Melmoth; "my father merely coming down to Harbury on account of his health, and not visiting any of the inhabitants, could not, of course, excite the least interest among them; and as I was, unfortunately, not on terms with him, my name, and that of my family, must have been perfectly unknown here.”

"Little do you surmise," thought I, "how much interest you and your family have excited since the disposition of your father's wealth was made known to us."

"James, my younger son," pursued Mrs. Melmoth, "is very different from his brother. He is extremely fond of amusement and gaiety; he has just been taking a tour of the principal watering-places, with some friends. He had better have come to Harbury; watering-places are not at all desirable in the summer. People are apt to walk on the public promenades till the dews fall, and then to shut themselves up in close, heated libraries and concert-rooms."

Lady Piercefield was in general completely indifferent to the habits and pursuits of younger brothers; but, considering that the expected James Melmoth would soon be the brother-in-law

of Henrietta, she thought it incumbent on her to testify a little interest in his proceedings.

"Is Mr. James Melmoth musical?" she asked. "Not at all," replied his mother; "he is fond of telling people, as a boast, that he cannot distinguish Ah, Perdona' from 'Rule Britannia.'

Perhaps he considers reading a more profitable occupation," I observed.

"No, indeed," answered Mrs. Melmoth; "he tells me that he only knows one book worth reading The Adventures of a Gentleman in search of a Horse;' in fact, James has a perfect passion for horsemanship.

"Rather a dangerous taste for a younger brother," remarked Lady Piercefield, with a smile.

"A dangerous taste for any one, I think," said Mrs. Melmoth. "Who can tell, when mounted on a fine spirited horse, that he may not be thrown from it the next moment?"

"Who, indeed?" responded Lady Piercefield, with an absent air, evidently thinking it a matter of very little consequence whether a younger brother were thrown from his horse or not.

"Then," pursued Mrs. Melmoth, "he has made acquaintance with a dashing young man who is in the habit of betting at races, and has already induced him to do the same. His brother wrote and remonstrated with him; but he never replied to his letter."

Lady Piercefield suddenly became interested in the conversation; she could not endure the idea that a penniless younger brother should be visiting watering-places, attending races, and making bets, and at the same time daring to spurn the counsels of the elder brother, through whose generosity he was enjoying these expensive

pleasures.

"My dear Mrs. Melmoth," she exclaimed, "why does your excellent and intelligent son permit his younger brother to continue in such

a course of folly? Why does he not refuse him any further supply of money?"

Mrs. Melmoth looked at her in some astonishment. "It is out of the power of any one to do it," she said. "James is six and twenty, and, of course, his property is at his own disposal."

Lady Piercefield's countenance changed: the vision of a co-heir evidently arose before her; and a slight convulsive twitch disturbed the marble composure of the features of the Sleeping Beauty on the sofa.

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Has your younger son, then," she asked, an equal share with his brother in the wealth of your father?"

Mrs. Melmoth looked rather surprised that Lady Piercefield, who had hitherto never hinted at the wealth of her father, should seem so per fectly enlightened respecting it.

"James inherited the whole of my father's property," she replied, "with the exception of a moderate annuity to myself; his brother was not even distinguished by the legacy of a ring."

Lady Pierce field. "How have we all been mistaken!" ejaculated

Henrietta did not lift her head from her silken

pillow; but her eyes opened for a moment, and as quickly shut again; just as those of a wax doll do in obedience to the impulse of the wonder. working wires.

"I am not surprised at your mistake," said Mrs. Melmoth, placidly; "in the fashionable circles, which you frequent, the claims of an elder son, who can perpetuate a name and title, are, of course, all-engrossing. But my father, whose birth was obscure, had no feelings of that kind; he had accidentally seen my two sons some years ago, and had then remarked to a friend that he perceived in James-who was his namesake-a striking likeness to himself in his younger days, and that my elder son closely resembled my husband; it is not, therefore, very remarkable that James, although scarcely seen, should obtain the preference to his brother."

