"It's Mr M'Vitae's, the great distiller.—I'm sure, I'm much obliged to him-for if it hadn't been for him, poor man! I might have been stiff and stark by this time." And Miss Pratt busied herself in taking off her snow-shoes, and turning and chafing herself before the fire.

"Miss Pratt," again began the Earl, mustering all his energies—“ Miss Pratt, it is altogether inconceivable and inexplicable to me, how you, or any one else, could possibly so far forget what was due to themselves and me, as to come to my house in a manner so wholly unprecedented, so altogether unwarrantable, so-so-so perfectly unjustifiable-I say, how any person or persons could thus presume

A burst of laughter from Miss Pratt here broke in upon the Earl's harangue.

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My dear Lord Rossville, I beg your pardon; but really the notion of my presuming to come in a hearse is too good-'Pon my word, it's a piece of presumption few people would be guilty of, if they could help it. I assure you I felt humble enough when I was glad to creep into it."

"I repeat presume, Miss Pratt," cried his

Lordship, now fairly kindled into eloquence, "to presume to bring to my house an equipage and attendants of-of-of the most luctiferous description-and farther, to presume to expect that I am to permit the hearse of Mr M'Vitae, the distiller-the-the democratic distiller, with eight horses and four men, to-to-to-to-to transform Rossville Castle into an inn-a-a caravansera of the very lowest description-a-a-a charnel-house-a-a-a receptacle for vehicles employed for the foulest-the vilest-the-the most unseemly of all purposes !-Jackson, desire those people, with their carriage and horses, to quit my grounds without one moment's delay."

My dear Lord Rossville !-(Stop, Jackson) -Bless my heart! you're not going to turn away the people at this time of night!—Only look how it's snowing, and the sky as black as pitchthere's neither man nor beast fit to travel a foot this night.-Jackson, I'm sure you must be sensible that it's perfectly impossible for them to find their way now."

Jackson, who had, like his betters, felt considerable ennui during the storm, and rather rejoiced at the thoughts of any visitors, however in

ferior to himself in rank and station, confirmed the assertion with all due respect-but to little purpose.

"At all events, and whatever may be the consequence," said his master, " they certainly can, and, indeed, positively must, return by the road which they have recently traversed."

"They may just as well attempt to fly as to go back the way they came-a pretty fight they had to get through! I only wish you had seen it-the horses up to their shoulders more than once in the snow, even then, and it's now snowing ten times worse than ever-so I leave you to judge how they are to drag a hearse back nine miles at this time of night."

Here Jackson re-entered with a manifesto from the hearse-drivers and company, stating, that they had been brought two miles and a half out of their way, under promise of being provided in quarters for the night, and that it was now impossible for them to proceed.

"It will be a pretty story if I'm landed in a law-suit," cried Miss Pratt, in great alarm, as the Earl was about to reiterate his orders; " and it

will make a fine noise in the county, I can tell you."

Mr Delmour, who had been out investigating matters, here struck in, and having remarked, that it might be an unpopular measure, recommended that Mr M'Vitae's suite should be accommodated for the night, with strict charges to depart by dawn the following morning; and the Earl, though with great reluctance, was prevailed upon to agree to this arrangement.

CHAPTER XXII.

Our life is but a pilgrimage of blasts,
And every blast brings forth a fear,
And ev'ry fear a death.

QUARLES.

MISS PRATT having carried her point, and dried, warmed, fed, and cherished her person in all possible ways, now commenced the narrative of what she called her unparalleled adventures. But, as has been truly said, there are always two ways of telling a story, and Miss Pratt's biographer and herself are by no means at one as to the motives which led to this extraordinary expedition. Miss Pratt set forth that she had been living most comfortably at Skinflint Cottage, where she had been most kindly treated, and much pressed to prolong her visit; but she had taken an anxious fit about her good friends at Rossville, —she had had a great dreaming about them the night before last, and she could not rest till she