"I was fortunate enough, through accident, to trace the conspiracy that had such an injurious effect upon Mr Beaton's character; and when the disclosure is made public, he will stand acquitted of all but rashness and imprudence in the eyes of honourable men. But, my Lord, I entreat you to think no more of urging him to take part in any political arrangements. Believe me, the attempt would be in vain; and it would only irritate a mind already lacerated, not so much by failure, as by unworthy and unmerited suspicion."

"You speak sensibly, Mr Sinclair, as well as feelingly," said Lord Windermere ;" and I respect and appreciate your motives. But there can be no harm in my having an interview with Mr Poins, who, being a solicitor, may not object to be consulted on a subject which is so far professional that it may give him some occupation, if an election petition should be preferred; and I shall esteem it as a great favour if you will at once ask him to come here —that is, if you find him well disposed to the adventure. This is a strange way of paying debts," continued the Earl, with a smile; "but you make a bankrupt of me against my own inclination. Yet stay-my head has been so occupied with this freak of Ashford's that I can think of nothing else. You are now, I understand, independent in your means your talents are indisputable-your political profession the same as ours. Why not enter Parliament, where you may look forward to a proud career? Say the word, and I pledge you my honour that you shall have a seat; or at all events, whether returned or not, that the election shall cost you nothing."

"I am deeply sensible of your Lordship's kindness," I replied, "and sincerely grateful for this high proof of your esteem and confidence; but I have contemplated parliamentary life from the humble yet elevated situation of the reporters' gallery; and I cannot

aver with truth that for me it has any fascination."

I then went to sound old Poins, but I presently perceived that there was no occasion for beating about the bush. He was a fierce politician of the highest caste of Conservatism, and keen as a ferret for the fray. He chuckled and rubbed his hands when he heard of Lord Ashford's intentions, and vowed that he would leave no stone unturned to insure his success.

"You were quite right, though," he said, "in discouraging the idea of making a direct application to Beaton. Nothing on earth, I am convinced, would induce him to meddle with the business, for he considers himself politically dead. Indeed he would have resigned his seat ere now, had I not persuaded him to delay taking that step, as it might have tended to aggravate the current rumours. It is fortunate that I did so, for Lord Ashford will have a better chance than any other candidate. So I shall instantly wait upon the Earl."

You will, however, I presume, consider it due to Mr Beaton to give him notice of what is going on, if Lord Ashford should resolve to stand?"

Certainly certainly! Leave that to me. I shall manage so as not to give him the slightest cause for umbrage. And that reminds me to tell you-what I ought to have done before, but politics, when they once take hold of the mind, make us forget everything elsethat Beaton is now ready to receive you. He did not say so expressly, but I could see from his manner that such was his wish. Therefore, go to him presently; and, harkye-as he is not a person with whom you are ever likely to become intimate, I advise you, if you have anything particular to say to him, not to lose this opportunity. I think he has a kind of impression that you are not quite so disinterested a person as you would have us believe. You comprehend me?"

"Pray, Mr Poins, are you a wiz ard as well as a lawyer?"

"A little of both, perhaps. But, my good boy, it requires neither spell nor incantation to discover your thoughts. Go, therefore; but

remember you have to deal with a man who makes no allowance for sentiment, and is not to be won by fine speeches-so shape your course accordingly."

There are certain visits which it is little short of torture to make. No one steps cheerfully into a dentist's parlour, or into the office of a money-lender if his business is to negotiate the renewal of a bill. An irritable old uncle who knows that he can pester and bully you with impunity, because you are in some measure dependent on his will, or a cankered aunt, who thinks that for the expectancy of her hoarded sixpences you are bound to do her bidding with the meek submission of a slave, are not persons into whose presence you pass with feelings of unmingled joy. But of all visits, the most uncomfortable is that which you are compelled to pay to paterfamilias, when you have fairly made up your mind to propose.

I am given to understand, and consider it quite natural to the situation, that young gentlemen so circumstanced should prepare beforehand a neat little address, to be delivered with becoming modesty and seeming hesitation. It must not be too flowery, for parental instinct speedily reverts to the grand point of settlements; yet it must not be assimilated to the language which is used in cases of sale and barter, or other kinds of mundane trafficking. It is indeed a difficult style of speech to arrange; but fortunately the majority of mankind are not called upon frequently to practise that sort of composition.

