tunate Skinwell. By what motive the Doctor had been actuated in taking the body from its grave, could only be conjectured: the most probable one was, that he had done so to destroy all traces of the poison. But why he should still preserve so horrible an object few attempted to divine. Whatever the cause, however, the fact was proved; since the remains were subsequently identified by many. Another circumstance remains to be recorded, as it may also serve to illustrate Doctor Rowel's conduct.

Beneath the head of the corpse was found a smaller and curiously ornamented box, wherein the title-deeds of Charnwood had been kept during many generations. On being opened, it was found still to contain them in the same state in which Rowell had so many years ago possessed himself of them, after securing the person of their The effect of Mr. Skinwell's conduct in resisting the doctor's solicitations to co-operate with him in altering those writings now became apparent.

owner.

Mr. Woodruff having taken them into his own custody, he and his daughter set out to take possession of their hereditary home. On their arrival, however, they found it inhabited by tenants whom the reader will feel surprised to find there.

No long period was required after Colin's arrival at Mr. Calvert's to enable him to discover that deep anxiety reigned throughout that house touching her who so late was its life-spring.

Miss Jenny, who had lately confined herself much to her chamber, was introduced by her sister; the latter having communicated to her the arrival of Roger and Colin.

'How changed!' thought our hero, as his spirit sank at the sight. of her. In her face was written that the past was all of a pleasant existence she should ever look upon. Yet when she saw him, though the father looked solemn, and the mother chidingly, she flew to his arms. For what were a father's looks, or a mother's wishes? What was all the world now to her?

At this sight, so unexpected and affecting, her mother sobbed aloud; Mr. Calvert turned away in silence. Her sister seized her hands, and pressed them with a loving pressure, while honest Roger, with the tears bursting from his eyes, struck his hand upon the table in sudden agony, and exclaimed,

Though I don't swear, I say she shall have him, damme, if she shan't!'

The plainness of this declaration contrasted so with the occasion that scarcely a person could forbear smiling; while every one felt a conviction that Roger's words would eventually come true. But, as suddenly as that conviction flashed across the mind, so, with respect to Mr. and Mrs. Calvert, did it as suddenly cease. For though, during some few moments they felt half inclined to relent, yet, as the cause of that sudden conversion lost its temporary influence, they fell back upon old objections with increased prejudice.

Long did these two afterwards discuss the matter, while Colin and Jenny were rapidly settling it without any discussion at all.

While the last-named pair regarded the question as altogether one of the heart, the former held it as totally a question of the head: but, inasmuch as the worst philosopher may venture to back the heart against the head in any contention, our hero and Miss Jenny would certainly have triumphed, had it not happened that before

their forces could be brought to bear, Mr. Calvert sent a message to Colin, requesting his company in the study, and delivered to him the following speech ;

'After what has occurred, Mr. Clink, I feel that it becomes my duty as a father to come to some decisive determination. Much as I respect Mr. Lupton and yourself, there are causes which made me fearful when I found your preference for Jenny, that a continued acquaintance between you would not lead to happiness. I shall not allude to those causes more directly; but they are insurmountable. And though I am aware that such matters are frequently regarded with indifference, yet I feel compelled thus to declare my sentiments, in the hope that nothing more will be required to assure you of the conrse which I wish you to adopt.'

'Sir!' said Colin, as his heart seemed to swell into his throat, 'I cannot but respect your motives. I know your objections,they are not to be removed.' He would have spoken more, but

could not.

'Do not mistake me,' observed Mr. Calvert. 'It is your misfortune not your crime. It was my hope that Jenny and you might possibly dissolve this acquaintance yourselves, and render such an explanation as the present needless. But I have been mistaken. We cannot go on thus longer. Nevertheless, carry with you the assurance that I still continue to remember your worthiness, and to regret so unhappy an ending to the young affection of one whom it would have been our delight, if possible, to have blessed with the good and worthy creature he sought.-Bless you, my friend !' added he, Bless you! I cannot part with you without betraying more than becomes me.'

'Your worthiness,' replied Colin, makes me, sir, lost what to say. Had you treated me harshly I could have replied. If you will have it so, I know not how to oppose; but though I go never to return, believe me, sir, my heart will be left with those I leave,I shall do my best to live out my life with the memory of her whom I am forbidden to know in any other manner.'

'I am afraid,' rejoined his friend, that on neither side shall we cease to feel pain but it will be our duty to bow before those decrees which we cannot escape. And now,' added Mr. Calvert, do not prolong this scene. We can do no more. Good-by'e!' he quitted the room.

