it seems, is making such havoc among you at Summerfield. Upon my honour, he must be deeply enamoured, to have lowered his crest to a level with the best of your village maidens; he, who swooped at the highest game! If you had any sisters of your own, I should venture a word or two of caution; but as that is not the case, why should I puzzle or concern myself for some one who may after all only turn out to be a lady of the mist, a beauteous exhalation of a whimsical fancy? or why should I pursue the invidious task of dilating on the errors of a young man in whose company I have passed many gay, if not many wise hours? I can't think what ails my spirits to-day. This villainous thick London air! who can breathe in it, after knowing what it is to respire a mountain breeze? Art seems stagnant-half the academicians are foraging for new subjects, in and out of the country, and the rest are dozing while the oil dries on their palettes. No parliament sitting for the good of the nation, nor beauties for the good of our purses-no new books, no new faces, no new conspiracies or murders. The newspaper-mongers must be living on the gain of a dead loss!-After all, Huntley has discovered a secret worth knowing to epicures of excitement; the best amusement in such times as these is falling in love! Vive l'amour, le champagne, et la beauté !

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Thy loving kinsman,

"FRANK RUSSELL."

Mr. Russell's first thought on finishing this letter, was to shew it to Mrs. Wellford. He would then disencumber his conscience of a heavy weight; she would be the responsible agent; and if she chose to persist in encouraging Huntley as the suitor of her daughter, it would be with open eyes.

na.

Accordingly, at about the time when he thought Mrs. Wellford most likely to be at leisure, he left his house; and close to the church-yard gate fell in with Hannah and RosiThe unexpected sight of the person he was thinking of and the certainty that he should find Mrs. Wellford at home without chance of interruption, made him speak to the girls with a degree of hurry which much amused Rosina, who pondered for ten minutes on the cause of Mr. Russell's perturbation. On their return, she was surprised to see her mother with red eyes.

Mrs. Wellford had had a discussion and almost a dispute

VOL. I.-T.

with Mr. Russell. On his proceeding, after certain circum locutory prefaces, to tell her in plain English, that soon after his becoming acquainted with Mr. Huntley, he had written to his cousin Frank to inquire into the respectability of the young man, and that he had brought her the tardy reply in case she felt any curiosity as to its contents, Mrs. Wellford thanked him very heartily for the offer, adding something which she left unfinished as she hastily opened the proffered letter, about its becoming now important to learn as much of Mr. Huntley's habits and connections as possible. Mr. Russell watched her countenance, and saw it cloud very deeply as she read the second and third pages of Frank's foolscap sheet; and when she had finished it, she leant her head upon her hand, and the tears trickled through her fingers. But, wiping these hastily away, she took up the letter again, observing to Mr. Russell that she was vexing herself very foolishly, for that on consideration, the greater part of what Mr. Frank Russell had stated amounted to little. And then, going over it from the beginning, she made her own remarks as she went along; observing in the first place, that Mr. Huntley's education having been committed to a very injudicious preceptress was his misfortune rather than his fault, and that if, in after life, he had done as much as possible to rectify his youthful errors, it was as much as could be expected, and more than many young men would effect. Secondly, that his choice of a profession, which was so much less likely to attract ambition and vanity than the army or the law, and his industrious pursuit of it, spoke much in his favour. Thirdly, that the luxuries of which Mrs. Huntley complained, were such as, the writer acknowledged, were common to London eyes. Fourthly, that ill-judged attempts at conversion, and trite moralizing, were likely enough to disgust a young man with his home, which it should have been his mother's business to make pleasant to him. Fifthly, that it was probable that Mrs. and Miss Huntley's manners were vulgar, and their minds narrow and common-place, notwithstanding Mr. Frank Russell's opinion to the contrary. And sixthly-now, Mrs. Wellford owned, they were coming to the real difficulties of the case, it was natural that a young man of genius just one and twenty, should be rather thoughtless in his use of a legacy. It appeared that his mother had paid his debts, which could not have been very great, since her own income was only two hundred pounds.

Mr. Russell corrected her-three hundred.

Well, three hundred. "Two or three hundred year." However, Mr. Huntley's embarrassments must be inquired into, as well as this story of the painter's daughter, whenever he should propose for Hannah. As he had not yet done this, to the best of Mrs. Wellford's belief, as Hannah was not a girl to give away her affections unasked, any such inquiry at present would be rather premature, though she was much obliged to Mr. Russell for the interest he seemed to take in her daughter's welfare As to the story of the painter's daughter, she owned she should like to have that cleared up at once, for the gratification of her own curiosity, and it would most likely turn out to be an error. Mr. Russell might take notice, his cousin did not vouch for it. Perhaps Mr. Russell would have the kindness to write once more to his cousin on the subject, and to ask him to sift it to the bottom, without leading him to infer that any one but himself was interested in the inquiry. Ten to one, it would prove an ill-natured story. It was not unlikely that Mr. Frank Russell saw far less into Mr. Huntley's real character than she did. Idle chit-chat in studios, auction-rooms, theatres, and and dinner parties, just at the time when men were busy or seeking relief from business, could afford much less opportunity of judging of the mind and heart than the daily routine of quiet country life, where there was no excitement, no false glare, no temptation to be striving to appear more worldly than in reality.

