very early made the discovery that she was atrociously ugly. Upon my word, I think, by constantly dwelling on the subject in her own mind, she exaggerated her ugliness, as other people, by the same process, exaggerate their beauty. She seemed to take a pride in it: she petted it, and caressed it; and was quite pleased when her mirror discovered to her that she was looking at any time more than usually hideous. The father, also, seemed to be enchanted with her frightfulness. He was an ugly fellow himself, and took it as a sort of compliment that his daughter was a second edition of his own unloveliness. But with regard to Elizabeth, they both felt that there was some implied insult in all that flush of health and beauty. They could not exactly accuse her of having fine-cut features and graceful movements, and white hands, and small delicate feet, on purpose to spite them; but they felt that all was not right; that there was some latent undefined satire-perhaps a libel-in those bright sunny eyes and glossy ringlets; and, if the truth must be told, they hated her with all their hearts. And no wonder; she was such a provoking girl she laughed, and talked, and sang, all day long, unless when Susan had succeeded in bullying and tormenting her into a good cry. She ran out of the house without her bonnet, and slipped into No. 9, and gossiped, and talked, and laughed, and played on the piano, with the young Misses Forman, and then hurried back again when she was tired, and bounded into the drawing-room without wiping her shoes on the scraper; in short, she was a hoyden of the most undeniable character, and cared nothing at all about punctilios, and not much more for her sister, who was little else than a great ill-natured redhaired punctilio in propria persona. This lasted for a long time. Mr John Hibbert grew richer and richer every year, and would perhaps have been lord mayor of London if he had lived long enough: but he did not; for, when his youngest daughter was eighteen, and his eldest owned to twenty. three, though in reality she was twentysix, he was taken very unwell. grew more sour and crabbed than ever. He could not go every day, as he used to do, into the city; so he sat and sulked most tremendously, at home. Susan sat opposite, and

VOL. LI, No. CCCXV.

He

sulked too. Elizabeth couldn't sulk ; but she sat as quiet as she could, and tried to look unhappy: but beautiful girls of eighteen find it very difficult to look unhappy; and so she sometimes looked up from her work with a radiant smile, and was sure to be rebuked for it, as if it had been a heinous sin, by her father and sister. Then she began to cry, and they said she was sulky; then she smiled again, and they said she was thoughtless, and did not care whether her father lived or died; then she went up to her bed-room to avoid their reproaches, and they said she neglected the sufferer. In short, one pretty, silly, happy creature of eighteen, is no match for two ugly people that are determined never to be pleased. And Elizabeth was treated worse than Cinderella, without any fairy coming to give her carriages and fine clothes-a clear proof to me that there are no fairies left, or they would have done it to a certainty. But all this scolding at the poor girl, and grumbling at every thing else, did not do a bit of good to Mr Hibbert's complaint. He grew worse and worse, and, by sympathy, Susan scolded more and more. Both the maids rushed out of the house in a fit of frenzy, as if they were going to drown themselves in the Thames; the butcher's boy refused to take another joint to No. 7, and the grocer's apprentice meditated an attack on the till, and a flight to America. They were, therefore, unattended to, and nearly starved, and at last had to send Elizabeth round to the tradespeople, to niake matters smooth. The butcher's boy at the first smile agreed to deliver, if required, an ox per day, cut up into half pounds; and the grocer's apprentice became moral and religious all of a sudden, and would not have gone to America to be made president of the United States. Even the maids, when they came back about their boxes, agreed to stay, all for the sake of Miss Elizabeth. What two beautiful things are good nature and good looks! Hibbert sold off his stock in trade, and got a large sum for the good-will of the business-added up all his accounts, and found he was worth fifty thousand pounds. Fifty thousand pounds, and to live all his life at No. 7!- Poor man, he did not know that all his life was not to be

