ceed to Presburg, and then, concentrating all his thoughts upon his commercial difficulties, went forward to expedite his progress to England. Among the conjectures which his mind had received and rejected, again and again, was want of faith on the part of Johnson, in whose hands had been vested the power of drawing on his banker to a large amount ; but as he recalled the experience of the past years, which had teemed with evidence of the old man's rectitude and attachment, he cast from him the suspicion, and felt convinced that if anything had happened to annul his honest purpose, it had been death, disease, anything but delinquency. Thus in a vain, but natural course of tormenting thought, he proceeded, intending to reach England by the way of Ostend, when he verified the old adage, that “the more haste the worse speed." He was stopped for the examination of his passport, and an impediment presented itself in his ignorance of the language in which he was addressed. He saw clearly that he was an object of suspicion. The officials spoke to him in German and French, but he understood neither. During his previous journey, his wife's knowledge of the French language, and the Roden's acquaintance with English, had shut from his view his deficiency and its probable consequences. For the time being the matter ended by his being conducted to prison. Few events of his life had annoyed him more than this.

With a frame still suffering under debility and indisposition ; with a mind a prey to anxiety, and panting with the most intense desire for dispatch, the weary hours of that night were the heaviest he ever passed. In the morning he was conducted into the presence of the superior officer. The original difficulty remained. Herman paused in perplexity, and then attempted to make himself understood by speaking Latin. The officer smiled and did likewise ; but though the difficulty was thus diminished, the difference of their respective pronunciation was an insurmountable bar to the perfect communication necessary, till the official thought of pen and ink, and put his interrogatories into writing ; they were immediately answered, and Herman was set at liberty. The cause of his detention had been the circumstance of his wearing a wig, which he did in consequence of having had his head shaved during his recent illness, and in his passport he was described as wearing bis own hair.

His future progress was attended by no impediment worthy of note. Arrived in London, he sought out Johnson.

It were difficult to have decided on which of the two, since the evening

they had last met, the greatest change had been wrought. Anxiety had done haggard work on both. All was soon explained. The wreck of Mr. Miller's affairs had been contingent on the ruin of Fauntleroy, who had been his banker, and the depository of his whole fortune. Johnson, when the catastrophe occurred, knew not where to find his employer, and powerless to meet the demands upon his house, an act of bankruptcy and subsequent outlawry was the consequence.

Herman now knew the worst ; he looked ruin in the face ; but with less firmness than he would once have done ; he was not now alone, to breast the storms, and bear the buffets of poverty. The arrangement of his commercial affairs, and, though he might never reinstate his fortune, to re-establish his character, was his great, his all-engrossing object. Day and night, aided by the indefatigable Johnson, he pursued his purpose ; his estate paid seventeen shillings in the pound, and, in the secret counsel of his heart, he resolved, that, if life were allowed him, a day should come that should see the rest liquidated. Thus far the principle of integrity was appeased ; but he owed a large debt to prudence, which a long life of future discretion could scarcely retrieve. The folly, the madness of a commercial man going forth, as he did, with

6 Youth at the prow, and pleasure at the helm," could neither be forgotten nor forgiven by the jurors to whose peculiar scanning his case lay open ; he could not, now that he calmly considered it, forgive it to himself. However, restored to the moral position his integrity commanded, his mind gradually righted, he looked upon the necessity of beginning life anew with increasing firmness, and felt, in the person of his wife, that he had a lien on happiness. Yet at times, with the apprehensive reaction consequent on his late rashness, and recent experiences of the conduct of some former florid friends, he would think of Berthawould ask himself, if greatly brave and generous as she had been at the bursting of the storm, would she bear equally well the sullen weather into which it had subsided the drear waste of struggling fortune upon which it had thrown them? In the midst of these doubts and fears, which resulted from physical even more than moral causes, came her assuring and supporting letters; and Johnson, the honest, high-hearted, grateful old man, he rallied to the rescue valiantly. Resisting every proposal and attempt for placing him in other employment, he exclaimed,

a

a

No, no, Sir, we sink or swim together! You shall never get out of my reach again, believe me !"

Herman smiled and yielded, and was soon flung in helpless dependence upon his old friend. In the midst of considering a small plan of business, (having with a spirit of independence declined aid which would have launched him somewhat imposingly), he was, as the winter advanced, attacked by fever and ague, and again the once strong and still struggling man was cast down. This new calamity was studiously concealed from Bertha, till the progress of the disorder rendered it impossible for him to write. Johnson was then summoned to act as his amanuensis, and they conferred together over the excuses to be put forth, till Herman exclaimed,

" The attempt is folly: she would penetrate the reality, or apprehend still worse. Take a fresh sheet and write as I dictate. • A circumstance not worth relating takes the pen out of my hand, but it is held by a faithful and attentive friend, to whom I owe more than I can express, or shall ever be able to repay. I shall reinstate my affairs, but not for some time-till then-till I can l'ealize a home in some degree suited to your habits, I say nothing of your deserts, consent, I entreat you, to remain where you are

in the shelter of friendship, opulence, and (since in the exercise of your abilities) in independence. No such field is

open

for

you here, and it would sink me yet lower to see you suffer with me. Cling then to such support as you have, since I, a broken reed, have none to offer you. I will again to work to build ир.

home then come to me-it will be no home till you are in it.'”

