invited him to enter, and a few minutes installed him in a parlor, which, if its dimensions forbade the equivocal pastime of swinging the hostess's cat, was in its neatness and cleanliness more than a match for apartments of greater pretension. And here our wanderer, albeit he had eschewed a dinner which he had no means of obtaining, or dered that which should be the order of every way-worn pedestrian, dinnerless or not, if he wishes to be truly refreshed after long toil and travel tea. Whatever adjunct his fancy may suggest or his quarters afford, tea, tea, is the one needful article, that can in no case be dispensed with. "And be so kind, my good lady, as to make it for me," cried the traveller, unslinging his portfolio with somewhat more care than the bag which had dropt unheeded to the floor-"I have too great a respect for your fine country not to wish to secure friends where, if fate so willed, I could be well content to wear out my life." "Why, then, it must be so," said the landlady, who had been regarding him attentively through her spectacles," and you are the very gen tleman that has been looked for.” Looked for!" exclaimed the traveller, hastily gulping down his tea and handing the empty cup to the hostess, "has the second sight traveled hither from Scotland, that you know beforehand what guests you are to entertain ?" 66 "I know more by hearing than by sight, Heaven help me!" re-' phed the dame, taking off her glass es with a sigh, and wiping them carefully, for my eyes will not carry me far now-a-days; but yet I' can see that your honor is slow of speech, and you may be right enough at first, for the 'Squire is an odd man, and there is no telling how you may set your horses." › Horses, good woman why I came a-foot. I have no money to waste on four legs when two will serve;" chinking a purse but slenderly filled as he spoke, ! "Yet that may be as full as you could wish," rejoined the persevering landlady, "if you can but please our 'Squire; for money is but dirt to him, as well it may be, seeing that he is going to throw it away, as I may say, on sticks and stones." "But I," returned the traveller, smiling, 66 am neither stick nor stone, hostess." "You are as close as either," replied the dame, sharply. "Close, good woman!" repeated the traveller, staring. "Why, ay," responded the hostess; "and for such a handsome, good-humored looking gentleman as you—” "Too sweet by half, goody;" pushing the cup towards her; "there now, it runs over!" "And will you deny that you are going up to that great house?" "What, that fine old mansion among the trees yonder ?-egad, I desire nothing better." I "And that you are not hired, as may say, to go a stone-picking with the old 'Squire ?—and a queer faney it is to come into an old gentleman's head! Why I heard him call some of them plum-puddings, and in my poor mind it was a sin and a shame even for so good a man to compare the best of food, as they are when made after my own receipt, with what would break a body's teeth at the first bite!" Alr! I begin to comprehendthe 'Squire then, as you call him, is a geologist, and I-” Ay, sure, you are to help him! I know very well what you are come about, though you are so close like." "Well, well, t'other dish, landlady, and you shall tell me all about it." " "Tell you!-ay, you want to know what sort of folk you are going to live with, and right enough though your coming in this sort of blind way is not just what was expected; and then to bring so little with you, as if you had deterrmined not to like it, yet it may be that your trunks are coming by the fly, or (in a softer tone) that you are none so well provided, and if so, why I can always dab out a shirt for you at an hour's notice, and none the wiser but us two, now we are so well acquainted as I may say. 'Squire Chiverton then is main rich-ay, and kind too in his way, but very odd like! At times he seems as if something heavy lay at his heart, yet what it is that can trouble so good a man no one can guess; but certain it is that he is not like other folk, and that, we all think, puts him on such sort of whims, as routing among the old rocks and hills, and taking stones for plum-puddings; but never do ing anything that can harm living creature-Harm! why he is the making of us all he and dear Miss Emma." "Oho!" cried the traveller, smiling, "there is a fair lady in the case then ? " "Ay indeed is there," replied the hostess; "and such a lady as neither this county nor the next to it-no, nor all England to boot, can match!-she is the fairest, virtu ousest "Discreetest, best!" continued her guest, laughing "Ay, that she is ;" rejoined the dame, looking sharply on him; "and yet were I her father I should think twice before I opened my door once to a handsome young fellow, like you, whose looks, for aught I know, may be better than your heart!—and yet why should I say so, Heaven help me, when, if looks may be trusted, you are as good as she! Nay, but that cannot be-yet you seemed so well disposed that, right or wrong, I must caution you to take care of your heart!" "Spare your cares, goody," cried the traveller, laughing yet louder, "I am cold, as ice, and, though you have penetrated my secret, be assured that not even this lovely Emma shall penetrate my beart." "This is a most extraordinary affair," exclaimed the chance-elected geologist, as he discussed the subject with himself the following morning in his little chamber, "yet it has an air of romance infinitely agreeable to my fancy. It seems certain that the destined assistant of those geological researches has either repented of his engagement, or is at least indifferent to its fulfil ment. Meanwhile I, who know as little of the study as the strata which it seeks, may at least puzzle a country squire, while I. contemplate man as it would seem in one of his most interesting varieties, and woman in her fairest loveliness. It is but to plead dissatisfaction_or want of skill, in a few days, when my frolic is gratified, and leave the field open to the real Simon Pure, of whose arrival, should it take place, I shall doubtless have timely