or got composed, poor fellow-a new tune to open the ball on Miss Lizzy's wedding-night, as he chooses to call her -and he says he has given. it a name which he is sure will make it find favor with her, whether the music be good or bad-he has called it Good Sir Walter'-Oh! how delighted I shall be to dance it !" what do you think?"-exclaimed Lu- It is, perhaps, scarcely possible for a cy, running to him, her whole counte- life to have flowed on more happily nance beaming with the expression of than his. The better and happier uncontrolled gaiety and pleasure, "Old feelings of humanity had combined to Crompton, the fiddler, has composed render his path one of sweetness and enjoyment, and the fiercer passions had never, by their action, caused a tumult in his soul. Cheerfulness had, especially, been the characteristic of Arlescot Hall :-thus poor Sir Walter, when he found himself a solitary man, suffered to a most pitiable degree. There is a term in use in some of the counties towards the midland, which we have no one word in general English to render. This word is unked. To those who know Oxfordshire, and the counties around it, its very sound will convey far more than any elaborate description I could give of Sir Walter's state. He was very unkedthat is, he felt that desolate sadness, and chilly sinking of the heart, which arises from being left in solitude by those we love but this periphrasis does not convey half what the low provincial word does to those who have been familiar with its sound. "The more so for its name, Lucy?" "Tenfold!-there is no one in the world so good and kind to me-no one whom I love half so well-except my father, and I assure you, he is of ten jealous of you. Oh! how I shall delight in this dance-I shall make it the tune of the whole county. You must dance it with me, Sir Walter, in honor of our dear Bessy's bridal." Sir Walter smiled and sighed almost at the same instant, as he answered, "You know, dear Lucy, I never dance- "" "Oh, but you do," she interrupted "I recollect your dancing Sir Roger de Coverly with me, the day I was ten years old-and, I am sure, our baronet is the better of the two. Besides, consider it is Bessy's wedding. Such events as that do not occur every day." "Thank God, No!" murmured Sir Walter, as he took Lucy's hand, and led her towards the dance. He was deeply moved, in some degree by the attachment thus shown him by his humble neighbors, but far more by the manner in which this mark of it had been announced to him. "Alas! this is the last time I shall see her thus at Arlescot !" thought he, as he gazed upon the brilliant creature who stood opposite to him, waiting with impatience for their turn to begin-and his heart heaved the heavier for the merry music to which they had given his name. The first week after his sister's marriage was, probably, the most wretched Sir Walter had ever passed. Oh! how cheerless was his breakfast!-Instead of his sister's kind face at the top of the table, (to say nothing of a brilliant one which used often to beam at the side,) there was -a blank! He literally started when, the first morning after his guest's departure, on coming into the room, be saw one solitary chair placed for him, before the great tea-urn, and all the breakfast apparatus. "I am alone, then!"-he said aloud—“ quite alone at last!-I shall never be able to endure this"-and truly there was no sweet voice, or friendly smile to strike upon his ear, or meet his eye a -as both eye and ear craved their accustomed objects of enjoyment. Dinner was perhaps more intolerable still. It is probable, that Sir Walter had not dined alone for seventeen years-and those who are in the habit of making one of a happy family circle round a hospitable board, need not be told how unked a solitary dinner is. But to Sir Walter it was totally a new state of existence. It had never occurred to him before to be alone at Arlescot !-It seemed to him a solecism in nature. "I cannot endure it!"-he exclaimed, the third day, as the butler closed the door behind him, after taking away the cloth. "I will have half-a-dozen people here before this time to-morrow, or my name is not Walter Meynell." Accordingly, he assembled a bachelor party, who remained with him about a week. But even this would not do for a continuance to a man who had been in the constant habit of living in society in which there are women, a continued male party, like a regimental mess, is intolerable. When they came into the drawingroom after dinner, they found no one to give change to the hunting, the politics, or the something worse, which had formed their topics of conversation there was no music-the pianoforte closed, and the harp, in its case, frowned