This effort had been followed by a fit and its usual subversion of strength ; Johnson, during his tendance debated with himself whether he ought to conceal the state of his affairs from the absent wife; but Herman's malady, though distressing, was not dangerous, and he had great constitutional energy. His mind, in its ever restless action, was the great bar to his recovery, and the derangement of his whole nervous system bowed his spirit at inoments to the deepest depression.

When the next post brought him no letters, nor another, nor many after that, in spite of every effort, hope and confidence began to give way. He remembered the balance there was in human character: he recollected the adage, as applicable to morals as machinery, that what is gained in velocity is lost in weight-he knew that the tide which will flow very high will also

NO. XXIII, VOL. IV.

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G G

ebb very

low. He examined his own claims to the unlimited devotion of a woman so endowed, and, with the natural severity of selfjudgment which high morality ever institutes, he deemed himself an utter bankrupt, with no right to murmur should he find his moral wreck equal to his commercial ruin. An anguish heavier than

any that had yet weighed upon his heart oppressed him, and he yearned for release from the burden. He requested Johnson to leave him, and that in so decided a manner, that the

poor

old man, though unwilling and uneasy, complied. When alone, Herman turned to his solitary fireside : he looked round at the scene of desolation his habitation presented, as if taking a last survey, when he perceived that the door of his apartment was open.

The process of discomfiture takes increase from very minor causes ; desirous to secure perfect privacy the circumstance annoyed him ; perhaps the cold of that November evening was making itself felt, and assisting to stagnate the sinking pulses of his heart. He slowly rose, and was about to close the door, when voices arrested his attention—he paused, there was something in the murmurs that moved even his languid curiosity; at least, it served to call him for a moment from a dangerous self-engrossment. There were steps upon the stairs, and again voices, and one among them of which the words were few, low, and hurried ; but it fell upon

his heart, not upon his ear. He moved feebly forward, in the dim light he beheld a form—it glided towards him.

The next instant arms were about his neck, tears upon his face, and a heart beating warmly wildly upon his breast.

Prosperity has no gratification that can compete with such a burst of happiness when it breaks upon the darkness of calamity, making even calamity precious as the purchase of a joy so intense. Never did magician scatter gloom and call up light as did Bertha in that moment when she was folded to the bosom of her despairing husband, while to her all she had ever enjoyed was poor in comparison to the joy of bringing him comfort, and regaining her guarantee for hope and happiness.

Little more remains to be said. Her silence had been caused by the chances that deprived her of a mother's hopes ; as soon as practicable, converting some jewellery she possessed into money by the aid of the friendly Rodens, who liberally repaid her brief but valuable services, she made her way to England under the pressure of deep anxiety. To this little fortune Johnson insisted on adding the savings of his life, and thus a small capital was submitted

a

to the application of Herman's talent, Johnson resuming his old post with resolute devotion. In the outset of their new career Mrs. Miller accepted some engagements as a daily governess, which, as her husband's prospects improved, were resigned for the dear exclusive duties of her domestic life. Johnson became the friend of heart and hearth in that home of unique enjoyment. Largely had all parties profited by sorrow : they felt that they owed a debt of gratitude to their calamities, since they had thrown out in such strong relief moral qualities which had never otherwise been so truly known-had tested attachments which would probably have slumbered into satiety in the fair weather of unbroken fortune. Their mental energies new strung-their tried attachment permanently based, they felt that well-directed occupation and moderate relaxation were among the staples of happiness, which may be lost in the pursuit of pleasure, never in that of improvement.

M. L, G.

DODYPOL, THE CLERK.

A TALE OF A LONDON FOG.

It was about one hour after noon, on a day in the foggy month of November, 18—, that the metropolis was visited with one of those extremely dense fogs, which are happily very rare visitors, and which generally occasion much personal detriment and inconvenience to worthy citizens, whenever they oceur.

The fog we allude to was one of the rarest. As servant-maids in areas declared, you might cut it with a knife. Indeed it was almost possible to do what you pleased with it -except drive it away. That you couldn't do, for it grew denser and denser every

instant. It was evidently determined to be as troublesome and alarming as a fog could be.

See the houses opposite ? You couldn't see your own toes. Judge what jostling there was in the human current in such thoroughfares as the Strand and Cheapside. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

There was no mistake about that fog. London seemed to have grown weary of existence, and to be bent upon stifling itself. Of course there was a cessation to all business. People who were within doors became very pleasant with themselves in congratulations at their good fortune, and people without, rapidly lost their