E

Mr

very long; and felt as much disgusted at the thoughts of being imprisoned in such a cottage, as if he was to live as long as Methusaleh. As long as he had been in business, he had never thought of the inadequacy of the house for a man of his possessions. I suspect money-making people, while in trade, think their houses a sort of back room to the office; a part of their commercial premises, and are very well pleased if they can get a chop in them, and a bed. But the moment they have closed the ledger, they are different beings. They have given up their office; why the deuce should they continue to live in the back room? Mr Hibbert looked every day through all the advertisements of the Times in search of an estate with a commodious mansion, fit for the reception of a family of respectability. Such a wonderful number of houses to be sold! all so beautiful-woods and lawns and waters it seemed as if Cubitt or Burton had got a lease of Paradise, and let it out in lots; but, on close enquiry, it turned out that sin had entered in and cut down the trees, or ploughed up the lawn, or let out the water, for the places were dreadfully ugly, and the houses in bad repair. At last he heard of an admirable place in the county of -, just the thing; finely cultivated land, spacious house,

elegantly furnished, and most select neighbourhood. Oh what a curious metamorphosis of our snarling friend in No. 7 A select neighbourhoodyes-he would get into the best society; give dinners to all and sundry, get a red cuff to his coat, and I. P. to his name. What a pity he should die just when he had concluded the bargain; three and twenty thousand pounds, the timber valued at three more-altogether, with expenses, and a few alterations, twenty-seven thousand pounds; leaving him twentythree thousand on a first-rate mortgage at five per cent. One little week before he was to take possession he became much worse-sent for another doctor-and for an attorney, to make his will. The other doctor came, and took his three guineas, and shook his head sagaciously as he left the house. The lawyer arrived, and shook his head sagaciously as he went in.

Now you may remark, that in those two professions, medicine and law, a great deal of meaning is conveyed by a shake of the head. The shake of the doctor said as plainly as words could have said it, that there were very few more three guinea fees to be had; and the attorney's was no less explicit as to his belief that the undertaker might reasonably calculate on a speedy summons.

So the lawyer was shown into the room, a dapper-looking little man about five-and-thirty years of age, with an amazingly clean shirt, ornamented with two gold pins; a bright blue satin waistcoat, with gold buttons; and three little chains across the breast, retaining his watch in the left-hand pocket, like the cables of a seventy-four at anchor at Spithead. All his clerks thought him the perfect beau-ideal of a gentleman, so we may be sure he had what is called an air distingué, which on this occasion was perhaps a little marred by a great blue bag which he carried in his hand. But, to be sure, even the blue bag he carried with a very distingué air, as they say Virgil scattered manure about his fields as if he had been a sovereign distributing crosses of the Guelphic order; and when he not Virgil, but the smart little attorney,

won't be long. I will tell you the substance, and you can put it into law. Item"

"Pardon me, my dear sir, we don't begin with item".

You end with a good many though."

"Ah, just the old man; always joking.'

"Never joked in my life, sir. Begin. I, John Hibbert, of Willerdon Hall, in the county of Esquire, leave all my property of all kinds whatever to my eldest daughter, Susan Hibbert, for her life, if she continues unmarried, and to her and her children for ever if she marries and has any, on condition of her paying an annuity of a hundred pounds to her sister, my daughter, Elizabeth Hibbert; and after her death to her child or children. And in case my eldest daughter dies without children, I then leave every thing to my second daughter, if then living, or her child or children, if she has any."

"And failing them, sir?" enquired the attorney.

"I don't care where it goes-put any body's name in you like."

Mr Tyem reflected above half a second; and, as he was directed to put down any one's name he liked, and he liked his only son better than any body else except himself, he enquired if he might insert the name of Augustus Tyem.

"You may put down the devil, I tell you!" answered the meek invalid, suffering probably from a twitch of pain!

"Oh, thank you, sir! I'll put down poor Augustus out of compliment, for he hasn't a chance-not the remotest. They'll both marry; they're so very good looking, especially Miss Hibbert.

"She's as ugly as sin, sir, and you know it. The other one is what they call pretty, and may marry without a fortune a thoughtless, careless gipsy"

66

Oh, I beg your pardon, my dear sir; indeed you are mistaken. Miss Hibbert hasn't, perhaps, such regular features; but there's a fine acute intelligent expression about her, that you must be a little blinded not to perceive."

"Well, turn all that I've said into proper phrases, and let me sign it, for I am tired."