in fixed dumbness upon those whom they had so often charmedthere was noin a word, there were no women in the house, and Sir Walter had never been without them before. I am quite aware that a great deal of this may, to some hypercritical people, appear very trivial: it is, nevertheless, perfectly true, as I am sure many persons, who are something far better than hypercritical, will bear me out in asserting. It so happened that, on the night before the last of this party were to leave him, Sir Walter, in passing along the gallery at the extremity of which his bed-room was situated, chanced to inhale the scent of the verbenas, which were still preserved in "Ariel's Bower." He opened the door, and went in. There was a strange mixture of effect in the aspect of this room, from some remains of particular and individual habitation, which were still apparent, and from its actual absence. With the careful housewifery of that day, the curtains, both of the windows and of the bed, were pinned and papered up, and a chimney-board showed that there was 37 ATHENEUM, VOL. 1, 3d series. no near prospect of a fire: but, on the other hand, the heliotrope and verbena still flourished in their green beds, and shed a powerful fragrance throughout the room; while some drawings of the house and grounds of Arlescot, which Lucy herself had done, hung on the walls, and gave token of who had been the occupant of the chamber. But Sir Walter needed no such extraneous fillip to divert his mind towards Lucy. He had, indeed, though he had scarcely mentioned her name, even in his own mind, thought of little else since she had left him. But now, as he stood in her very chamber, and gazed upon the traces, not only of herself, but of her interest in Arlescot, he gave the reins to his thoughts, and drew fairy visions of events, scattered through a long series of years, which had taken place during her visits, and of which she had been the heroine-and, though the last, certainly not the least, was the adventure of Good Sir Walter," on the night of Elizabeth's wedding.I will go over to Wilmington to-morrow" said he-after having remained some minutes surveying the room, and all that it contained-" it is time I should. Lucy will think I am forgetting her-or, what is worse, she will forget me." Sir Walter was most graciously received on his visit to Wilmington. Some little complaints were made of its delay-"I thought," said Lucy, you had died of solitude and the ghosts, now you are left alone in that dear, rambling old house. Mercy! how desolate it must look without Elizabeth, or me, or any of us!" "It is, indeed," said Sir Walter, with a melancholy tone, which struck Lucy with remorse, for having touched upon what she believed to be the string that had jarred, his parting from his sister. "Nay, you must not let your sorrow for Elizabeth's departure depress you thus. She will come and visit you in the spring, and we will renew our merry doings as of yore. Mind you keep the bower in full bloom and beauty for Ariel-herblossoms that hang on the bough' in particular." They are all thriving-I visited the bower last night-and oh! Lucy, how desolate it looked! I could scarcely bear it!-yet I went again this morning, to bring a sample of the flowers to their absent owner." As he spoke, Sir Walter produced a very beautiful bouquet of the two plants so often mentioned, and gave it to Lucy. There was a difference in the sort of tone, not easy to analyze or describe, in which Sir Walter addressed her-but which may easily be felt. He had never used it towards her but once before, and that was when he wished her good night on the evening of Elizabeth's marriage. It was, perhaps, more rapid and stronger then, but it was more clear, firm, and decided now. The fact is that, on the former occasion, it was unconscious, and now it was designed. The visit to Ariel's Bower the night before-all the retrospect of his past feelings, and the examination of his existing ones, had served finally to dissipate the film which was already fast falling from Sir Walter's eyes. He felt that he loved Lucy Adair-and so gradually had the sentiment been gaining possession of his heart, that when, at last, he became thoroughly conscious of its existence, so far from shrinking from it with the surprise and fear which he would have felt some months before, he welcomed it with delighted and unchecked joy. Still, as he rode alone towards Wilmington, he had felt the strongest despondency as to his chances of success. "She has always thought me so much older than herself-and, truth to say, there are some one-and-twenty years between us-she has known me since she was a child, and looked to me as her father's friend-though there are eight good years, the other way, between us again, which is some comfort-and then she is so beautiful, and of such brilliant animation and wit!