Really," exclaimed Lady Piercefield, "this is such an extraordinary discovery that I almost think myself in a dream. Is it not surprising, Mabel?"

"Not at all, in my opinion," I replied, calmly. "Mr. Melmoth never intimated, by word or hint, that he was the possessor of wealth; and as we were merely the acquaintance of a few weeks, he might not wish to introduce the affairs of his brother into his conversation with us: in fact, I quite approve of his silence. There cannot be worse taste than to enumerate the pounds, shil lings, and pence possessed by our relations."

My aunt made no reply, and Henrietta moved her head on the sofa-cushion, and uttered a few inarticulate murmured words.

"How uneasily Miss Grantley sleeps,” said Mrs. Melmoth, in a commiserating tone; "surely such broken repose cannot be health

ful."

"We are all to blame," said my aunt; "we have been talking round her, quite regardless of the hazard of awaking her; and Mr. Turner

particularly desired this morning that she might be kept perfectly quiet."

"Ah!" sighed Mrs. Melmoth, with a consciencestricken glance at her own feet, "I do not know what Mr. Turner would say if he were to see my thin kid shoes, and know that I had to walk down a lane before I could get home. How flushed Miss Grantley looks! I would send again for Mr. Turner to-night; I would indeed, Lady Piercefield; her colour seems to be deepening even while I look at her."

My aunt gave the required promise: Mrs. Melmoth took her leave, and the Sleeping Beauty immediately started up, as though her torpor was dispelled by the sword of enchantment. Her first speech was somewhat in the style of the bard's well-known exclamation—

"And have I burned my harp for thee?" but worldliness prompted it rather than sensibility; she said "And have I refused Captain Maitland, with a property of fifteen hundred a-year, to engage myself to the penniless son of a merchant's clerk?"

"Compose yourself, my dear girl," said my aunt, "you have no cause for self-reproach; in fact, no one is to blame except that subtle, reserved mother and son, who have been winning our courtesies and attentions under false pretences."

"Not under false pretences, surely," said I; "they never reported themselves to be rich, and we never told them that we surmised them to be so."

"They are sure of meeting a defender in you, Mabel," said the thoroughly-awakened beauty, the forget-me-nots in her cap vibrating with angry agitation; "but I trust my aunt will never take any more notice of them."

My dear Henrietta," said Lady Piercefield, "how you suffer passion to overcome reason! We have been deceived, but there is no essential harm done. Mr. Rumsey's real heir is coming to-morrow; and he appears, by his mother's account, to be so very silly and inexperienced a young man, that doubtless he will be much easier to gain than if he were fenced round with the barriers either of strong sense or worldly wisdom. You have your work to do over again, I allow; but have you not heard of authors losing their manuscripts, and artists spoiling their pictures? What has been the effect of such accidents on a noble spirit? They have immediately applied themselves to the same undertaking again, resolved, if possible, to attain to still greater perfection. Do not doubt, my dear girl, that you will still possess the establishment which you so prudently desire to gain."

"But my dear aunt," I interrupted in astonishment, "have you not told Melmoth, a few hours ago, that Henrietta was 'pining in thought' on his account; and are you not to write to him this evening?"

"Undoubtedly I am," replied Lady Piercefield, with the triumphant smile of an experienced manœuvrer, "and the contents of my note will soon reconcile all these little misunderstandings."

My aunt turned to her writing-table, and in a very short time placed in my hand the following exquisite production-which she requested me to read aloud:

