reply to his master's inquiry, the servant stated that he had declined to give his name, but requested to speak with Sir R. on urgent business. “Then I will step into the hall, and speak to him," said he, and he was in the act of walking to the door, when the stranger, who had followed the servant, entered the apartment, saying in a deep voice, "You need not trouble yourself so much, Sir Richard, I am an old friend, and do not wish you to leave your fire-side." So saying, he stepped towards the table and disclosed the stern features and repelling countenance of Cyril Gaspard.

Sir Richard motioned the servant to retire, and gazed on his unexpected guest in mute astonishment. "Do not incommode yourself, Sir Richard," said the latter, “I said I was an old friend, and you are doubtless glad to see me, but the surprise has deprived you of readiness of expression; but never mind, I am glad to see you have a good fire, for though it is what they call summer, one is somewhat chill in an evening, especially after so long a ride as I have had."

"Man, what mean you-are you fiend or devil?" exclaimed Sir Richard.

"Neither," replied his visitor, without moving a muscle of his rigid countenance, "I have been in company of the first for more than twenty years, long enough, I think. I am not the second, or I should not be here to-night; but come, Sir Richard, I said I came here on urgent business, let us despatch it as soon as possible, since I fancy it will not be so agreeable to either of us, that we need lengthen it by such compliments as yours." So saying, he flung himself into a chair, and Sir Richard resumed his own seat; and both gazed vacantly on the fire for some time without speaking. The baronet was the first to break the silence.

"And what want you here-money or favour?" "Neither," replied Cyril.

"Is our agreement forgotten, then?"

"It is not. I come here on an act of justice."

"Indeed!" said Sir R. sneeringly, "

you are a fit messenger on such an errand." "I am the fittest in this case, Sir Richard, except yourself; I come to demand justice for one of your own family—I come

"For more gold, wretch," exclaimed Sir Richard, "leave but this place before day-break, and you shall have your fill."

"Gold! gold!" said Gaspard, "no, no; I have had enough of that-enough, enough-it lies there unused and rotting. Yes, rotting: if the blood that is on it did not keep the accursed metal in existence to wither my very sight-gold; no, no, no; have a daughter, Sir Richard."

"And what of that ?"

I

She reminds me sometimes of what a sister would be; I never had a sister, Sir Richard."

"It is of little use you coming here at this untimely hour, to deal in hints and threats to one who is beyond their influence; you know our agreement.”

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Perfectly; it was that I should never re-visit you or this place. But there is a voice which no agreement can restrain-no bribe can silence: that it is which has brought me here."

"Conscience," interrupted Cyril; "it is that which has urged me to seek, after twenty years of concealment, this place of shame and guilt. It was the same feeling that forced me from society-forced me to an habitation, cut off amid mountains and heaths, from the dwellings of men. It was that which fixed on my heart the terror of meeting mortal gaze, as if each man's eye were a basilisk to strike me dead; and at last came one who might have done it. Yes, despite my seclusion, despite my repentance, he found me. He is living yet, Sir Richard!”

"Who is living

"Do not fool with me-I mean your nephew, your sister's son. He who you thought safe enough, but he is yet alive. Chance brought him to my lonely abode; I saw him, and knew him-yes, knew him, though I had ne'er seen him since a babe of a few weeks old; but he had his mother's face, his mother's voice, and I knew themtoo well-too well," and the old man threw his head on the table in a paroxysm of grief.

"Chicken-hearted villain!" muttered Sir Richard, rose from his seat, and placed on the table glasses and a bottle of spirits. "Here, man, here is something will nerve

you up, and ease that conscience that troubles you so much; drink all, there's more in the glass yet,-there, as you've got some brandy in your head, and some of that squeamish conscience out, we may perhaps understand each other better. You fancy, then, this boy is still alive; what are your reasons?"

"You shall hear. About a month ago, a stranger called at our lone house, and begged to rest; my daughter attended to him. It was evening when I returned from the field that day, and as I was entering my door I met him. I had well nigh sunk, for I thought she -you know-stood before me; but I concealed my emotions. He came again, and again, and the last time he left, he said he was returning home the next day; and as he left the door I saw him kiss my daughter's face. I asked her respecting him, for I had ne'er dared to question him myself; and all he told her connected with his life, agreed most strangely with your sister's history."

"But this is no proof of his identity; a stranger roused your timorous fancy is naught."

"But there was proof of identity to one so strongly steeped in guilt as I amthere was his mother's voice, his mother's face; the eye with which she gazed on me when-bnt-no, no, no!"