-Noshe can never love me!—And yet I have all the feelings of long-rooted af fection on my side. My sister is her dearest friend-and her affection for her is unbounded. It is true that sister might almost be my daughter-but still the name of sister's friend is something!" Accordingly, the tone of which I have spoken was purposely thrown into the voice-or rather the voice was given free scope-and, all control over it being removed, it spoke in the key that nature prompted. Sir Walter's visit ended by Mr. Adair asking him to come the next day and stay a week, "as he must be so lonely at home." "Truly I am so," answered Sir Walter-"I will come most joyfully." It so chanced that there was at this period staying in the house at Wilmington, a young gentleman, equivalent to what would now be an officer of hussars, which individual species is a more modern exotic-who had come down to shoot, and who thought that so beautiful a girl as Lucy, and the succession to the Wilmington property, might be worth adding to his exploits during his campaign in the country. But, in despite of the moustache, and the town-air, and the undeniableness of all the appointments of the dragoon, he made but little progress in his chasse à l'héritière. He had not "taken her in band," as he phrased it, more than a quarter of an hour, before she regarded him in the light of Dogberry, and "wrote him down an ass." In truth, without being quite that, he was by no means a man to cope with Lucy Adair. She went a good deal too fast for him, and put him out of breath-she went a great deal too deep for him, and left him floating on the surface of Information, in infinite fear and danger of being drowned. "Still," drawled the exquisite, (to call him by the name he would now bear,) "she will have, at least, four thousand pounds a year; and, as for all this nonsense, let me once marry her, and she shall not dare to say her soul's her own." With this moderate and humane intention, the dragoon continued his rived, in the drawing-room, waiting siege-and on the day Sir Walter ar- fore his mind the constant consciousness that this man was fifteen or sixteen years younger than himself, and this was wormwood to him. It is true that Lucy gave him no encouragement-but the fellow's coolness and assurance were such that he did not seem to need any-but went on as though he was received in the most favorable manner possible. Once or twice, indeed, he was protected from annihilation by that shield thicker far than the seven-fold buckler of Ajaxnamely, that of perfect and unshaken Ignorance. Otherwise had a shaft from " 'quaint Ariel's" bow slain him more than once. severe. Sir Walter advanced to Lucy, however, and though his voice shook a little, his How-d'yes had all the fond friendliness of old times-perhaps a little more. Lucy dropped the dragoon, and was in the middle of a recapitulation to Sir Walter of a letter she had received that morning from Elizabeth, when dinner was announced. The officer, who had been during this time, to use a most expressive Scottish phrase, "like a hen on a het girdle," then stepped forward, and stretching forth a pinion towards Lucy, muttered, "Permit me”—“I believe, Sir," said Sir Walter, "I have the privilege of ancienneté-I am an older friend." So saying, he offered his arm to Lucy, who, slightly bowing to the petrified equestrian, passed on with Sir Walter. Sir Walter could not long endure this feverish state of existence. It need, therefore, cause no very great surprise that on the fifth morning of his visit when the soldier had been peculiarly pugnacious the evening before-he said to her-"Lucy, I want to have a long conversation with you put on your capote, and come and walk with me along the river." She complied frankly, and at once. And now the single-heartedness and open manliness of Sir Walter's character were most conspicuous. He was placed in a situation in which many men of far greater commerce with the world and with women lose all self-possession, and behave like ninnies. He, on the contrary, under the strong and steady impulse of a pure and generous passion, spoke, with gentleness indeed, but clearly, firmly, and straight-forwardly. The presence, however, of this puppy was a constant blister to poor Sir Walter's feelings-though he kept a perfect command over his temper. Lucy," he said, "I think you "The fellow is handsome-there's no will feel great surprise at what I am denying it,"thus argued Sir Walter, about to say to you. I myself, indeed, who, not being able to rate him as a feel great surprise