ling through the dust and cobwebs of their age, graced the plenteous board; how Pestlepolge would sit up, long after midnight, all by himself, locked up in his own room, writing as if for life, whilst old Marmaduke was fast asleep in bed; and how the youthful Penelope was at once installed as mistress, even over the head of the veteran housekeeper, who thereupon resigned, in huge disgust, and went off to the ranks of the enemy on the instant.

Had a bomb-shell fallen upon the quiet hamlet, scattering death and destruction on every side, it could not have excited half the astonishment that all these tales created. At church, the vicar's most eloquent sermons were unheeded, in the anxiety the whole congregation felt to watch every glance and movement of old Hutton and his new allies. At every merry-making the latest story about them was discussed in all its bearings. Every teadrinking had its gossip about them, whereat the stalest scandal was canvassed and believed; and, coupled with Walter Mordaunt's disappearance, and Dick Burton's narrative of his adventure with the Courtenays, kept the whole parish in a ferment of conjectures and suspicions for months to come.

Although perfectly aware of the excitement they created, neither Pestlepolge nor his daughter seemed to notice it in the least. Until Marmaduke Hutton was convalescent, they remained entirely invisible to the whole community; but when the old man was able to limp down stairs again, and wheeze, and whine, and grumble, as was his wont, over the fire all day, then they altered at once their mode of procedure. The old, crazy chaise was brought out from the coach-house, and the trio proceeded to pay visits of ceremony to every one within the pale of respectability, in the neighbourhood. The whole village sat in state, in best parlours, decked out in best caps, and grey silk gowns, that had appeared times out of mind, at weddings and christenings, half a century before; burly yeomen and buxom farmeresses forgot ploughing, and churning, and cheese-making in their novel gentility. Old ladies grew dissipated over elder wine and souchong; and the old men sat and smoked on the summer nights, and predicted the speedy ruin of their ancient compeer, and the certain disgrace, sooner or later, of his new confederates.

And then, as if to give the lie to all such speculations, Marmaduke Hutton determined to give a ball, in honour of his guests; and as such a thing had never been known to happen, ever since his taking possession of the estate, the ferment was at its height on the instant. Wild stories, taking their rise none knew how, of the splendour of the preparations, and the total disregard to expense in the arrangements, were at once rife in every genteel household in the parish; and Marmaduke found every invitation accepted, with the exception of the Hardings and Dick Burton-Barbara, of course, would go.

It was a delicious June night, with a cloudless sky, and the full moon just rising over the hills that girdled the parish as an amphitheatre of peaceful beauty: it was the time of hawthorn buds, when every breath of air swept balmily by, laden with a thousand sweet perfumes; when the world had more of heavenly beauty than of earthly stain upon it, and the enraptured spirit mounted in adoration to the starry portals of the skies; when every leafy knoll and every brake rang with the melody of the nightingales; and every ivied cottage, with its quaint lattices, and chimneys, and gables, stood out in moonlit beauty against the sapphire sky; the very bark of the distant house dog seemed in unison with the time, and the tiny murmur of the brook, as it gurgled over its pebbly bed, had a charm about it that it never had in the staring daylight, and lent its own soothing music to the hour and the

scene.

Dear reader, if you have not experienced it for yourself, believe me, that it is the pleasantest thing in all the world, on such a night as we have attempted to describe, to form one of a merry troop, all bound for some old-world country house, to take part in that gayest of all mundane pleasures, a country ball; the hearty, unsophisticated conversation of the old folks, which all the grandeur of their Sunday-best cannot entirely subdue; the hilarous mirth of the young men, and the frolicsome coquetry of the young ladies; the handing over dangerous stiles, and the leaping across provoking ditches; the lingering behind the rest to snatch a kiss, or whisper a love speech; the laughing, and joking, and singing, by turns, added to the anticipation of all that may be in store, is a treat a thousand times beyond what any one, 'in populous cities pent,' can picture to their more sober and matter-offact imaginations.