How was I to open the subject to Mr Beaton? That, of course, was my engrossing thought as I walked towards his house; and the more I pondered, the more confused did my ideas become. Nor do I wonder at this, even now, when I look back

VOL. XC.-NO. DXLIX.

through the vista of years to past events with that calmness which time engenders; for I stood in a somewhat strange and peculiar relation to the man. I knew that he did not like me personally, for I had once grievously offended him, and he was not of a forgiving nature. I had reason, however, to think that my recent services had, to some extent, softened his prejudices, and removed false impressions; still, I was sure that he could not like me, and, to confess the truth, I did not entertain for him sentiments of cordial affection. Our instinct is often stronger than our reason. There are men whom we may admire and respect, but whom we never can love; and, on the contrary, we sometimes feel ourselves irresistibly attracted towards people whose reputation does not stand high in the general estimation of their fellows. Let who will try to explain this phenomenon through the scienceif it be one-of metaphysics. my own part, I accept unhesitatingly the solution of Sir Kenelm Digby, and take refuge in the doctrine of innate sympathy and antipathy.

For

The result of my cogitations was absolutely nil-in fact, I might as well have been thinking about the last opera, or any other popular topic of the day; for when I reached Mr Beaton's door, I had no more idea of what I ought to say, than if I had been called upon suddenly to preach a sermon in Ashantee. "Never mind!" thought I, “I shall get through it somehow or other

but, upon my soul, I believe I could walk with more equanimity into the lion's cage in a menagerie!"

My lion, however, was wonder

Ꭰ

fully calm and placable. He received me graciously, asked many questions as to the details of the affair at Tadcaster, but was parsimonious in his acknowledgments. Evidently he was gratified with the results, but he spoke of what I had done as if it had been the simple fulfilment of a duty. I could not help recalling his words-"look not for gratitude from me!"

So long as he was disposed to lead the conversation, I allowed him to do so; but presently, without appearing to be the least fatigued, he ceased to speak, and regarded me steadfastly, as if he expected I should explain my motive for paying him a visit. I took the hint, which, indeed, I could not evade, and began.

"Mr Beaton, you once asked me why I felt an interest in your fortunes, may I make an explanation now?"

"If you please. But allow me to correct you. Your interest was in my misfortunes."

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True, sir. But under other circumstances you would hardly have admitted that claim."

"On the contrary, Mr Sinclair, I did ask from you, upon one occasion when I really thought I had a right to do so, a favour which you peremptorily declined."

"Do you still blame me for that refusal, Mr Beaton?"

I had lodged a home-thrust. His eye became unsettled, and he moved uneasily in his chair.

"No!" said he, with a sort of - effort. "No-I cannot blame you for it! It irritated me at the time -for, to be plain with you, I thought you were an arrogant upstart, and I had firm belief then in the immensity of my own resources. I have that belief still, and I would have prospered had not villany pulled me down, and if the idiotic mass, whom we call the public, had been sane enough to resist a panic. But, for your own interest, you acted right-perfectly right; and I rejoice that you took that course."

"Then, Mr Beaton, I stand acquitted from the charge of misconduct?"

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'Certainly; and it is my wish that our past differences should be forgotten.

"And so is it mine," I continued. "Mr Beaton, my explanation may be comprised in a very few words. I am a suitor for the hand of your daughter."

"I respect your plainness, sir," replied Beaton. "You come to the point at once, and like a man. Mary, I presume, knows of this?"

"I have at least reason to hope that my attentions are not disagreeable to Miss Beaton."

"Hum!-a delicate way, I suppose, of intimating that you have her full consent! And pray, sir— if you admit my right to pry into these matters-how did your acquaintance originate?"

"We met at Wilbury Hall, sirat Colonel Stanhope's."

"Ay-the Stanhopes-Mary was much with them. Well, no great harm in that-and since in London, I suppose? Pray, were you acquainted with my very polite and elegant sister, Mrs Walton?"

"No, sir; I have not that honour." "So much the better. It would be difficult to make me approve of anything which that woman had sanctioned. Are you aware that Mary has no fortune of her ownno expectations? What was mine, is scattered to the four winds of heaven."

"It is the knowledge of that which emboldens me to make this declaration."

"What! You would not have had courage enough to aspire to the hand of the heiress? Well, you show some courage, or at least candour, in admitting so much; and I may as well say frankly that you should not have had my consent. Could you have expected it? Why, sir, in that case I must have set you down as a needy fortune-hunter, far less entitled to consideration than some, even of the same class, who

were then hovering round my daughter."

"Then, Mr Beaton, you would have greatly wronged me."

"So I believe, else I would not be conversing with you so calmly at the present hour. But I have not the faculty of looking into men's hearts, and such is the conclusion at which, most assuredly, I would have arrived."

"You would have considered me unworthy of her?"

"Yes I should have done so then, but I am now convinced of your worth. That makes a very great difference; and as fortune is on your side rather than hers— why, if Mary consents to marry you, I shall place no obstacle in the way."

"A thousand thanks, Mr Beaton! Rely upon it, the study of my life shall be to make your daughter happy."

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Sir, I do you the justice to believe that you speak quite sincerely. You are, so far as I have observed, not over-ambitious, therefore you are the more likely to cultivate the domestic qualities. You have shrewdness enough to keep your fortune, such as it is, without squandering it; and Poins speaks highly of your character. Take her therefore; for, in truth, I have no right to forbid the banns. Take her, and God be with you both!"