notice from my loquacious hostess, or at least to some one better qualified to discharge the duties of the office than an unscientific itinerant like myself. And yet, is there not something dishonorable in thus stealing into a family under false pretences? I must think further of this." While he was thinking, however, the landlady was acting, having in good earnest sent word to the Hall, that the stone-picker, as she termed him, was arrived ; while he, not ill-pleased perhaps that the hostess had cut the knot which he was only endeavoring to loose, determined without further hesitation to present himself at Chiverton Hall in the character with which she had so precipitately invested him. On his way thither these compunctious visitings became yet stronger, but the landlady, in the excess of her officiousness, having followed unasked with his slender stock of valuables, he was ashamed to recede; and to avow the truth was an effort beyond his powers of nerve, His descent from an uncient and respectable family, though an ill-fated father who atoned his errors by an early and violent death had impoverished its fortunes, rose perience. "Mr. Marvell," he cribefore him, as if in reproach of his ed, when they were seated in the unworthy artifice. One lapse," library, for the lovely vision had said he, mentally, "leads to a thou- vanished as soon as they reached sand others, yet a feigned name is the house, "make no further exnot worse than a fictitious charac- cuses, I pray you, for your lack of ter, and I know not that I can do skill in geological research. I ens better (or worse perhaps) than bor- brace the pursuit rather as a refuge row the name of one too good-natur- from thought than from any deeper ed to reproach me with the theft, interest, and a sensible and sympashould it ever become known to thizing rather than a scientific comhim. Poor Marvell! I question panion is what I have long looked whether thy hard fortune might not for and hope to find in you. There render, such a post desirable, nor is something in your countenance, could I perhaps make the amende young gentleman, which seems to honorable more worthily than by en- assure me you have a feeling heart. deavoring to instal thee in a birth I am a man of many sorrows-the of which I foresee I shall soon be cause of them "—and his light blue weary. Strip away the romance, eye seemed at the moment excited and what remains a whimsical by strong emotion-"the cause of old fellow and a pretty simpleton of them must ever remain buried here. a daughter!' I can't think what In solitude my mind preys as it could induce me to fall in with this were on itself. I cannot task my ridiculous mistake of a yet more child, good, and kind, and dutiful as ridiculous woman!” she is, to a constant attendance on my gloomy and distempered fancies. I look to you, therefore, as the frequent partner of my walks, the sharer in my avocations, my follies mayhap they may be termed. If I am gloomy you must bear with me, and I think from your eye you will do so; and yet, now I look again, there is something in that eye which, had I seen it earlier-nay, nay, I distrust you not, but yet it hath awakened a pang that only slumbers-alas, it will never die !" He struck his hand violently on his forehead as he spoke, and precipitately quitted the apartment. Why la! now," exclaimed the unconscious object of his reprobation, in the midst of his reverie, if there is not the 'Squire himself and Miss Emma too, I declare." Marvell (so we shall call him for the present) looked up and beheld, not, as he had prefigured, a crackbrained philosopher, and a ruddyfaced country-girl, but a gentleman declining into the vale of life, in whose clear eye and expressive countenance strong intellect shone conspicuous through a tinge of melancholy, deeply marked in every lincament of his fine face; while his companion, beautiful as she was in her first blush of womanhood, owed more to the interest, the eloquence, of her form, than to mere faultlessness of feature or symmetry of shape. To look on such beings was to feel the deep humiliation of presenting himself in his assumed character; but it was too late to retract, and Mr. Chiverton, ascribing his evident embarrassment to diffidence, hastened to re-assure him by those delicate yet pointed attentions which are so grateful to the sensitive feelings of youth and inex If the embarrassment of Marvell was great before this interview, it was now much increased. He felt all the shame and humiliation of his deception on a man of so high a character as Mr. Chiverton, while, added to the difficulty of retreating, he felt a growing interest in the fortunes of his patron, which seemed involuntarily to bind him to the part he had assumed. Shall we say also, that the sight, transient as it was, of Mr. Chiverton's lovely daughter had realized all those poetic dreams of female loveliness which had often floated across his fancy, as visions never to be veri fied in an earthly form! Yet love oh no, he felt secure that the disparity of their fortunes, no less than his long boasted insensibility, was a barrier not to be overpassed. He would look on her as on a beautiful statue that, commanding the most devoted admiration, excludes every warmer sentiment, Days, weeks, passed on, and the least of Marvell's thoughts or wish es was to leave a spot endeared to him yet more and more by each succeeding hour. Mr. Chiverton's knowledge of geology, though not extensive, was sufficient to detect the deficiencies of his self-constituted assistant, but a benevolent smile was the only consequence of the discovery. He found in Marvell those qualities which he had desired rather than hoped to find in a scientific companion-talent without assumption, learning devoid of pedantry, a well regulated temper, and a heart overflowing with the kindest and best of human sympathies. The old gentleman became attached to him in no common degree, and Marvell, on his part, could not but feel highly grateful to, and deeply interested for, one who seemed to possess every virtue under heaven, save that which virtue fails not to confer-a