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at about the period when the captain's visits began to extend beyond the hour of nine, his lady, through my uncle's bounty, had been enabled to purchase his discharge from the regiment.

And here was 1, with the education and the habits of a gentleman, and led to expect wherewithal to support my position, left, not only without the means to do so, but without even sufficient to enable me to enter any profession, whereby I might have remedied my ill fortune. Was I not justified, then, in exclaiming at the outset of this narrative

But I will reserve the conclusion of my own story for some other occasion, leaving my uncle to figure as the hero upon the present. And should his history, in no one point exaggerated, serve as a warning to one single single old gentleman in the Temple, or in Lincoln's-inn, or Clifford's-inn, or Clement's-inn, or Albany, or even in the snug retreat of an Alpha Cottage, I shall not consider my time as ill-spent in the relating of it.

P.*

COME AT THE HOUR!

(A Lyric.)

BY MRS. C. BARON-WILSON.

COME at the hour when Nature, closing
O'er wearied crowds her wing of rest,
Bids man, from worldly cares reposing
In the calm lap of Peace, be blest !
When the bat sails the air in sadness,—
When the bee's hum of lightsome glee,
And the bird's song of grateful gladness
Is hush'd ;-then, dearest! come to me!

Come, at the hour when spirits hover
In shadowy forms Earth's paths around;
When stealthy step of wand'ring lover
Seeks her, whose spells his heart have bound!
Then, when her mantle Silence flingeth,

And twilight's mists veil land and sea,
And rest to man and Nature bringeth,
That hour!-oh! dearest! come to me!

THE WIDOW MARRIED.*

BY MRS. TROLLOPE.

A TETE-A-TETE, AND AN
LANTRY ON THE PART

CHAP. XXII.

INTERRUPTION-GREAT WANT OF GAL

OF JACK-ENFORCED CONFIDENCE, SUCCEEDED BY VERY FAMILIAR COMPANIONSHIP-A HAPPY LITTLE PARTY.

MEANWHILE the two friends at last reached their destination at Brompton; but not before the veal cutlets and mashed potatoes were very nearly reduced to cinders, and poor Miss Louisa as nearly out of temper as her constitutional tranquillity would permit.

The evening of course passed in alternate mutterings between Miss Matilda and Patty, which in style might not inaptly have been compared to those classic eclogues, in which a gentle contest is briskly kept up on rival themes; for "dear, beautiful Jack Steady," on the one side; and "poor, dear Foxcroft," on the other, invariably formed the subject of each eloquent speaker's volubility. Good Miss Louisa was very little in their way, not seeming in the slightest degree conscious of what they were saying, and to all appearance as completely devoted to the intricate mysteries of some newly-invented knitting, as her companions could be in endeavouring to trace the still subtiler twistings of the human heart.

The following morning looked so brightly inviting, that even the quiet, thimble-loving Miss Louisa, proposed a walk; adding, moreover, with more than usual vivacity, "Suppose, my dears, that we were all to go together to hear the band play? It is such a beautiful walk, turning in at the Green-park, Matilda, you know; and I don't suppose dear Patty ever heard such a band in her life."

The friends exchanged glances and a little closing up of the eyes, and an almost imperceptible shake of the head in each, said plainly to the other, that it would not do at all. It had, indeed, been agreed between them before they left their sleeping apartment (for the uncombative Louisa had resigned herself to the drawing-room carpet, and a blanket), that Patty must assign an incipient sore throat, as a reason for wishing to stay at home; while Matilda, after the one-o'clock slice of bread-and-butter had been handed round, should request the company of her elder sister upon some errand of importance, to be invented for the nonce, the eligibility of performing which, should be further made manifest by pointing out the necessity of not letting poor Patty

talk too much.

All this was accordingly performed ably, and received in the best manner possible by Miss Louisa; and at ten minutes before two, Miss O'Donagough was seated alone, and in state, upon the Miss Perkinses' sofa, with every one of her beautiful pink bows exactly in its right place; her black curls, à la poodle, wantoning over her comely face, and her eyes shining with more than usual brightness.

* Continued from No. ccxxviii., page 501.

Luckily she did not wait long, or it is possible her charming looks might have been injured by impatience. Exactly at two o'clock, the knocker of the house-door, gave signal of a visiter; an active young step was heard upon the stairs, and in the next moment, the name of "Mr. John Steady" was announced, when Patty's "own darling Jack" stood before her.

The young man, though no longer in regimentals, looked, as she thought, ten thousand times handsomer than ever, and Patty's step to welcome him, was so eager that it brought her to the door almost before he had fully entered it.

"Oh, my dear Jack!" she exclaimed; "I am so glad you are come! and I have made every body go out on purpose that we might have a long comfortable talk by ourselves. What a time it is since you set off in that nasty boat for Sheerness! Ain't you glad to see me again, Jack?"

"Most surely I am, my dear Miss Patty," replied the young man; "but you are looking so remarkably well, that I have no occasion to inquire after your health. Have you been in London ever since your arrival?

"Oh lor, no! not we," replied Patty, seating herself on the sofa, with a hand extended on each side of her, so as to assist in a sort of jumpfor-joy movement with which she relieved the fulness of her heart, while she gazed upon her visiter, as he sat opposite to her. "We staid almost no time in London then, but went down on the top of the coach to Brighton on purpose to see all mamma's grand relations; and there they were, lots of 'em, men, women, and children; but there wasn't one of the whole kit, that I liked so well as you, Jack."

"You are exceedingly kind, I am sure," replied the youth, blushing a little, and then stopping, very evidently at a loss what to say next. "Mercy upon me! I don't call that kind, because I could not help it, you know. You could not like any body as well as me, Jack, could you?"

"I am sure nobody in the world can deserve to be liked better-because you are always so very good-natured."

"Good-natured! Is that all? Why, I wouldn't give a penny for any body who hadn't more to say for themselves than that! My goodness, Jack! Do you remember your jumping overboard into the sea? I never shall forget it, the longest day I have to live! And do you remember who it was'that brought you to? and then our nice, dear, shipbilliards! Oh, what fun, to be sure! And think of your trying to make us believe that you wasn't a bit better than a common sailor! But I wasn't such a fool as that, any how."

"My dear Miss O'Donagough," began Mr. Steady-but the young lady stopped him short

"Once for all, Jack, I won't be called Miss O'Donagough, or Miss Patty, either, by you. So mind that, if you please, or else you and I shall quarrel, as sure as you sit there. You always used to call me Patty, and Patty I choose to be called; and I shall call you Jack too, unless when we happen to have listeners, and then, I suppose, I must call you Mr. Steady."

The young man seemed to make an effort to look grave, but it was in vain, and he laughed heartily. Without exactly understanding,

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