Even these engrossing visions, however, did not exclude the one dread thought that a certain rich man was the author of all this evil. If those unhappy lads, those boyish offenders,—had been hurried into eternity, it was his doing.If, for the value of a few hares or pheasants more or less to augment the sum-total of his gamelists, he had condemned two thoughtless boys to the demoralizing influence of a gaol, on his head was the responsibility.-If it pleased God to remove Lord Dinton, it was because, as the champion of the oppressed, he had, in their defence, gone forth as a true knight; and, in spite of his armour of righteousness, fallen a victim!

Of Denny Cross, hard as he was, he scarcely liked to think; not so much on account of the gentle woman lonely by its hearthside,—after all her life of self-devotion, sacrificed and brokenhearted at last; as because he knew that Roger Farmer, whose keen and searching perceptions he regarded as secondary only to the eye of Omniscience, was seated there in judgment upon his

petty motives: saying within himself—" John Woolston has proved, as I foresaw, a slave of Mammon-unequal to the responsibilities of his lofty position;-unworthy the still mightier blessings of domestic peace."

The intelligence brought by Mrs. Wroughton from her daughter's room, was not calculated to dissipate these appalling reflections.-Netta had addressed to her cousin only as many words as would convey that nothing but a miracle could save the suffering man.

Pray for us, dear Hilda," said the latter, “and bid the Harpsdens pray for him, for it was in their service he incurred his doom.-I am here as in quarantine; Edgar is not permitted to visit us. Luckily for him; for the anguish of those two poor sisters, of whose lives Lord Dinton has been the ruling influence, is terrible to witness.-The grief of his dear old mother is as dignified as it is touching; probably, because aware that she shall soon rejoin him in a land where the tears will be wiped from off all faces.

-They have given me the room prepared for grandpapa-as being furthest from the infected wing. But poor grandpapa will never inhabit it. -As to Aunt Bessy.-But I dare not yet think of her.—Hilda,—dear Hilda-Why did I write that fatal, fatal letter!"

And not one thought of her father! The dying man,—the family at the Castle,—the bedridden old squire, the sorrowing betrothed,the dowager, the weeping sisters, even those people at the Rectory, had mention, was utterly forgotten!

and he

Was this his dutiful Netta? Was this the child whose professions had been so fond? Alas!

-was not the fault his own? Had he not repulsed her entreaties as she all but knelt at his feet, soliciting his clemency towards the Ash Bank delinquent; or did she apply for poor Lord Dinton's assistance, till she found him utterly inexorable? Had he not hurried off into Dorsetshire chiefly to avoid a renewal of her so

VOL. II.

U

licitations?-Had he not even cruelly reproached her with indifference to his care over the interests of her brother's future estate, only because she felt herself so much superior to poor Harry, as the future heiress of Lynchcombe ?

CHAPTER XV.

THROUGHOUT that miserable evening, did Mrs. Wroughton pursue her task of knitting, as though the round world were revolving smoothly in its orbit, and all the human atoms haunting its surface pursuing their usual avocations; though, in reality, she would have given worlds to go and interrogate her daughter more closely concerning the sorrows of the Rectory, and terrors of the Castle.

But she dared not leave her brother. Though they exchanged not a word, she felt that he must wish to have some sort of companionship;