But Roger Calvert and Colin had a further conversation below stairs, which ended in producing a determination of importance. Roger's conduct, indeed, throughout had inspired our hero with confidence, and now induced him, after the scene described, to draw his friend into an unobserved part of the house, and propose that they should settle the matter in the manner already suggested, that is, through the medium of an elopement; and that considerate young fellow readily undertook the task of informing Jenny of the design. It was agreed between them that, the more successfully to carry on their plan, Colin should take leave of the family under the impression, on their parts, of never seeing him again; but that, instead of quitting London, he should retire to some hotel, where he could remain until matters were arranged for his and Jenny's departure. This accordingly he did, quitting Mr. Calvert's house not without grief on the part of all, except Roger; though on his own with such a miserable exhibition of sorrow, considering the situation

in which he was placed, that the good Calverts were quite astonished, and began to suspect that after all there was not half the feeling in him they had been led to believe. Roger was appealed to, but professed to have no ability in discovering springs of action. The truth was, that he felt disinclined for conversation. The departure of his friend had put a seal upon his tongue.

Within a few days it was remarked by the family that Jenny seemed astonishingly recovered from her melancholy, and hope began to be entertained that in a short time she would recover her painful disappointment, and become again that pleasant creature she was before her eyes met those of Mr. Clink. However, at the very time when everybody expected that this desirable consummation would be effected, then it was discovered to everybody's amazement that she was missing; Roger, too, had disappeared; nor was Miss Jenny Calvert ever found again. A guess at the real truth flashed across the minds of every one, and all agreed that, instead of ever seeing Miss Jenny again, they should be somehow or other introduced to Mrs. Colin Clink.

Mr. Calvert at first took the thing in dudgeon, and ordered his horses to pursue the flying trio, but, by the time saddle and harness were ready, it chanced to be discovered that nobody knew whether to prefer the east, west, north, or south quarters in the proposed search. Probabilities, however, being in favour of Kiddal Hall, Mr. Calvert and his son set out on an expedition to that residence, in hopes of arriving there in time to prevent that marriage which Mr. Calvert determined never to sanction.

In the mean time our hero and his friends were making forced marches, until our little party had the pleasure of beholding the walls within which they were to be made secure of future happiness. Thus felt our hero and his pretty companion, while Roger regarded the house with interest, since it also contained her who was everything to him.

Mr. Woodruff's residence was situated in one of the pleasantest portions of Leicestershire. It was one of those old, large and substantial brick buildings, characteristic of a particular period of our domestic architecture. Its gardens were full of stately trees, which seemed to speak their own dignity, and declare to the passer-by that beneath their branches had flourished some generations.

To this place they were welcomed by Mr. Woodruff and his daughter; and though, at the first introduction to Miss Jenny as the intended bride of Colin, poor Fanny in vain endeavoured to hide the feelings of the moment, yet a short time brought her back to a sense of the situations of both, while the presence of her own accepted lover, in the person of Roger Calvert, not only sustained her spirits, but took off much of the keenness of those reflections.

It was also on this occasion Colin learned from Fanny that her father and herself, on paying their first visit to their newly-recovered property, found it occupied by the family of that identical Miss Wintlebury whom he and she had so strangely met in London. At the mention of that name Colin blushed so deeply that Miss Jenny felt misgivings as to his perfect fidelity, and in a manner half in joke half in earnest, charged him with deception, to which her lover could not so well reply as by giving that short story respecting Miss Wintlebury, with which the reader is acquainted.

Miss Wintlebury herself had improved materially in health, since not only the country, but likewise the altered circumstances in which her father had placed her, assisted to throw in her way every advantage that one in her situation could require. She still remembered Colin's conduct with the most grateful feelings, and testified them by entertaining his friends. Besides which, on Mr. Wintlebury being informed of the particulars of their story, of which already he had heard much from common fame, he volunteered at once to quit the premises, and gave Mr. Woodruff possession of his own.

It was a proud morning for our hero when, with Jenny on his arm, he hastened to the little church hard by Mr. Woodruff's residence, there to pronounce the sacred promise to love and cherish till death the pretty creature beside him. Fanny and Harriet Wintlebury officiated as bridemaids. The priest had just uttered the solemn injunction- Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder,' when a stir was heard at the church door, and Mr. Calvert and his son, in a state of excitement, hurried in. The former rushed towards the altar, and seizing Jenny, exclaimed: I forbid the marriage !'-but the priest waved his hand, and pronounced that Colin and Jenny were man and wife together,' concluding with that blessing which so beautifully finishes the church ceremony on these occasions.