"In one word, then, what is your errand here?" exclaimed Sir Richard, starting from his seat.

"Justice!" replied Cyril; "send for this youth, I know where he is to be found -make diligent inquiry, and if my doubts are true, restore him at once to those possessions which by right are his !"

"A modest offer truly; give up one-fourth of my estates to a wandering vagabond, because he disturbs your conscience, and falls in love with your daughter; you are an excellent tactition yet, Gaspard, and know how to portion your daughter, though I fancy she has enough for a reasonable man, without taxing me."

I did not come here to jest, or to be jested with, Sir Richard; I have done a penance in my bosom, for more than twenty years, which would suffice, if penance ever can, to wash out the sins of half the guilty souls in purgatory. And if you refuse me this act of justice, there is but one course left."

"Name it."

"In the morning I will; I will give you the night to consider my first proposition. I shall sleep in the village here, and will be with you early.'

"No need for that, here is ample accommodation in the hall; and then you can remain more private, and depart unobserved in the morning when we have arranged Stay here all night.'

matters.

"Yes! in the red room that looks out to the garden; no," said Cyril, pulling the bell, I have slept in this house once too often, and all your wealth should not induce me to spend another night beneath its roof. I will see you in the morning, Sir Richard, good night."

CHAPTER VII.

Valentine offends against the Etiquette of the Table in a highly respectable

Company.

THE hostel of the Fox and Grapes was the only public house which the village of Ellesmere could boast, and was as complete a little epitome in its way as could be found in any part of the British dominions; the exterior was neat, and with its sign-a dark red fox with golden teeth, anxiously eyeing a bunch of grapes of the same precious metal,-looked exactly like what it was-a place where all is not gold that passes for such. There, a few days after Valentine's return to Chester, two passengers alighted from the coach from that city; one was an old gentleman, the other a young one; the former being in fact Mr. Clement, the latter Valentine Vincent. The portly host made his appearance, and after a brief greeting of the coachman and guard, a sort of masonic ceremony, recognized only by the initiated, replied in the affirmative to Mr. Clement's inquiry, if they could be accommodated with beds for the night. The travellers having partaken of some refreshment in the kitchen, the host apologized for the want of better accommodation, but said that a party of gentlemen, who held a club at the house, had been dining there that day, and were then occupying the parlour, adding, that if the travellers chose, they were perfectly at liberty to join the company for the remainder of

the evening, and if they did, they "would find them a right merry set ;" the truth of which remark was tolerably evident from the loud sounds of laughter and applause, from time to time proceeding from the apartment.

The parlour of the Fox and Grapes was not of very extensive dimensions, and when Mr. Clement and his companion entered it, they were at first deprived of both sight and breath, by the dense clouds of tobacco-smoke with which it was filled; when they had in some degree recovered the use of their senses, they perceived that the party consisted of a number of men of various grades in society, but which of them belonged to the class of gentlemen, was somewhat difficult to determine. In the chairman of the company, Valentine had no difficulty in recognising Mr. Frederick Stapleford, the "tight" driver of the tandem with the geometrical horse; and beside him sat the other gentleman who was his companion in that vehicle. Both these gentlemen had evidently been indulging somewhat freely in strong libations, and as might be expected, appeared rather worse in consequence, Mr. Frederick especially, since from his situation as chairman, he was brought more prominently in contact with the candles on the table, and therefore gave less equivocal signs than some of the company, of the strength and extent of his potations. The rest of the "gentlemen' were made up of a medley of gentlemen jockies, gentlemen boxers, and gentlemen to whom it would be somewhat difficult to assign any definite appellation. There were a few who bore strong resemblance to those gentlemen who held in small respect the laws for the preservation of pheasants and hares; and a few others, who, to judge from appearance, might be assumed to have but small respect for laws of any description. One man in particular, especially arrested Valentine's attention; he was seated in one corner, rather away from the table, and seemed regardless of the company, and entirely engrossed in the gratifying iufluence of a very black pipe, which emitted an immense body of smoke. This man was of strong make, and rather tall; he wore a rough heavy short coat, and seemed as if pure water was a liquid with which he had been for some time unacquainted, either by internal or external application: to sum up his description, he was precisely one of those sort of men, who if once seen, invariably recur to the mind of a traveller if he is entering a lonely piece of road, an hour or two after sunset. One other figure also attracted his particular notice; this man was, from appearance, a blacksmith, or similar athletic trade, he was the very picture of contentment, and it was somewhat difficult to say whether his red waistcoat, or his red face, bore the deepest hue. He seemed, as he sat close to the table, with one hand holding a pipe, and the other half placed in the pocket of his waistcoat, the Bacchus of the assembly, who considered himself as the presiding divinity of the place, despite the apparent difference of station between him and most of the company. The walls of the room were decorated in the most orthodox

style, with a fox's brush, various prints of hunting and shooting, and some beautiful sheperdesses in pink jackets and yellow hats, nursing very interesting looking sheep, and listening very attentively to some young shepherds, who with their green coats and bright buttons, looked almost as natural and interesting as the sheep themselves; and over the chimney piece hung a large piece of pasteboard, bearing the title, "Rules of the Tally-ho Club."