that I should have Cyclops, chose to consider him an it to say. Two months ago, I would Apollo at once-" he wears mousta- not have believed it possible, and yet ches, and belongs to a crack corps it is the work of years. Lucy, I love and he is always at Lucy's ear; you; not with that brotherly affection "I fear this blank was filled which bound us with Elizabeth in up with an expletive not fit to be such sweet union at Arlescot-but written in these delicate times, but with a love in comparison with which which may be considered as invoking that is pale and poor;—I love you, upon the head of the unhappy bestri- with as fervent and as fond a passion der of chargers a very hearty curse. as man can bear towards woman. It The real fact was, Sir Walter had be- is only since my sister's mar riage that I have known this-but I now know that the sentiment has existed long-long. Oh, Lucy! you cannot conceive my desolate state of feeling when I found myself suddenly cut off from your society,—I felt I feel that I cannot live without you." He paused for a moment to collect himself he found that the violence of what he felt had carried him beyond what he had intended. Lucy spoke not. She kept her eyes upon the ground-her cheek was flushedand the hand which rested on Sir Walter's arm slightly trembled. He continued. "But I must not suffer my feelings to run away with me thus -I must first learn what you feel. I am aware, perfectly aware, of all the disadvantages under which I labor. The close friendship which binds you to my sister cannot conceal the fact that I am more than twenty years older than you are—or that you may possibly consider my disposition too staid to harmonize with yours.-But yet they never jarred," he added in a softer and more broken tone-" we have passed happy days together-and, could you feel aught approaching to that which has gained possession of my whole soul, those days might be renewed with tenfold happiness. At all events, do not reject my suit hastily. Pause before you destroy for ever the visions of joy which my busy thoughts, almost against my will, have woven for us-at least, consider what I have said." "Sir Walter," answered Lucy, in a voice in which resolution and agitation struggled hard for mastery-"this conduct is like all your actions, candid, manly, noble. I will strive to return frankness with frankness, and to throw aside all petty evasions, as you have done. In the first place, what you have said has not caused me surprise. I have been prepared for it since your first visit here, after my return from Arlescot-and I then saw that I ought to have had nothing to learn on that score since the ball on Bessy's wedding night. Sir, I hope these acknowledgments are not un maidenly-I hope not, for they are the truth. I then did feel surprise-surprise that one like Good Sir Walter Meynell should feel interest of this nature for such a wild, thoughtless, giddy girl as I am. Next it made me feel proud, that, with all my faults, such a man should have cast his eyes upon me; and lastly, the crowd of old recollections which flooded my heart and mind, made me feel that my best and dearest happiness had been known at Arlescot-and that while I had long felt towards its owner as a dear brother, a short time would enable me to love, as well as respect, him as a husband. You see," she added in a tone scarcely audible—“ you see I am frank, indeed." I don't know whether my readers will be surprised at this-but, mutatis mutandis, the same causes had worked the same effect upon Lucy as they had upon Sir Walter. She had been deeply touched by his manner, during the interval between the announcement and the celebration of Elizabeth's marriage. She saw plainly what pain the general break-up of their intercourse and all their habits of daily life gave him, and it was by no means with a light heart that she had left Ariel's bower for the last time. She knew that it probably was not the last time in reality, inasmuch as when Elizabeth came to Arlescot, she would of course be there; but still she felt that it was for the last time as regarded the lang syne tone and footing to which she had been habituated for so many happy years. "Dear, good Sir Walter,"she had said to herself, as her carriage drove from the door-" well may they call him so-for, certainly, never did a better heart beat within a human bosom. Alas! for the dear days of Arlescot-I shall see them no more!" It was on Sir Walter's visit, that the tone of voice which I noted so minutely, and his general manner, opened Lucy's eyes to the whole truth; they might have opened the eyes of the blind. Her surprise was extreme. "Can it really be?" thought she"Oh no-I am deceiving myself-it is |