The lawyer sat down and did as he was directed; and, by dint of sundry whereases, and furthermores, and neverthelesses, contrived to manufacture a document so totally unintelligible to ordinary men, that it bore strong internal tokens of being profoundly legal. When it was finished to his satisfaction, and carefully read over by Mr Hibbert, proper witnesses were called in, and the document was signed, sealed, and delivered, in due form. Then did Mr Tyem discover his politeness and good taste, and displayed his ingenuity at the same time, by pouring into the dying man's ear all the tittle-tattle, of the citythe late failures, the expected bankruptcies, the gallant news of the day; for Mr Tyem was a gay widower, and read the unstamped newspapers, and some of the stamped ones, every Sunday morning. Then he was eloquent about the East End Club, of which he was a member; and related various anecdotes of being overcharged twopence for lunch, and resisting the imposition with the indignation of a virtuous man, who never made an overcharge in his life; and finally, when the two girls fortunately came into the room, he had nearly succeeded in talking the almost speechless sufferer to death.

"Oh, father! how very ill you look!" said Elizabeth, horrorstruck at the change produced by the loquacity of the visiter.

That's always the way you go on"-exclaimed Susan in a sharp tone "always trying to frighten poor dear papa about his looks. I wish you wouldn't speak to him at all, if you can't give him any more comfort than that.'

But Elizabeth was not to be put down by sharp speeches, when she saw her father so dreadfully changed.

"Oh father," she said, "is there any thing I can do?-tell me," and she took his hand.

"Yes," said the father in a tone that might almost have been mistaken for Susan's, "you can hold your tongue and leave me alone."

"Your father, Miss Susan, has just done me the favour to dictate to me his will "said the attorney, smirking at the same time.

"Oh!" said Miss Hibbert enquir

to Miss Hibbert, that you have shown your sense of her merits by leaving her nearly your whole fortune." "Oh dear, I'm sure I never deserved it," said the now relieved young lady-and put the handkerchief to her face; but as only a few shrill notes proceeded from her diminutive nose, upon this demonstration, I cannot positively declare whether she succeeded in extracting a single tear. But Elizabeth, who considered the making of a will the very last act (as it too often is) of life, and that it was like the last speech and confession of a person on the scaffold, without hope either of reprieve or pardon, turned suddenly very pale, and sat down, and looked at the pallid face of her father in silence. "What a heartless creature she is," said Miss Hibbert to herself, taking a look at her from the corner of her pocket handkerchief, "to take on so about not being left any thing!-and not to care about dear papa!-I couldn't have thought it." You will remark that people who have not sense enough to enter into the better feelings of our calumniated nature, are never aware of that deficiency themselves, and are persuaded that the emotions of a pure and good mind are exactly the same as those of a vile and bad one. And so, from the great height of her contentment with her father's whole fortune, she looked down with the abhorrence becoming an affectionate daughter and a good Christian, on her poor sister, whose thoughts were very differently engaged. There certainly is some thing after all in natural affection, or why should Elizabeth have cared a straw for such a bitter cantankerous old tormentor as Mr Hibbert? But so it was: perhaps he had not always been unkind; perhaps, sometime or other when she was a child, he had kissed her, or played with her, or bent over her in her little crib at night; and the remembrance of that kindness, after lying dormant through many years of neglect and harshness, was awakened all of a sudden by the sight of his pain-contracted features. She slipt noiselessly across the floor, and without saying a word, while her eyes were filled with large glistening tears, she gently placed her arms round his neck, and kissed him.

"There now!" cried Susan starting-"She'll be the death of poor

papa! I always said so-always trying to work on his feelings-and he's so very sensitive, Mr Tyem. Is she hurting you, papa?"

"Yes," said the invalid, breathing with increased difficulty, and scarcely understanding the question; "she's leaning all her weight on my chest ; she's choking me, I can't get breathha-ha."

"There you hear what he says, Mr Tyem. He says she's choking him. For shame, Elizabeth-come away from him-do.'