Now, Dick Burton had, from the first, vehemently declared his determination of absenting himself from Marmaduke Hutton's, on this solemn occasion; and, as he coupled this resolution with many very complimentary allusions to the latter's body and soul, in a future state, Barbara at once determined to go without him, and procure a substitute instead; and her choice, accordingly, fell upon little Solomon Cash, parish clerk and pedagogue, who, besides being an ancient flame of Miss Barbara's, was a distant relative of Marmaduke, as well; and therefore perfectly eligible as her protector on the present occasion.

All this had been settled between Barbara and her ancient lover, several days beforehand, and therefore when Solomon drove up in front of the little green wicket, in a gig duly hired for the purpose, at the hour of eight, Barbara, arrayed in all her bravery, was ready, waiting to accompany him.

We feel that we ought to describe the valorous and amorous Solomon Cash, and his venerable vehicle, more at length. Solo

mon's gig, then, was a heavy, creaky, lugubrious-looking affair, with a green body and red wheels, fashioned very like a hearse, and perched up so high behind, that, what with the knobby corners of the hood, poking you in the small of the back, behind, whenever the vixenish horse, Goliah, gave a plunge, as he very frequently did-added to the knotty nature of the cushions beneath, and the narrow ledge allowed for the feet to rest upon in front, you felt, after travelling half-a-dozen miles in it, over a stony road, very much as State criminals in ancient times, I should imagine, felt when being broken on the wheel. Goliah, Solomon's steed, too, was a wild, rampant, dare-devil brute, with a temper so perfectly unaccountable, that whip and spur were quite out of the question with him; and although at one time he would bolt forward, with flashing eyes and snorting nostrils, tail on end, through thick and thin, for a mile or more, and then stand perfectly still after such a feat, until he saw fit to proceed, yet, after all, he managed to get over the ground in respectable time, so that it was the safest way to leave him to himself.

Solomon Cash was a little withered-looking man, with a little white pigtail behind, that kept continually wagging and jerking, with every vibration of its owner's head; a low, wrinkled forehead; small bleared eyes; a large, thin-hooked nose; puckered cheeks, totally devoid of colour; and a very long chin, made him. look much older than he really was. Solomon had, however, looked old at twenty; so that, of course, he couldn't look very young when he was double that age; and his style of dress was equally antiquated and singular with his looks. His snuff-brown coat rose straight up to the nape of his neck, and fell down in broad square tails almost to his feet, making him look all body and no legs, behind, and when you viewed him in front, these appendages (for in Solomon they were nothing else) were so twisted, and shaky, and wasted away, that you felt as if they could have been very well dispensed with altogether. His scarlet waistcoat, which was ornamented with large silver buttons, reached quite below his waist, and, to give him a rakish appearance, he had on the present occasion donned knee breeches and white silk stockings, which, from the shrunken nature of his nether limbs, were almost entirely invisible, and were finished off by a pair of flat splay feet ornamented with silver buckles.

Goliah was far too skittish a steed for such a timid and inexperienced charioteer as Solomon Cash to give his own way to, so when he drove up to the green wicket Solomon never dreamed of descending, but sate perched up in his place, eyeing Goliah all the time with the most praiseworthy solemnity, and squeaking out a salutation to Miss Barbara as she proceeded, with the aid of a chair, to mount up to her appointed place beside him.

Now this was by no means an easy feat, for Goliah being of a

playful disposition, and by no means disposed to let Miss Barbara off so easily, pranced and curvetted to such an extent that Barbara immediately threatened to go off into strong hysterics on the instant, and Solomon, being constrained to exhibit his charioteering capabilities, screamed, and shouted, and coaxed the unruly brute, mingling his shrill pipe with that of his old flame, until the two rose up in a mingled jargon of terror and despair, the little clerk looking so ridiculously like a gaily bedizened ape as he sat cocked up on his perch, that the dusty miller's-men could only grin their appreciation of the fun.

