shrubbery. She sat down on a bench, and did not hear his approach till startled by the sound of her own name.

"Miss Helen !-Miss Maitland!"

She turned, then she arose, and was going to retreat to the house.

"Not yet!" said Mr. Gosport, placing himself so as to impede her progress, and extending his arms. Spare me a

moment!"

66

Helen was irresolute; she had an indefinite presentiment which urged escape, yet she was fearful of betraying any consciousness: she stood still, and then resumed her seat. Mr. Gosport sat beside her.

"The evening is so oppressive," said Helen, struggling to retain her self-possession, "that I sought the shrubbery in quest of a breeze, but I think it is cooler in the house, and so-" attempting to rise.

"And so you would leave me ?" interrupted Mr. Gosport, gently detaining her, and speaking in a tone which he meant to be expressive of tenderness; "but stay a moment!"

"I cannot stay, for Mrs. Kingley-"

“Miss Helen, you are cruel-you were cruel to me at Scarborough. Do you ever think of Scarborough, Miss Helen ?"

"Oh, yes! I often think of it; yes," continued Helen, almost involuntarily, "I think of it as the happiest period of my life."

"Indeed!" said Mr. Gosport, venturing to take her hand. Helen, perceiving his inference, hastily withdrew it, and added

"Yes, indeed. I had never before seen the sea; and there were friends there; and then, too, at the first I had liberty."

66 Would that I were one of those friends! that I had contributed to that happy period!"

"The friends to whom I alluded," said Helen, "had left Scarborough before you were known to Mrs. Kingley. After

that time there was a great change, and then, too, I lost my liberty."

"Your liberty!"

The tone startled Helen-her words had been again misinterpreted; the colour mounted to her cheek, and she answered quickly—

66

Yes, my liberty! so precious, that I value the power of willing and doing as the greatest privilege of life; and liberty was gone, for after Mrs. Kingley's accident my time was no longer my own."

Mr. Gosport, thus baffled, made a gesture of impatience; then with an attempt at tenderness, he continued—

"It was at Scarborough, too, that my liberty was taken captive, for there I had no longer the power to will, though willingly I submitted to the loss." And placing his hand on his heart, he looked very sentimental indeed.

No answer could be made to such a speech. Helen got up and walked towards the house; he followed her till she had nearly reached the end of the shrubbery. She was walking very fast.

"Oh! Miss Helen, stay one moment-stay till I—”

"I cannot indeed I cannot! I have already been absent too long, and Mrs. Kingley-"

She did not stay to finish the sentence, but bounded on before he could stop her, and was out of sight in an instant. "The devil take Mrs. Kingley! and the devil's imp take you!"

Mr. Gosport returned into the shrubbery, when, clenching his hand and gnashing his teeth, he muttered—

"Confound the scorn of that curling lip! but, by jingo, though I could hate her, if she's worth the catching, I'll catch her yet. It's plain enough that she can see further than that silly old Justice. But take care, my young madam! if I do not win you, you shall pay dearly for my loss !"

Mr. Gosport ostensibly was located at the first inn in Merton-the" White Hart;" for such letters as he had were

L

addressed to him there; and he had taken the precautionary measure to fee the waiter to receive messages; but his real residence was at an obscure road-side inn beyond the suburbs of the town. At the "White Hart" he was supposed to be an inmate of the Manor-house. Before going to his lodgings, to keep up appearances, he called for letters which he did not expect, and, to his great surprise, there was one-yes! there was one addressed to "Richard Gosport, Esq.," with a great many et ceteras thereunto attached. He took the letter, thrust it into the side-pocket of his coat, and proceeded to his lodgings.

