the beauty even of the landscape, and the verdure of the foliage, seemed to rise up to upbraid, and reproach, and mock at him; and he cursed the birds that carolled in the hedgerows for being so happy.

CHAPTER XIX.

MEANWHILE, we should be but ill performing the duty of faithful historians, if we neglected to describe the course of events, which had occurred during this time, to the other principal character in the approaching struggle.

Lord Clanelly, whose incredible légèreté of character prevented him from looking on anything in a serious light, and who was enabled by it to mix up the thought of his own sensual gratifications and enjoyments, even with affairs of the greatest weight and importance, immediately after the fatal duel with the late Lord Fletcher, had set off in his carriage, as if nothing had happened, with the intention of laying in a large stock of Champagne wine, from the cellars of Epernay. Having inspected those vast subterraneous excavations, and made a large purchase, at a cheap rate, of some of

the best vintages, he set off with Tartar, now his solitary companion since the death of poor Griffin, to return to Paris. His road led through Meaux, and wound along the end of the copse, which we have above described as surrounding the château of Pisatelli, on the banks of the Marne. He was proceeding carelessly along, and at a rapid pace, when his attention was arrested by what was never to him an unwelcome sight, the view of a solitary woman, accompanied only by a large dog, and dressed in a plain white costume, without any bonnet, but with loose floating masses of dark hair. The sunset was already past, but he could not be mistaken, he stopped the carriage, and before he had time even to descend, he recognized the features of his long-sought wife in the person who was advancing to meet him.

Meanwhile, Jeannette Isabelle, who had hurried towards the carriage, firmly persuaded that it could contain no other than our hero, whom she was so anxiously expecting, and whose arrival she had so much right to expect, as soon as she perceived it stop, and was enabled to identify the face of the dreaded individual who issued from it, uttered one sharp wild shriek, and fell perfectly insensible into the arms of

her husband, who had now dismounted and was endeavouring to force her into the carriage. Owing to her senseless condition he might soon have accomplished this with the assistance of his servants, had not Carlo, the faithful Carlo, rushed forward to defend his mistress, and sprang at Lord Clanelly as he attempted to lift her from the ground; but luckily for his lordship, Tartar was at hand to defend him; before the Newfoundland could make good his hold, Tartar was at his side. He darted from his seat in the carriage, and grappled with enormous force the throat of the other dog, whom Lord Clanelly could now no longer doubt to be Carlo. It seemed as if the animosity which existed between the individuals whom they severally accompanied, had communicated itself to these two furious, but faithful, animals, for they fought for life and death with the most bloody and terrible savageness. Size was considerably on the side of Carlo; but the bull-breed of the other gained in strength, compactness, and courage, what it lost in size and weight. Each had in a few moments grappled a firm hold on his antagonist, and as they rolled over and over in the dust struggling for the upperhand, only a subdued and savage growl was from time to time audible from between their clenched teeth.

Meanwhile, Jeannette Isabelle, still utterly insensible to the scene that was passing around her, had been deposited safely on the seat by Lord Clanelly's side, and he was now delighted to have the opportunity of watching the conflict which was taking place between the two dogs. Still supporting his fainting wife with his left arm, he kept motioning to and encouraging the bull-dog with his right: "Now, Tartar-go it, old fellow-shake him nowloo, loo, loo :" but Tartar did not require much backing; he had held poor Carlo ever since the beginning of the uneven contest tight by the throat, and notwithstanding all the efforts of the latter, he was unable to disengage himself. At last, Carlo letting go, through sheer exhaustion, of the hold he had taken on Tartar's side, just under the shoulder, Tartar was enabled to shake his antagonist violently; which he continued to do with such force, that his breath, at last, was fairly driven out of his body. The gigantic Carlo, at length, fell breathless on his side; he turned once his bloodshot eyes upwards in the direction of his mistress, and rolled over dead into a ditch.

Every method was in the meantime resorted to, in order to restore to animation our heroine; but