calm and self-approving conscience. His young friend indeed more than suspected that a mind, sensitive even to a morbid excess which verged on aberration of intellect, ascribed to some long-past error a deeper shade of atrocity than it might justly bear. But, to touch on this was to awake a jarring string that vibrated through every nerve, and he was warned, not less by the excitement it produced on his benefactor than its recoiling influence on his own mind, to abstain from the subject altogether. Meanwhile Emma Chiverton, the frequent companion of their walks, and the devoted admirer of an art in which she possessed little less skill than Marvell, that of perpetuating by the pencil those beauties of nature by which they were encompassed-Emma, whose harp called forth the accompaniment of Marvell's voice, which not unfrequently blended with her own clear notes-Emma sunk deeply into a heart which, hitherto unsusceptible to mere beauty, yielded to the influence of charms, of virtues, felt rather than studied, and imbibed imperceptibly at moments when danger was for gotten. The discovery had not perhaps been made but for an unexpected invitation to his old quarters at the Sow and Bagpipes, where he beheld, with not less astonishment than dismay, the very identical Marvell whom he had personated, in a towering rage with the presumption of his landlady, who had in good set terms disputed his right and title to his own name. "But here comes Mr. Marvell himself," exclaimed the irate dame," who will give you your own, with a murrain to you, as becomes him "-lifting up at the moment a huge bireh broom, as if to take summary vengeance on the luckless intruder. "And I desire nothing but my own," retorted the real Simon Pure -"but eh! what!" "George!"-" Harry! "escaped from the lips of each at the same instant. "Why, what part of the play are you acting here, Harry?" cried the true Marvell, bursting into a loud fit of laughter, "but no matter mum's the word-say only that you wish to remain my double, my better self, and I am off like a shot." "Nay, then, but I'll be shot before the 'Squire shall be so bamboozled;" interrupted the incensed landlady: "one or both of you must be at your tricks, that is certain, so I shall e'en up to the Hall and tell all I know!" "No, no, hostess," returned the false Marvell, "the office must be mine to set this matter right." "And a difficult office, too, I should guess," said the real Marvell. "My dear George," continued his friend, "you shall know anon my motive, or rather no-motive, for thus strangely assuming your name and avocation, unconscious howe ver that I was trespassing on your manor. Stay but till I can doff my borrowed plumes and invest you." "Not I, Harry," exclaimed the other; "since the truth must out, know that I come to resign, not to accept, an office which, desirable enough a month since, were now out of the question for a man of two thousand per annum-nay, never stare, Harry-my great-grand aunt is dead, and has left me all those golden hoards, of which she would not have spared me one piece in her life-time to save me from starving, and which are now not more mine than yours; if, as I fear from this odd step, your means are scant." "No, no," replied his companion, wringing his hand, "my object, if I had one, was anything rather than gain; and wealth were now more than ever valueless to one whom fortune delights to persecute -wait, my friend, but till I have avowed my disgrace, and expiated my almost involuntary offence by tearing from my heart the sweetest, fondest hope-hope did I say?-no, no, not that and we will depart together." The false Marvell returned to the Hall, oppressed by conflicting passions that almost deprived him of utterance, when he found himself once more in the presence of his patron. The news of his deception, however, had traveled thither be fore him, and the frown that hovered over the brow of the benevolent Chiverton deeply attested his sense of the indignity practised on him. "I ask but one thing, Mr. Marvell, or whatever else you choose to be called," cried he, interrupting the broken vindication of his late adherent"your motive?-yet why should I ask that which is but too evident ?" "I understand you not, sir," replied his auditor; "the best, the only motive I can assign is, I fear, but curiosity, or a weak desire not to contradict the self-authorized assumption of my well-intentioned but mistaken landlady.".. "This is but trifling with my feelings, sir," replied Chiverton, with a deeper frown; "my daughter, sir, my Emma, can you deny that you have presumed to lift your thoughts to one-oh, heaven! can I believe that she has forgotten her duty, her principles, so far as to yield her affection-and yet am I not most to blame, who exposed her to a dan gerous influence which my own heart withstood not!" "It cannot be that Emma, that Miss Chiverton I mean, loves me !" exclaimed his companion, gasping for breath. "I said it not," replied Chiverton, in a tone of grave rebuke; "and, even were it thus, my daughter is too high-minded, too observant of her duty, not to subdue so illplaced, so unworthy a passion. Oh, heaven, Marvell," he continued, bursting into a flood of tears, "how cruelly have you practised on the credulity of one who loved you, valued you, as the prop and stay of his declining age! I would have pledged my soul for your faith-I believed your heart to be the seat of every virtue-how deeply I am disappointed! I know not what led to this strange deception; if poverty, I will relieve it-you shall not have the plea of necessity for continuing in courses so unbecoming your talents and attainments-but, as you value my peace, my favor, never let me see you more!" "No, sir," exclaimed his companion in a firmer tone, "that I have erred it were vain to deny, but the force of circumstances, rather than any preconceived idea of deception, led me into a situation which I cannot sufficiently lament. On my soul, I had no thought, no hope, of gaining the affection of Miss Chiverton, whom I had not even seen when I entered your domain ! I knew not that I loved her |