Elizabeth, who had kept her head bent over the panting sufferer, watching the heavings of his chest with awe and terror, raised her face when her sister spoke to her. She would fain have poured out her pent-up affection on her father, or even on her sister, to whom the awful scene seemed to unite her more closely than she had ever felt before--but the pert cold face of that young lady repelled her; the angry tones of her father repelled her; the strange looks of Mr Tyem, who saw that his best way of paying court to the heiress was to insult the sister, repelled her; and so, feeling at that moment, more bitterly than ever, the utter loneliness of her situation, she lifted solemnly the unresisting hand of her father to her lips, and slowly left the room.

"I'm glad she's gone," said Miss Susan-" she's such a selfish creature, that Elizabeth, never taking the least trouble about poor dear papa, but always attending to her own amusements, even when he's so wretchedly ill as at present.-He's very isn't he?"

ill,

"Oh, yes, Miss Hibbert! I took care to attend particularly to your interest."

"And does the same will carry land as well as moveables?"

"Be quite easy, my dear young lady, don't agitate your sympathizing heart at this most trying crisis. May I assure you, that in me you will find a person who will never neglect your interests, and to whom your happiness will always be"

"Ha! ha!-air here!—air !—I can't get breath!" cried the sufferer, as if he were in reality choking-"take that girl off my neck-her arms suffocate me."

Mr Tyem dropt the hand he had taken in the zeal of his protestations;

and Miss Hibbert, telling her father to be quiet, rang the bell, and sent out for the assistance of a nurse. Mr Tyem, finding no further opportunity of showing his devotedness and admiration, gathered up his blue bag and retired; and Miss Hibbert, drawing her chair to the fire, and putting her feet on the fender, fell into a reverie, in which Willerdon Hall, and a vast deal of ready money besides, played no inconsiderable part. In the mean time, Mr Hibbert lay back in his arm-chair, pale and speechless, and struggling for breath; for Death's grasp was growing tighter and tighter, like the coils of a boa constrictor, round the writhing and panting carcass of a tiger.

In about a week, the shutters were all closed in No. 7, and the grief of Miss Hibbert seemed nearly inconsolable, and had such an effect on her temper, that she did not scold any body, not even her sister, for three whole days. She sat in her own room, laying out her future plans. Her detestation of her present suburban residence rose into a fury, now that she had it in her power to leave it; and she determined, as soon as the funeral was over, to go down and take possession of Willerdon Hall. She determined, at the same time, to alter her whole course of life: ambition had lain dormant for many years, in that very flat and very acidulated bosom; but now she made up her mind to make the most of her situation, and act up to the dignity of her rank. She was one of those individuals who think it a duty they owe to the public at large, and themselves in particular, to exact their extreme rights in all cases whatever; and that the best way of getting on in the world, is never to lay yourself under an obligation to another, if possible; and, at all events, never to lay any person whatever under an obligation to you. An amiable class of people, who invariably lay claim to the approbation of the world on the strength of this very Christian disposition, as if they were setting a good example of self reliance and independence. By the time she had settled all her concerns entirely to her own satisfaction, a long procession

started from No. 7 to the parish church; sorrowful peals were rung all day; hackney coaches, covered with crape, and containing all the personal and commercial friends of the defunct, followed at a slow pace an enormous hearse, ornamented with a multitude of waving plumes; and in a very few days, a great square slab of marble, sunk into the wall of the church, surmounted by a figure of charity very thinly clothed, and looking very cold and uncomfortable, announced to all who might be desirous of such information, that Mr John Hibbert had been the best, the wisest, and most benevolent of men, and that this tribute was paid to his memory, by the most grateful and affectionate of daughters. As the epitaph was from the classical pen of Mr Tyem, and duly charged for in his bill, we may safely enough conclude, that all the praises lavished on the deceased, were at all events not meant to be satirical, but rather a propitiatory sacrifice to the tender feelings of the afflicted heiress. As if in expectation of the good effects of this and the other instances of his regard for that most dismal young lady, he took an early opportunity of presenting himself in the little drawing-room, where, attired in deepest sables, she sat like an African Niobe, of somewhat diminutive size, all tears and white pocket handkerchief. She held out her hand listlessly, as if in the extremity of sorrow, and Mr Tyem entered at once