"From Ned! what's the matter now, I wonder?" He tore it open. 'No new scrape, I hope, to draw me off before I've secured the game." He read as follows :—

"DEAR DICK,-The sharks are abroad,-I must run for it, and that cursed old woman hangs fire. I can't get a shiner -no, not so much as an answer. What's the matter, I trow ? Now, if you've been playing me false, by all the powers in hell ye shall pay dearly for your pains, that shall ye; but if ye be true (half-and-half, remember that), I'll leave ye to manage as best ye can. But money I must have-nay, I'm desperate; get it somehow. No niggling about means; and if nought else will do, use threats. Tell the old woman we know where her gold-mine lies. escape from the net-be wary, and with a desperate man.

But be wary, lest she be speedy. No trifling

"Yours jointly,

"NED NEEDALL."

Mr. Gosport read, crumpled up the letter, and dashed it on the floor.

"Curse the fellow! a rare fool was I to talk to him about my plan; and a fine scrape I'm like enough to get myself into! This may baffle everything, and drive me from the Manor-house out-and-out-just, too, when my footing is

beginning to be secure. A fine hand of cards I've got to play now!"

He stooped to pick up the letter, smoothed it, read it again, and then continued his cogitations.

"Something must be done with that infernal hag of a housekeeper, that's clear, or this fellow will blow me up. 'Desperate !'—aye, aye, desperate enough he'd be, no fear of that. But how, or when, or where, am I to speak to the woman? Let me see. Write ?-no, no, that wont do, she might blab. If I could but catch her alone! I must watch the back premises till I do, then make some pretext to meet her in the forest; to be seen talking with her might mar all-might rouse suspicion."

Then he tore up the letter, and sat some time pondering in moody silence.

"I have it!" he exclaimed; "and thanks to the blind goddess for her favours."

The quarterly sessions were being held at this time; and on the following day there was to come on a case in which the Justice was likely to take an important part: it had been arranged that Mrs. Kingley and Helen were to accompany him, and be present at the trial. Mr. Gosport had been invited to join them, and, without assigning some imperative reason, he could not venture the slight of absence on such an occasion. He would be suddenly called away on business requiring immediate attention-that would do; so he penned an elaborate apology to the Justice.

On the following day, some hours after the party had left the Manor-house, Mr. Gosport proceeded towards the forest. When he approached the house he turned off in a direction leading to the servants' offices, and at some distance he took a position from whence, unseen himself, he could see all that passed within the outer court, and all egresses from the gate. Fortune favoured him again; for he had not been there long when, arrayed in holiday attire, and followed by a large dog, out sallied the person he waited to see. There could be no

mistake-no, it was Mrs. Mitten herself. On she went, rustling in a stiff silk gown, that looked as though it had been chested for half a century.

It was not often that Mrs. Mitten had a holiday-indeed, the Justice was rather rigid in his notions on the subject; but on this day she had ventured to take one without leave, and was going in quest of a few hours' gossip with the housekeeper at Forest Hall. Mr. Gosport let her pass on till, turning into a shady dingle, she was beyond sight of the house, and then he hastened to overtake her.

It was an awkward business he was after, and he felt it to be so. He had not gone far, when the dog bounded towards him, and barked recognition.

"Poor fellow poor fellow!" said Mr. Gosport, stooping to caress him.

Mrs. Mitten turned, and, seeing Mr. Gosport, stopped, and curtsied. The curtsey was an expressive one, significant of humility and surprise; it was an inviting curtsey, too, to which Mr. Gosport courteously responded.

"Mrs. Mitten, I presume-it is Mrs. Mitten that I have the pleasure to overtake."

Mrs. Mitten curtsied again, and that was the curtsey affirmative.

"Charming morning this, Mrs. Mitten!"

Mrs. Mitten said it was a very fine morning.

"Our road is the same, I think?" said Mr. Gosport. "Perhaps I can relieve you from that basket?"

'Oh, sir, no!—no, thank you, sir, I could not let such a thing as that be;" and she held the basket very tightly.

"Have you lived long in this part of the world, Mrs. Mitten ?"

'Aye, for sure have I; come next Michaelmas I shall have lived with his worship just twenty-one years."

'Indeed! You must feel quite one of the family."

"Aye, that do I; I don't think his worship would well know how to get along if I didn't; for missis, you see, sir,