As the party retired, Mr. Calvert approached, and taking the newly-made wife's hand, Jenny' said he, I never expected this. However, I will not reproach you. The thing is done, and cannot be undone. It is not for me to put asunder whom God hath joined together; I must make the best of it, and therefore, seeing there is no remedy, let me join in the blessing pronounced, and ask that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting.'

Poor Jenny burst into tears, and clung round her father's neck; while Colin stood by, deeply affected, and Roger complimented his father and brother upon their being, as he expressed it, an inch behind the tail.'

On the return of the party, Jenny's father informed them how he had in the first instance directed his steps to Kiddal Hall, and found his old friend, Mrs. Lupton, in a state that promised a speedy dissolution. Under those circumstances he had felt anxious to defer, if he could not prevent, the ceremony which had taken place. These intentions, however, being frustrated, nothing remained but to reconcile matters with all parties, and to effect this, Mr. Calvert deemed it needful that the newly married pair should return with him to Kiddal; because, in case of the unfortunate lady of that house desiring to see them before her death, their presence would prevent her dying wishes being disappointed. Accordingly, at an early pe. riod they set out; and, on their arrival were welcomed by the squire with a degree of satisfaction scarcely to be expressed, and a degree of unmixed happiness would have reigned, but for the situation of Mrs. Lupton, who now rapidly sunk.

'So you are married, Jenny?' said she, as she took the young wife by the hand, and kissed her.

I hope we shall be happy,' replied she. 'So I hoped once,' returned the lady;

and see what has come of it! Yet I loved him, as you may now. And as for you, sir,-' said she, addressing Colin; look that you never despise what you

6

once loved; that you do not take up as a jewel what you afterwards cast away as a stone. I tell you it will break her heart. Walter !' she continued-' Walter, I want to see my husband.' Mr. Lupton entered the chamber. Walter' said she faintly, I am goingbut I wish to tell you I die in peace-in love with you, even now. Very soon, and I shall trouble you no more. I have loved and watched over you here--I will do so hereafter.-God bless you!' And as she uttered those words her hand became convulsive. She sank back dying- dead!

The night for the interment came, and the lady of Kiddal was laid beside many a fanciful beauty and stalwart man, who had laid down their beauty and their strength before her.

It became known all over the country-side some time afterwards that Mr. Lupton had become remarkably serious after his wife's death; all the theories that had been set afloat touching his second marriage, for everybody believed he would be married again, were found, day after day, never to be carried out on his part by any corresponding action, so at length the neighbourhood were fain to give him credit for being a good widower, who could not find in his heart to marry again.

At

After the event described, our hero's father would no longer think of permitting him to take up his residence elsewhere. Mr. Lupton now declared it to be his intention to instal the young couple at once in that family residence which he had already made provision for eventually bequeathing to them, and of having them considered as constituting, along with himself, the family of the place. the same time he expressed his desire that Colin should take the management of his estates into his own hands observing, that he now felt but little interest in those matters which formerly had oc cupied all his attention, and that for the future he wished to devote his time to pursuits more congenial with his feelings, as well as better adapted to fit him for that change he must undergo.

This arrangement being acted upon, Colin came to be looked upon as the greatest man in that parish where once we found him a miserable child, turned rudely out of his cradle at night, by a hardhearted steward, to starve with his mother beneath the naked sky.

As to that same steward, the notorious Mr. Longstaff, he had now grown old, but still occupied the same situation. Prophecies sometimes come true. When Mr. Longstaff turned Mrs. Clink out of her house, it will not have been forgotten that she pointed towards the little bed in which our then little hero lay, and addressing the steward exclaimed, There's a sting in that cradle for you yet!' Mr. Longstaff himself remembered these words, and trembled when he found to what station the Squire had exalted his son. And though, I verily believe, notwithstanding his deserts, that Colin Clink would never have molested him, vet, as though retributive justice was not to be turned aside, it oddly enough was discovered, on examining his accounts, that defalcations of long standing existed. On this discovery the steward was discharged, and threatened with a prosecution but as he made himself quite as humble as he had before been proud, and said a great many pitiful things about his family, the Squire consented, under his son's persuasion, to suffer the grievance to be hushed up.