Mr. Russell was quite taken by surprise by the flow of Mrs. Wellford's eloquence. He had had no idea of finding her heart so completely in Huntley's cause. That she should weigh every thing well before admitting its truth and importance was perfectly natural, but there was an accent of displeasure at his interference, a tone of coolness for which he had been wholly unprepared. That "thanking him for the interest he seemed to take in her daughter," cut him to the heart. Mr. Russell made use of the first opportunity of speaking which the lady allowed him, with more warmth than on any occasion recorded; he spoke of Hannah's simplicity, of Hannah's inexperience, of Hannah's happiness at stake, with so much energy as to dissolve Mrs. Wellford in tears. But she could not give up Huntley. No: she was so certain that he really was well principled, that his heart was good, that his heart was devoted to Hannah! Hannah, so good, so attractive, so charming! Hannah to lose her first, her

only lover,-one who seemed at least, to deserve her, through the misrepresentations of one who had written in idleness or in malice! Mrs. Wellford wondered to herself, with a little bitterness, how it was that Mr. Russell had kept this marvellous interest in Hannah's welfare so quietly asleep till Hannah had nearly reached the age of twenty-three!

In short, the interview was unsatisfactory. One would not, and one could not, be convinced; and yet, though Mrs. Wellford declared she laid not the smallest stress on Mr. Frank Russell's communications, they had had the effect of making her very unhappy; and she renewed her request that Mr. Russell would write again to his cousin. He promised that, he would, and quitted the White Cottage more surprised and disappointed at Mrs. Wellford's conduct than, an hour be fore, he could have believed possible. "She is wilfully, childishly blind!" thought he, "blind to her daughter's best interests. And all for the sake of seeing a daughter married! The only thing mothers care for, from first to last!" If ever Mr. Russell was in an ill-humour, it was on this blessed day.

CHAPTER XXX.

CROSS PURPOSES.

MRS. Wellford brooded over all that had passed, and alternately trembled for Hannah's happiness, found excuses for Huntley, and fretted at Mr. Russell's doubts and prophecies, till at length, an idea darted into her head, which atoned for all the vicar's brusquerie, accounted for his warmth, and elucidated much which had hitherto been mysterious. He must certainly be himself attached to Hannah; and downright jealousy had occasioned all this curious investigation of Huntley's early history Though this by no means cleared Huntley of the errors laid to his charge, and left Mrs. Wellford as anxious and doubtful as ever, whether he were worthy of Hannah, she could not help feeling a glow of pride at the idea of her daughter's conquest of such a man as the vicar. In the afternoon, when Rosina observed "how very oddly Mr. Russell had behaved in the morning, and indeed, how strange

and unaccountable he had been for some time," Mrs. Wellford smiled with great significance, and remarked that his conduct really was unaccountable, unless he were in love. And on Rosina's exclaiming, "Surely, that would be too ridiculous!" her mother replied with the oracular observation that "Stranger things had happened." Rosina coloured, and kept her surprise to herself. Somehow it never occurred to her that Hannah could have two admirers.

Within a day or two, Mr. Russell happened to have business at Hexley, and on returning through the town, he saw the Miss Wellfords in the principal shop, parcel haberdasher's, parcel chemist's, parcel librarian's. He went in, and found Hannah buying gloves, and Huntley and Rosina amusing themselves with examining the contents of the bookshelves, which contained three sets of travels, and twenty novels. Huntley was diverting himself with culling the choice passages scored in pencil or with thumb-nails, by milliners' apprentices, and marked by such encomiums as "Excellent! -how affecting!-how true to nature," &c. Rosina was deep in one of the Scotch novels, which she declared she must take home "to amuse mamma;" and, to gratify her filial piety, Mr. Russell dropped two volumes into one pocket and a third into the other. Thus ballasted, he drew her arm within his, observing that it was now her duty to beguile the weariness of his journey homeward. Huntley told her that she had selected the least worthy of Sir Walter's works, but added that his worst was better than most men's best, and that for his own part, he loved even his faults. Mr. Russell observed that this was letting partiality have too much influence over judgment.

"And would you always have partiality kept within the bounds of judgment?"

Yes, always. I would love what was good and blame what was bad in any book, any thing, or any person."

Then, if the good preponderates over the bad in either the thing or the person, I think you are cruelly strict; because no one is perfect."

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'But that is no reason why faults are not to be corrected." 'It is a reason why some faults should be tolerated. Give me a friend that would love me wholly, undividedly, faults and all."

"Such a person would not be a friend, because a real friend would tell you of your faults."