So saying, he extended to me his hand-coldly, indeed, but not unkindly-and such was the result of my wooing.

The reader will suppose that I lost no time in hurrying to the Stanhopes to convey to Mary the intelligence that her father had given his consent. Let him also imagine the interview that ensued; for I swear by all that lovers hold most dear, nothing shall tempt me to deviate from my purpose of maintaining a rigid silence as regards such tender passages. Indeed, I have excellent reasons for doing so; for, though Mary is the best-tempered woman in the world,still-but I had better proceed. I had thought that Colonel Stanhope's house might offer a safe refuge to a man who desired to get out of the vortex of political excitement; but in this I was grossly mistaken. Mary warned me that I must prepare myself for a surprise; and, on re-entering the drawingroom, I found Amy making up rosettes of ribbon as busily as any milliner's girl who has to work for her daily bread. Carlton, too, was pacing the room in a way which, with the example of Mrs Malaprop before my eyes, I can only describe as incoherent.

"Pray, Miss Stanhope," said I,

"for what purpose are you constructing those elegant little badges? I observe they are not white, else I might have formed some conjecture as to their use."

"Pshaw-as if old engaged people such as George and I thought about such trifles! You, however, may be permitted, for a few days at least, to dream dreams, and to see visions. Yet I am not sure that we can allow you even so much time, for great things are in preparation. Know, Mr Sinclair, that, like Flora MacIvor, I am making up favours for a grand public ceremony, in which George is to take a part."

"Out, equivocating girl!" cried Carlton. "Why perplexest thou the man? Have you lost the use of your eyes, Sinclair, that you do not recognise these for election cockades? Ay, and we shall wear them bravely even on the front of the hustings!"

"And for whom are they to be worn?"

"Why, for me, to be sure! I have made up my mind to come forward and contest our division of the county."

"What! In room of Lord Ashford ?"

"No. It is true that Ashford, who is a fine indomitable fellow, will not come forward again. If he did, he would walk over the course to a certainty; but he has set his heart on wrenching a borough from the grasp of a gigantic cotton-spinner. You know that, by tacit compact, we have hitherto shared the representation of our division of the county with the Whigs. That is now at an end; and I go forward expressly to oppose Sir Godfrey Norton, who is presently Ashford's colleague."

"Will the other party put forward a second man?"

"Yes. They intend to start a pseudo-Conservative; but him we are determined to smite, and a firstrate man is ready to offer him battle."

"Indeed! Things are more advanced here than I could have believed; but I am delighted to find you animated by such a spirit. And who may be your fellow-champion?" "A very good friend of yours, Sinclair ; but I do not think you would ever light on his name, if I were to put you to the trouble of guessing. Lumley is the man!"

"Lumley! You do indeed amaze

me! Why, it was part of his philosophy never to meddle with elections; and I have heard him maintain an argument that Pythagoras meant to inculcate that doctrine when he warned his disciples against beans."

"You must have interpreted his words too strictly, Sinclair. Pythagoras merely objected to vote by ballot, and Lumley is in that respect Pythagorean. But I wonder not that you are surprised. I declare I was almost thunderstruck when Lumley announced to me his intention."

"Do you mean to say that he comes forward of his own accord, and without urging?"

"Even so. The way of it was this: Ashford made up his mind

two days ago to stand for the borough, and came here to notify that to Colonel Stanhope, in order that no time might be lost in providing a substitute. The scheme appeared to the colonel and also to me rather a wild one; but Ashford was bent upon it, so we had to determine at once what was to be done. You have often heard me, Sinclair, bemoaning my idleness; and now it flashed across me that here was an opportunity, such as never might again occur, of making myself practically useful. Moreover, I could not reconcile myself to the thought of remaining inactive in a crisis like this, when all our young men were up in arms; and I suppose that something in my manner struck Ashford, for, after conversing for a minute about a candidate, he laid his hand upon my shoulder and said, 'Why look beyond this very room? Here stands the man we want.' The colonel was of course joyed, and I-put no objections in the way."

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over

"Nothing," said I, "could have happened more opportunely. You are but fulfilling you destiny, and I am glad to see that Miss Stanhope does not quarrel with your choice." On the contrary," said Amy, "Miss Stanhope is but too well pleased to see her George take his proper place in the ranks of those gallant men who are resolute to preserve the constitution."

"Bravo!" cried I, " spoke like another Boadicea! You are dangerous company, ladies! If this goes on, I shall be esteemed a faineant if I do not take part in the contest too."

"Don't you think," said Mary, that you might go down to Scotland, and— ?"

"O, for heaven's sake, spare me a while! I am devoted to Scotland as my mother country; but just at this moment she is in one of her sullen hypochondriacal fits, and will not listen to reason. Bless her, she is always in extremes! One while she is frantically loyal — another