been engaged in,-the discovery of Leicester's book-the suspicions expressed of his infidelity-the censure that had been passed upon Delaval-the determination that had been made to "cut" them-the baseness imputed to the usher-the exculpatory harangue of poor Everard—this I could not resist. The desire of picturing my friend in the noble and disinterested position which he had maintained in the recent

disturbances, banished all my delicate scruples, and I narrated every circumstance as it happened.

Delaval was not a person to listen unmoved to this narration. I saw that he was greatly affected; the moisture stood upon his brow in large drops. I was inflicting upon him the most acute tortures; once or twice I paused in the narrative, and he was impatient that I should go on; he had wound himself up to the highest possible point of endurance, and he was determined to hear all. "Go on! go on !" he exclaimed, "do not spare me do not spare me." He endeavoured to say this jestingly; then he walked up and down the room wiping the dampness from his forehead, and struggling to reassume his serenity; every word that I uttered entered like iron into his soul. I knew that he would be wondrously agitated, but I scarcely expected a display of feeling so fearful as what I now witnessed; I was alarmed at the effect that I had produced, but still I was sufficiently self-possessed-I should say, sufficiently barbarous, to watch every manifestation of his agony-every motion of the sufferer's frame; his bosom was heaving convulsively; his hands were clenched firmly together; every muscle of his body was braced up in one mighty effort at composure. When I had done my story, he endeavoured to laugh. My God! what a mockery was the at

tempt. "Well! and is this all? Ha ha! this the grand cause of confusion? I certainly expected something more, Jerningham: and so this is all! What a mountain made of a mole-hill! Really it is very ridiculous! It reminds me of the siege of Troy-ten years' war for a woman; -Rixantur multi-you know the rest, my boy: it is a trite adage, but true. Really you have amused me exceedingly; 'tis altogether a laughable affair; upon my word, Jerningham, you have amused me. You may go now, my lad; you may go now: there, shut the door." And he seated himself down at the table, exhausted with the efforts he had made.

Will it be believed possible, that before I had proceeded many yards, I felt an irresistible inclination to return? I was affected; nay, frightened beyond measure at the contemplation of what I had witnessed. I would have voluntarily exposed myself to pain, and have undergone considerable privations, to allay the gnawing affliction that was preying upon the vitals of Delaval; I pitied the poor sufferer from my heart; I sympathized with his misery, and would have assuaged it; the tears stood in my eyes, and vainly I tried to check them. I had always felt an affection for Delaval, and now that I saw him so wretched, my heart yearned towards the man with an unwonted