bosom," by saying, "That sum shall be for your wife and children when you are no more; yet said not those words?-Yet took the money !",

"None, certainly, none!"

"Do you remember one in the Scripture, who exclaimed, when the prophet told him of the deeds of violence of which he should be guilty in future times-'Am I a dog that I should do such things?' We do not think we should ever become such men as those whom we serve; but we do not know."

The young men now fell into so serious a dissertation on the heart-hardening effect of riches, that it may be omitted-it would not be read-every man knows all that can be said on that subject, and no wealthy one cares about it.

CHAPTER VII.

"That heart, she said, is lightly prized,
Which is too lightly won;

And long shall rue that easy maid,
Who yields her love too soon."

BISHOP PERCY.

IT is the second autumn since Hardy's departure, and, with my village friends, matters are not exactly in the state in which they were. Mr. and Miss Aveley still inhabit the chesnut-shaded cottage. The father has lost much in health; but the daughter, now nineteen, from greater cultivation of mind and development of character, has gained much in beauty. At this moment they have just looked out of their parlour window; the clearness and chillness of the

air, the sharp gusts which toss the clouds hither and thither, the bright tints of the changed foliage, recal to them that day on which Hardy departed. Speaking of that, they are led on to talk of the changes which have taken place in the neighbourhood.

The old Earl of Woreham is dead; the young earl and his sisters are now at the castle, and the talk of the villagers is that the two young ladies will soon have to turn out and shift for themselves on their small fortunes, as their brother is going to be married-of course the new countess will not choose to have them residing with her. The villagers, and everyone else, are so kind as to pity them very much. In consequence, the Lady Anne and the Lady Charlotte Nidley, who have never shewn much sympathy with the poor, receive a great deal of it from them. It is suspected that they are going to be made to feel that they are poor themselves. This, in fact, they are; their father, having directed all his attention to

the leaving his estate in good condition, cared little how he left his children, with the exception of one, his heir.

Then there is Downes House, as well as Woreham Castle, of the inhabitants of which the villagers will talk. "Hang 'em, they'll sit by the fire and presume to say what's done i' the capitol!" exclaimed the indignant Roman aristocrat of the plebeian gossips of his day; and Sir Walcot Downes might as justly as Coriolanus have been enraged at the observations made, with much shaking of the head, on him and his ways.

He had fallen heir to his brother's property about the time Benjamin Hardy fell heir to his brother's sea-chest and wages. As my friend set to work with a truly commendable spirit to accomplish the task which he laid out for himself, so did the baronet. In two years Hardy had not completed his task-far from it but Sir Walcot had been so fortunate as to complete his. He had ruined himself! It should, however, be

mentioned as deducting a little from the admiration awakened on beholding a great work effected in a shorter time than is usually given to it, that he had made some progress towards a necessitous condition before he inherited the Downes estate. He had been in the army, had reached the rank of captain, and was thought to be as much in debt as it became a gentleman to be.

Harriet Aveley did not relate to her father all the reports which were afloat about the inmates of Woreham Castle and Downes House; but she could not resist the inclination to amuse him with the baronet's latest escapades. It did not seem probable that the fate of Acteon was destined for him, as he had not been hunted down; yet, that he had been hunted was quite certain. He had escaped only a short time before from the sheriff's officers on his best horse; they followed him as obstinately as ever he followed the hounds, and offering the wondering rustics the amusement of a new kind of