"MY DEAR SIR,-How shall I find words to apologize for the mistake into which I have led you— how confess that I have evinced the greatest folly and want of penetration? Perhaps my best excuse may be in the simple and plain fact, that you, of all men living, are the one I should most have wished to be the choice of my favourite niece; and that my admiration of your talent, character, and principles is such, that I could not conceive it possible that Henrietta, after a month's intimacy with you, should be heart-free. Is it then surprising that I should of her mind? May I not be pitied rather than have imputed her recent indisposition to the anxiety blamed for the officiousness which induced me to acquaint you with my natural, but, as the event has proved, mistaken surmises? I spoke to my beloved Henrietta on the subject, without of course suffering her to suppose that I had hinted my impressions of the matter to you, and she instantly, with the most open ingenuousness, assured me that although she admired and regarded you, and indeed felt for you as for a brother, her sentiments were simply those of friendship, and that her heart was yet her own to uneasiness of mind: it is very slight, and is already give. Her present indisposition is not owing to any yielding to the judicious skill of our good Mr. Turner. Will you present our kindest thanks to your dear mother for the friendly visit which she paid us this evening? I am fearful she must have thought my manner rather abrupt and embarrassed; but to own the truth, the necessity of writing my present letter hung like a cloud upon my spirits, and, I fear, made me anything but a cheerful companion. My only hope of your forgiveness rests in the possibility (from your manner this evening I should say the probability) tain for her nothing beyond fraternal friendship. that you reciprocate Henrietta's feelings, and enter"Believe me, my dear Sir, ever sincerely yours, "AUGUSTA PIERCEFIELD."

Henrietta warmly applauded her aunt's composition. I was silent.

And what do you say to it, Mabel?" asked Lady Piercefield, half ironically.

"I say," replied I, with a smile, "as the little children say when a fairy-tale is read to them, Is it all true?" "

"It is true," returned my aunt, "in the leading point; Henrietta certainly feels nothing but friendship for Melmoth, and I am glad she has kept so prudent a guard over her heart, for I am persuaded that James Melmoth will suit her much better."

"Considering that Henrietta is avowedly your favourite niece," I thought, "you are pronouncing rather a severe sarcasm on her;" but I did not make my thoughts vocal. I cordially agreed with my aunt that everything would probably turn out for the best, and retired to my own room; feeling most happy in the reflection, that if I were to accompany Henrietta to the altar in the bridesmaid's wreath of white roses, James Melmoth was likely to supersede his brother in the character of the bridegroom.

The next morning Lady Piercefield asked Henrietta and myself to walk with her to the

cottage of Mrs. Melmoth. That lady received us with her accustomed placidity, quite unconscious of the sensation which she had excited at our house the preceding evening, by avowing herself the mother of a younger son. Melmoth was not so unsuspicious and meek-spirited, he contrived to make us all feel rather uncomfortable; to Lady Piercefield he was ostentatiously deferential, to Henrietta sarcastically, gallant, and to me coldly distant. It was evident that he considered us a party of plotters.

James Melmoth arrived that evening, attended by servants and grooms, and all Harbury shared in our surprise at the unlooked-for appearance of "the real Simon Pure." The mistake, however, affected no one so closely as ourselves, for Mrs. Melmoth and all connected with her were considered, by the humble-minded damsels of the village, as our peculiar property, and undisputed right. Lady Piercefield had many rivals in London, but at Harbury she stood alone; and like a solitary poet in a country hamlet, the crown of laurel was unanimously voted to her, which opposing claimants would have contended for in a larger field of action, till a few leaves were only left to each of the disputants. James Melmoth did not at all exemplify the saying that "the younger brother is the finer gentleman;" he was mean in personal appearance, forward in manner, and below mediocrity in intellectual attainments. His discourse during his first visit to us was principally occupied by the merits of his horse, who seemed, from his description, to be one of those "faultless monsters" which the world rarely sees, either among quadrupeds or bipeds, and respecting whose safety he appeared nervously anxious; repeatedly starting from his seat and going to the window, to recreate his eyes with the sight of his "gallant grey," slowly pacing up and down under the careful superintendence of his groom. A short pause ensuing, Henrietta asked him, with her sweetest smile and softest modulation of tone, whether he thought he should like Harbury. He replied he was sure he should not like it at all; that he considered it quite a place of banishment from the civilized world, only fit for fanciful old women, and tame-spirited young men (indicating his mother and brother by a slight nod of the head to each); that he had not seen a creature whom he liked since his arrival; and that if matters did not very soon improve, he should certainly go back to Brighton.