The first sound that saluted the ear of our travellers on their entering the apartment, was the "health and song of Mr. Thrasher," given from the chair, and chorussed round the room, accompanied by great thumping of fists and gingling of glasses; and when the uproar had subsided, the chairman with some slight hesitation of speech, and departure from the approved mode of accentation, which is very pardonable in gentlemen in similar situations, requested the attention of the company to the harmony of his worthy friend, Mr. Spankle, who he was sure would favour them with a first-rate song. Mr. Spankle, who has been already introduced as the gentleman in the tandem, was a young gentleman of great reputation in the neighbourhood for his adroitness in riding, fishing, pidgeon-shooting, and similar pursuits, not forgetting a great kindness and generosity to sundry pretty servant maids in the village; he was also a liberal patron of the country wakes, and contributed with the greatest bounty to the prizes for assracing, pole-climbing, pig-running, and other exhilerating national sports, for which those periods of festivity were noted; and there existing between this gentleman and his friend, the chairman, a strict friendship and most laudable rivalry, as to which of them could be the most successful in their efforts to improve the character and tone of society, by supporting the interest of the populace in the above pursuits.

Could Mr. Spankle's song have been presented to the reader in the exact form in which it was sung, it would certainly be one of the greatest literary curiosities of the day in the way of poetical composition, since it would exhibit a variety of metre, and freedom from the trammels of rule, which could not fail to be of the highest interest; but as this is out of our power, we must be content with a brief observation or two. Mr. Spankle commenced with some remarks on an "Early horn saluting the morn,' which music appeared, in some way or other, mixed up with an accompaniment of " Shrill chanticleer," though the singer was too much interested in the spirit of the composition to give the stanzas in the connection in which they were originally written for the edification of less inspired gentlemen: he then made some pleasing allusions to a young lady styled "Diana, huntress chaste and fair," though her name was somehow coupled with "Jowler and Rattler," and "Wine, bright wine," as to hint some little doubts on the strict propriety of her conduct, which was further increased by the singer finishing with a declaration,-whether on behalf of himself and the aforesaid Diana, or himself and the company then present, was not very clear,-that they " wouldn't go home till morning, till daylight did appear!" in the propriety of the latter resolution the company seemed perfectly unanimous.

Up to this time Mr. Clement and Valentine had been silent observers of the scene, but after two or three songs had been sung, the chairman begged to call on "that-gentleman-at the end of the room,-the young gentleman,-not the old gentleman,- he had no doubt that gentleman was a respectable gentleman-and he should be proud of his better acquaintance, and he-would call on that gen-tle-man for a to-ast." Though Valentine had little inclination to mix in the orgies of the company, he was totally averse to giving any offence; he therefore rose, and, taking up a quart mug, which the host had made the receptacle of a "bottle" of porter, was on the point of giving utterance to a convivial sentiment, when he was interrupted by one of the poacherlooking gentlemen before-named, rising, and somewhat abruptly exclaiming,-"Gentlemen, I rises to order; you know as it is a standing rule in this here club, that no gentleman shall have a quart mug in this here room. I doesn't mean for to say as the gentleman did this here to insult us in anywise; but he has got a quart mug which he had no business to have here, and that is a breach of the rules of this here club."

Valentine endeavoured to state, by way of apology, that he was entirely ignorant of any rules belonging to the company, and therefore he could not possibly be actuated by a desire of giving offence; but

"Hear, hear!" exclaimed several voices, fine him!" sung out some other,— while "turn him out!" was the remedy demanded by a few for the insulted honour of their club. At length, the good-looking gentleman with a swarthy face, having hammered the table about five minutes to obtain a hearing, proposed that the rules should be read !" at which proposition the "hear, hears" were renewed, and the "fine hims" and "turn him outs" coalesced in the cry of "rules, rules!"

