pious duties of a daughter.'-By heavens! 'tis great, 'tis noble! Shall I rob her of this triumph? I will 'go this inftant, and prepare for my departure."

CHAPTER IX.

It now becomes doubtful, if a certain Hero is any Hero at all.

HAVING thus decided betwixt love and

"

honour, our hero, firm in his gallant purpofe, marched triumphantly to the house; here, on the very threshold of the hall, he was met by the lovely object who had occafioned all his ftruggles." I have been feeking you,' fhe faid, "all over the house: I am terribly afraid there is fome bad news of my dear Lady Crowbery, for her Doctor is clofetted with my father, and I dare not interrupt them. They have been calling for you in the library, and I am fure you will put me out of fufpenfe as foon as you can learn what it is that has happened." - -"Certainly," replied Henry; " but I believe I have heard the whole: Lady Crowbery is indifpos'd, but I hope not dangeroufly

I 6

geroufly; if I hear any thing more, you fhall be informed of it."This faid, he paffed on to the library, where Zachary and the worthy Baronet were in clofe confabulation: at their defire he feated himself between them."Henry," (faid Sir Roger Manstock) "I have just now receiv'd a very unpleasant account from this gentleman, which makes it neceffary for me to pay a vifit to my niece at Crowbery castle, without delay. I am afraid there is too much cause to apprehend a speedy decline; and as my Lord is not difpos'd to avail himself of this worthy gentleman's fkill and experience, it behoves me very seriously to urge him to fome other measures for her relief, with all the expedition that her cafe demands. If this were all I had to do, I shou'd not suppose that any difference cou'd arise between my Lord and me; but I fufpect there will be fome points of a more difficult nature to difcufs, in which we cannot poffibly agree, fo long as he perfifts to avow certain jealoufies and fufpicions of his lady, my niece, which I hold to be highly injurious, and totally without foundation in this part of the bufiness, Henry, it happens that you are involv'd; and though I want no proteftations on your part to fatisfy

my

my mind in the matter, yet if Lord Crowbery either cannot, or will not, be brought to reafon upon any other terms, than your confenting to put yourself at a greater diftance than where you now are, I am free to fay, it is a requifition, however unreasonable, to which I shou'd be difpos'd to facrifice the enjoyments I derive from your fociety, rather than to leave him any pretence for the complaints, which, I understand, he makes of me, and the very harsh treatment, which, I am griev'd to hear, he practifes against my niece."

Henry now heard the very measure proposed, that he was pre-determined to adopt; his anfwer therefore was ready, and his ac

quiefcence unqualified." I shall be gone, "I Sir," he cried, "before his lordship can repeat his murmurs againft you for harbouring a guest fo obnoxious to his repose: as for the fufpicions he annexes to my stay in his neighbourhood, I will not fo degrade the evidence of truth and innocence, as to honour thofe fufpicions with a difcuffion; they are the forgeries of his own malicious imagination, fabricated with the base design of giving fome colour of excufe for that tyranny of temper, which it is natural to him to indulge in, and of which,

it

it seems (juft Heaven requite him for his cruelty!) your injured niece, and my ever honour'd benefactress, is to be the victim. For her fake I am not only ready to forego the comforts, the delights of abiding here under your protection, but to remove myself to any distance, far as fea and land can carry me, if fo requir'd, beyond the reach of his pretended jealousy. But let him have a care how he does more than brood in fecret on his fufpicions; let him confine his murmurs within the dark receffes of his own gloomy breaft; let him take heed how he circulates them beyond the walls of that castle, in which he keeps innocence immur'd; for if any word of his fhall reach my ears, by which he attaches my name to an imputation, that my nature fhrinks from with horror unutterable, the cause is then my own, and I will bring him to fo ftrict a reckoning, as fhall either filence his calumny, or stifle my refentment, for ever."

As the youthful hero of this ftory thus delivered himself, his eyes gliftened, and the fpot of anger glowed upon his cheek. Sir Roger noted his emotion, and was enraptured, not lefs by the contemplation of his countenance, than by the energy of his fentiments: fo

charmed

charmed was he with what he faw and heard, that his heart fmote him with compunction for having fignified to him a kind of warning from his house." Gracious Heaven!" he cried, turning to Zachary, and striking his hands together, (as was cuftomary with him when furprised with any fudden thought) am I to facrifice the delight of cherishing a spirit like this, in compliment to the caprice of a domestic tyrant? What store of virtues do I contemplate dawning in the bofom of this gallant youth; and fhall I lofe the pride of foftering their growth? It is too much: Henry, my noble fellow, we'll set this paltry Peer at naught; I never can confent to part from you."

Age had not deadened the fenfibility of this venerable old man; he was greatly moved, his voice fhook, and he clafped the hand of Henry in his. Zachary, who had much of the milk, or rather the butter, of human kindnefs in his compofition, melted like a thaw; and taking out his handkerchief, without any fineffe, began a tune upon his olfactory organ little lefs fonorous, and not more musical, than the cow-horn of Joe Jenkins. Our hero himfelf was fhaken, but not overthrown; his courage