Oh! how would my aunt have annihilated by her frowns, any other presuming younger brother who had dared to make such a speech; but she merely smiled, and said " You speak your mind very sincerely;" and audibly whispered to Mrs. Melmoth, that she doated on a natural character.

If my aunt were really sincere in that declaration, she afforded a strong proof of the truth of the saying, that "we always prefer those characters which are the reverse of our own." James Melmoth appeared somewhat softened by this speech, and by Henrietta's gently murmured hope that he would not condemn Harbury and

its inhabitants without allowing them a few days' trial.

"I am sure," said the elder brother, somewhat contemptuously, "that James cannot be insensible to the united eloquence of the voice and the eyes."

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Especially when the eyes are black ones," remarked James, evidently assuming great credit to himself for having made a particularly elegant and complimentary speech; but it was, very unfortunately, addressed in the wrong direction. Henrietta's eyes were blue as the summer sky; while mine were truly Spanish, both in shape and hue.

Lady Piercefield determined that I should not keep the vantage-ground which I seemed to occupy in the young heir's fancy, who sat fixing his eyes on me in a very embarrassing manner. "We find our residence at Harbury very pleasant on many accounts," she said; "the friends whose house we occupy have an admirable library, which is a great resource to my dear niece, Mabel. I do not know any one to whom books are so completely a necessary of life as to Mabel." "Is not study injurious to the health?" asked Mrs. Melmoth.

"Does not poring over old musty folios hurt the eyes?" said her younger son, in the same breath.

"But think of the information with which books enrich the mind," said my aunt. "Mabel could set you right on any disputed point in history; she is an excellent linguist, an admirable geographer, sits up at nights to study the stars, has a pretty notion of political economy, and an elegant turn for original composition."

"Have a little mercy upon me, my dear aunt," I exclaimed; "I shall certainly be rendered so vain that I shall hold myself qualified to answer the next governess advertisement in the Times."

"No need of so much learning, I think," observed James Melmoth, looking at me with an expression of newly-excited awe mingled with lingering admiration. Pray, Miss Langford, have you ever read "The Adventures of a Gentleman in search of a Horse?"

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Never," I replied; "it would not be an interesting subject to me; I am not fond of riding."

Lady Piercefield gave me a side-glance of approbation. "Mabel has indeed no taste for horses," she said, "although our friends have left several fine ones at our disposal. Henrietta is an accomplished horsewoman-quite an Hippolita.

"What name did your ladyship say?" asked the young heir, to whom the fair Amazon in question was evidently an unknown personage.

"Henrietta is considered," continued my aunt, evading an answer to his question, "to sit a horse gracefully, and to look remarkably well in a riding habit. She is only too daring and courageous; I wish she had a careful companion to restrain her. She thinks of danger as little when galloping over the green-sward, as Mabel does when trying chemical experiments."

James Melmoth looked from me to Henrietta;

paltry envy of his brother's superiority to himself in person and accomplishments; the idea, therefore, of succeeding where he had failed was evidently very agreeable to him; nor could he, for a moment, imagine that his wealth had any effect on Henrietta's favourable reception of his assiduities, for my aunt related to him innumerable instances of admirers, not only wealthy, but titled, who had

"Knelt for a look, and duelled for a smile"

of her beautiful niece. I have before said that the unsophisticated inhabitants of Harbury believed Lady Piercefield to occupy a distinguished place in the circles of fashion, and she accepted the honours thus assigned to her as if they were thoroughly her due. The sayings and doings of the Court were household words in her mouth; she would accurately describe the dress, establishment, carriage, jewels, temper, disposition, manners, and morals of each separate patroness of Almack's; and she told, in minute detail, how the young Earl of A. addressed sonnets and sang serenades to Henrietta, and how the stylish Marquis of B. persecuted her with mysterious greenhouse bouquets and hothouse fruits (Henrietta had never in her life numbered even a baronet among her flirts); till James Melmoth evidently believed that his marriage with Henrietta would strike envy and horror, not only to the heart of his humble brother, but to that of half the peerage.