The large pasteboard over the chimney was then handed down to the chairman, who proceeded to read the rule which Valentine had inadvertently violated :- Any gentleman guilty of swearing, or

"That ain't it,-it's the wrong un, man, hiccuped Mr. Spankle, accompanied by two or three other expressions, and an allusion to the chairman's defective vision, which, if strictly noted, would undoubtedly have subjected him to the penalty attached to the above offence.

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Any gentleman," resumed the chairman, “bringing into the room, while the club is sitting, a black jack, quart mug, or any drinking-vessel exceeding in size one pint, shall, for contempt of this club, forfeit, for the good of the company present, the sum of five shillings.'

The reading of this rule was followed by a loud shout and other marks of satisfaction, in the midst of which Valentine vainly endeavoured to make himself heard,— Gentlemen,-how could I, a stranger,-knowing nothing of your rules

But it was in vain,-the noise and uproar increased,-Valentine, red with rage and excitement, shouting at the top of his voice, and refusing Mr. Clement's repeated entreaties to sit down, -the majority of the company vociferating equally loud for the exactment of the forfeit,-till Mr. Clement, fearful of worse consequences, threw down on the table two half-crowns. The noise of the money acted like a charm, and he had then no difficulty in making himself heard," Gentlemen, there is the fine; if we were VOL. 6-No. 6-2 S.

intruders on your society, and broke any of your rules, I suppose we must pay,-we shall know better next time; and, as there's a crown for the fine, so there's another to drink better acquaintance, and forgetting our quarrel."

This announcement changed the tone of proceedings, and the sounds of disapprobation were changed for others equally loud, but expressing the opposite sentiment. Good opinions of Mr. Clement issued from all sides, but none seemed warmer in their commendations than the good-looking individual previously mentioned.

After what had passed, neither Mr. Clement nor Valentine were inclined to take further part in the festivities of the club, and therefore took an early opportunity of leaving the room, in order to retire to rest. As they were passing the lobby leading from the apartment, Valentine was surprised to hear his own name mentioned in a low tone, accompanied by a touch on the arm; looking round, he observed a man close to him, who exclaimed, in the same low tone, "I have long been seeking you, but little expected to find you here-a word with you-here-outside the door."

(To be continued.)

FINANCES OF THE ORDER.

TO THE EDITOR AND COMMITTEE OF THE MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN,

By your permission, I will again draw the attention of your readers to the ages of the members who enter the Order, and the results to be drawn therefrom, but previous to which I must briefly notice the stricture of P. G. TIDSWELL, in the last July number, page 134. My principal motive for examining the Unity Returns was for the purpose of furnishing the members with materials from which they might be able to examine the solidity of the Order,-to do so it is necessary to be in possession of facts to reason from,—and after obtaining correct data, the question is to ascertain whether or not we are building on a solid basis. If our Institution (which must be admitted to be an important one) is founded on sound principles, the knowledge of it will of itself strengthen our cause; if, on the other hand, we are not founded on a solid basis, the sooner we are acquainted with it the better. It was for the purpose of arriving at that fact which first induced me to examine the Returns.

It must certainly be admitted that a graduated scale of payments is the most equitable; but the question arises, is it practicable? For my part, I think not. Our friend P. G. TIDSWELL himself admits the impracticability, although he advocates the system; for instead of thirty or forty different rates of payments, he suggests five. So far as justice is concerned, his plan only goes to amount; in principle it is equally unjust, whether a young man of eighteen pays one halfpenny or sixpence more than his elder neighbour; but the question may still be raised, whether just cause of complaint can be sustained. Any person wishing to enter the Order is told the amount he will have to pay, and also the amount he will be entitled to receive; so, if he did not think that it would be advantageous to himself, he would certainly never enter; besides, the welfare of the community, frequently demands the sacrifice of even an admitted right for the public good. The stress which Mr. TIDSWELL lays on the uncorrectness of table VII. is hardly fair; for he could scarcely be ignorant that it was merely a mistake in the number. Tables VII. and VIII. are on one page in the government pamphlet, he having examined one table, leads me to conclude that he also examined the other; and if so, it must have appeared evident that there was a mistake, for table VIII. requires less payment than table VII., and yet the reverse is stated. As reasoning upon false data cannot serve the Order, our friend should have saved himself the trouble; he well knows that reversing the amounts of tables VII. and VIII,, as stated in my letter, would be very near correct. Elated with success at having detected an error, created too much confidence, which at all times has a tendency to mislead us: one of his sentences reads thus," Now, really this reasoning is very absurd;" but we shall presently see who the absurdity is with. The assistance of figures is not omitted