the Earl's presence chamber, he heard him, in a voice which no doors seemed capable of constraining, utter the following words: "Does he think I am to be made a puppet to dance for his pleasure, or that I am one whose word is to be broken at a sovereign's will; or who will waste his life in falsely negotiating a marriage, while he weds a wanton widow in the dark. Out upon the thought and Clarence thou must bear me out."

A few moments after, my father was ushered into his presence, and found him seated in an easy chair, his countenance still flushed with anger, and his sword lying across his knees, which he ever and anon drew a few inches from its sheath, and snapped hastily home again. After he had conversed with my father some short time on his own immediate business, he put several questions to him relating to the weight and influence of the Berkeleys; and asked—while he compressed his haughty lip, and dilated his nostrils, till he looked an embodied picture of

wrath-whether the late husband of the Lady Gray was not a grandson, by a former marriage, to the mother of the present Lord Berkeley; and if she had not been on terms of intimacy with that family.

My father answered the first of the interrogatories in as general a sense as he could, and confirmed the latter; and then seized on the earliest opportunity, that offered, to quit the presence; as, he said, "it was obvious to him which way the wind was about to blow."

It was late before we had done conversing on these matters, and I remember well my father biding me good night with the following words, "Ay boy, thou wilt live to see thy poor old country again vexed with a civil war; for, if ever I saw the indication of a storm, there is such a one brewing in the east "pointing towards London" as shall shake it to its foundation."

very

104

CHAPTER III.

My soul is dark-oh! quickly string
The harp I yet can brook to hear;
And let thy gentle fingers fling

Its melting murmurs o'er mine ear.
If in this heart a hope be dear,

That sound shall charm it forth again !

If in these eyes there lurk a tear,

'Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain.

But bid the strain be wild and deep,
Nor let thy notes of joy be first;
I tell thee, Minstrel, I must weep,
Or else this heavy heart will burst;
For it hath been by sorrow nurst,

And ached in sleepless silence long;
And now 'tis doom'd to know the worst,
And break at once-or yield to song.
BYRON.

BEFORE proceeding with my narrative, it will be necessary to give my readers some account of this Master Rufus Mull, who was, according to all appearances, about to interfere in the path of my existence. Born of parents of low origin, and

brought into notice by his elder brother Hugh, who had emerged from obscurity by that never-failing ladder, the law; and who to great quickness and knowledge of his profession, added the more lucrative inclination to arrive at his ends by any means however equivocal, Rufus had become a sort of hanger-on to more than one family of distinction. His brother had met with much employment from parties who did not look too closely into the honesty of their purposes; and, if the truth must be known, had thus obtained the patronage of those who should have set a better example; among others, the countenance of Lady Shrewsbury, who resided principally at Wotton, with her grandson.

In this latter instance, through his brother, Master Rufus had obtained an introduction to the young Lord Lisle, and had become a necessary evil to the establishment; going out with his Lord to hunt, attending where he could be of any service, and executing various trivial commissions for his patron, which were alike beyond the capacity of a servant, and beneath the attention of a gentleman.

Besides this, he was that useful sort of thing on which my Lord might either vent his anger, or ex

ercise his wit.

Will it be believed, then, that Master Mead, a proud man by nature, who professed to admire all that was noble and good, and who had, or affected to have, a sincere solicitude for the welfare and happiness of his only child, did absolutely introduce and sanction the addresses of such a man as this; although he well knew the circumstances under which both his brother and himself had worked their way into notice. But to proceed; after the evening I have narrated, Master Mull became a constant visitor at our house, and there arose between us a cordial dislike. According to her desire, I took the greatest care never to leave him alone with Isabel, and he more than once had the insolence to hint at my constant attendance. At last to my horror, on Master Mead's return, he openly avowed himself under his sanction, an admirer and suitor for her hand. Weeks and months had now passed since this man's introduc