I gazed on these events in perfect calmness, considering that each party might do worse. Henrietta, I was convinced, was unlikely to feel affection for her husband, since all she had of heart was in the possession of Captain Maitland. She was so entirely under the dominion of my aunt that I should never have been surprised to have seen her sacrificed to age, profligacy, or ill-nature; and as James Melmoth was suitable to herself in years, and had an easy temper, if not a good one, and a boundless admiration of the polish, elegance, and fashion of herself and her aunt, I doubted not that in an alliance with him, she would find some share of happiness at least of such happiness as results from worldly pleasures and worldly prosperity. Neither did I think that James Melmoth would have any reason to complain; vain, inexperienced, and silly as he was, nothing would have been more likely than that he should have been the prey of a woman of doubtful respectability or involved circumstances. Henrietta was respectable in birth and education, pretty in person, and had not intellect or judgment to descry the deficiencies of her lover in these qualities. When, therefore, told by Lady Piercefield that James Melmoth had proposed and been accepted, I received the communication in such a way as to give more satisfaction than I had done on a previous occasion, embraced Henrietta with a very good grace, wished her every happiness, and praised James Melmoth as much as my conscience allowed me to do. Mrs. Melmoth gave her entire approbation to the proposed union; she was fearful that James might be

come wild and extravagant, and was one of those kind-hearted, charitable creatures, who deem it impossible that wildness and extravagance should fail to be cured by matrimony, In fact, only two people were displeased by the account of the engagement; one was Bradshaw, the racing, betting friend and monitor of James Melmoth; he had suffered him to escape from his toils for a few weeks, being busily engaged in victimizing a young heir at Cheltenham, whom he felt confident would become the property of half-a-dozen other sharpers if he left the field open to them for half a day. James Melmoth he concluded to be safely deposited under the maternal wing in the shades of Harbury, and the paragraph put into the Morning Post by Lady Piercefield," Approaching Marriage in High Life," stating that James Melmoth would shortly lead to the hymeneal altar the beautiful and accomplished Miss Grantley, drew from him a letter of ironical congratulation and real condolence to the bridegroom elect, in which he represented matrimony as the most depres sing, spiritless, and wearying of states; a per petual tread-mill; a long lane without a turning; an apprenticeship with never-ceasing indentures; an imprisonment for life, having the banishment of transportation without its variety, and the dulness of solitary confinement without its tranquillity. He ended by relating a story of a gentleman who passed some hours one day in the room of the Automaton Chess-player, watching the progress of the game with intense interest A doubt arose respecting a move; he was appled to for his opinion, and acknowledged his rance of the game. "What could possibly induce you then," said the proprietor of the exhi bition, "to stay here so many hours?"

"I have a wife at home,” replied the unfortunate lounger, with a sigh.

This letter did not make the impression on James Melmoth which might be expected; he apprehended no dulness in the vortex of dukes and duchesses, operas and concerts, into which he expected to be precipitated in right of his wife's privileges. Besides, he had really some attachment, or, more properly speaking, some liking or fancy for Henrietta; and if his flame wanted fanning, the letter that he received on the occasion from his brother, would effectually have done it. Melmoth expressed his unfeigned sorrow that he should have engaged himself to the niece of a specious, plotting woman like Lady Piercefield; he gave a short graphic sketch of my poor aunt's character, depicted with all the shrewdness of a satirist, and all the severity of a moralist, and concluded by a gratuitous affront to my innocent self, in the remark that neither of the young people under Lady Piercefield's roof appeared to have escaped the demoralizing effect of her bad example.

This letter gave a colouring to Lady Piercefield's report of Henrietta's rejection of Melmoth. "He is evidently jealous on two accounts," said James Melmoth; he is angry that Henrietta should like me better than himself, and he is vexed to think that I should