lowner, or he would most probably have fallen into the snare, and not only have lost all the ready money he possessed, but have got dipped some thousands deeper than there was the slightest chance of his being able to pay. Out of evil, therefore, sprang good, in this instance. The only other people of his acquaintance besides the Montagues, that he met in town before he went down to the Hall, were Lady Wetherby with George Maskwell, and Wyndham Herbert, who was on guard at St. James's. Our hero was walking on the shady side of PallMall, and the militaire on the sunny one: they did not therefore communicate. Lady Wetherby and George were in her Ladyship's old travelling rattle-trap, which, as it appeared from the accumulated dust, was just arriving in town, as every body else was leaving, or had left it. She had, perhaps, an idea that every thing was now cheaper in the metropolis than in the country, since the fashionable herd had made its exit. Lady Wetherby stopped the ponderous vehicle to speak to our hero, though she was not particularly gracious; since she had heard of his duel and expulsion from Oxford, with one or two other wild tricks which had come to her knowledge, not without sundry additions and embellishments. She, in fact, began to row him in the street, which Hyde, thinking rather too much of a good thing, cut short by making his bow, and walking off. Her ladyship gave her head a toss, and ordered the coachman to pro ceed, a command which it was much easier to give than to execute; for the tired jades, having once stopped, were not, without much labour, equal to again rousing the caravan into action. Flogging carried the day, however, and the old epigram was here verified à la lettre,— If all be true that people say, It costs you more in whips than hay. CHAP. III. All seasons and their change,-all please alike. After soft showers. MILTON. HYDE had not now been at the Hall for two years; it was, therefore, with a peculiar feeling, a feeling of mingled pleasure and melancholy, that he now drove up the approach, and surveyed the well-remembered scenes of his child hood. A sigh escaped him as he thought of the true and unstained happiness, though so little prized, which he then enjoyed, and compared it with the less unsophisticated feelings with which an intercourse with the world had possessed him ; -the horrid world, that destroys all our innocence and happiness, opens our eyes, and draws the curtain from a mass of vice and villany, of which our before imperfect vision was unconscious. Perhaps, also, a thought of Augusta St. Quentin crossed his mind, whom he recollected as constituting, in his estimation, at that time, the chief ornament of whatever part of the grounds her fairy form was seen upon-" The Flower of Dane's Court." An anxiety to know if the St. Quentins were at home, prompted him to stop before he got up to the house, and ask the question of one of the daughters of the lodge-keeper, whom he overtook. She told him, after several "lawks a-mercy, if it isn't Master Hyde!" that the family had been away from Dane's Court all the summer, that is for the last two or three months, she believed; but she seldom went over there, as she was afraid of the great dog. But folks said as how they would not be back for some time, because Miss Augusta was took so ill like. Hyde scarcely knew whether to be glad or sorry at their absence; but he was at the door of Nugent Hall before he had much farther time to ruminate. Pass we over the meeting, the explanations, the joys, the regrets, and the tête-à téte after dinner, which Hyde could scarcely be said to enjoy with his father, inasmuch as there were some pecuniary subjects started; and to answer these went to the very quick. Truly, he could not reply to them, or all would be discovered; he was therefore obliged to use concealment, at least for a time, since he had resolved to |