At length Goliah condescended to stand still, and then Solomon, inflamed with a desire of immortality, had the temerity to bring Goliah a cutting stroke over the haunches, and the fiery brute, with a snort of pain, sprang madly forward in a cloud of dust, and after leaving the gaping crowd far behind, curvetted playfully on one side into a shallow ditch, dragging the crazy gig after him, with Barbara in imminent danger of being deposited in all her grandeur into its slimy stream, and at another moment sweeping madly forward again right into the middle of a formidable horsepond, the dangerous contents of which, in a semi-liquid state, fell in a perfect shower on either hand, threatening imminent danger to the carefully clear-starched ruffles, and well preserved coat of the valiant pedagogue, who, with a blind reliance on Providence, sat, like the bridegroom in young Lochinvar, saying never a word, beside his horrified companion.

"Marry, come up! and you to give yourself airs about driving ladies in tandems to balls, you little monkey!" cried Barbara, at length, when Goliah had at last condescended to take to the road again; "you, indeed, to have such assurance!"

"Phew! aren't we going nicely, Miss Bab?" squeaked Solomon, trying to outbrave Barbara's wrath; "just look at Goliah, now, how he stretches himself out to his work! he's a perfect picture, mem, and as for his playful freaks-"

"Pretty pictures we'll be, Solomon," retorted Barbara, disdainfully, as she eyed her delicate swan's-down spencer, on which an ominous spot exhibited itself; "that is, if we ever do get there in all this world, and that, judging by your achievements, looks very apocryphal, indeed !"

Barbara drew a very long breath after this speech, which Solomon received with becoming meekness, for he had discovered, during their long courtship, that to dispute with his companion was but to feed the flame of discord; he therefore merely twitched Goliah gently over the shoulders, and Barbara immediately gave vent to an angry scream, for the knobby corner of the gig-hood had come in contact with one of the angular points so liberally distributed about her person, and she at once began more venomously than

ever.

"In fact, Solomon Cash, it's quite preposterous my expecting ever to get to Ripley to-night with you, so I'll thank you, sir, to let me get down, and go on without me; only mind you, if you do get there to-night, without a broken neck, it's what, from your present audacious conduct, you have no right to expect."

"Now, Miss Bab!" cried Solomon, blushing all over at the stinging tone in which this insult was uttered, "if you mean to say you intend to get down, and leave me and Goliah to go to Ripley all alone, I must tell you it's not to be thought of for one moment. Out of this gig you don't stir until we get to our journey's end, and that's plain speaking, Miss Bab, and no mistake."

"And I tell you I will get down, Solomon Cash!" cried Barbara, making an ineffectual attempt to snatch the reins out of Solomon's hands, which of course had the effect of making Goliah rear bolt upright on his haunches, and then plunge forward in splendid style, whereupon Solomon, with a triumphant scream, bade Barbara "keep hard hold, for the beast was off for certain, now," which he certainly was in a most alarming degree.

First a snort, and a plunge, and a flourish of his long tail, which made the gig shake to such an extent that every bone in their bodies ached again; then another snort, as, like a flash of lightning, they were carried past trees, and gates, and cottages, and mills, darting up hills, and plunging down banks, that almost brought the gig over upon him, whilst Solomon groaned, and Barbara screamed, in mingled pain and terror, for it was really becoming fearful now, and both wished themselves well out of it.

To their great relief Ripley Grange appeared in sight at length, and the vixenish Goliah became, as if by magic, as tractable as a lamb, in an instant, and with a heartfelt prayer, Solomon threw the reins to a groom, and, dismounting from his perch, assisted the still terrified Barbara to alight. The latter had not yet recovered her breath, else she would have favoured him with another explosion as they entered the house, which was a perfect blaze of light, and already apparently crammed with guests.

"Now, Solomon," said Barbara, in whose manner the nervousness of her novel situation mingled most oddly with her natural acerbity of temper, as they ascended the stairs, "Remember, when you see Mr. Hutton and Mr. Pestlepolge, you make a very elegant bow, and after you have handed me down from tea, you must ask me to dance, you must not forget that, Solomon, you know," added Barbara, with maidenly coyness, darting a loving glance at her bewildered companion.

"Sartinly not, Mis Bab," whispered Solomon, ogling his ancient flame in a manner that he fancied was vastly killing; "Oh my! did you ever see such a scene?" as the ball-room, in all its splendour, burst upon his enraptured gaze: "Whew! but Marmaduke is doing it in style, and no mistake."