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

"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 ill, isn't he?"

"Oh, very,” replied Mr Tyem, in the tone of a man answering a question to which he feels an affirmative answer is the only welcome one-" I should say he can't last a day

There was a pause after that, during which the young lady again hid the red peak of her nose behind the pocket handkerchief.

Mr Tyem respected the sufferings of an amiable daughter in these distressing circumstances, and half made up his mind to propose on the spur of the moment.

"Is the will all signed?" enquired the tender-hearted girl, with a catch in the voice, that before friendly audi. tors might have been considered a very good imitation of a sob.

“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;

Mr

and Miss Hibbert, telling her father to be quiet, rang the bell, and sent out for the assistance of a nurse. 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

into the spirit of the scene, and shook it with so woe-be-gone an air, that you might have fancied he also had buried his father and succeeded to L.50,000. Whether he assumed these mournful appearances in right of the contingent interests of his son, I cannot say, but it must have been something of the sort that enabled him to be so profoundly touched, for it is an ascertained thing, in all affairs of the kind, that the external demonstrations of grief bear a remarkable proportion to the internal satisfaction; and therefore, a person who is not benefited by a death, has no possible right to appear to regret it.

"I am glad to see you bear this blow so well, Miss Hibbert," he began, in a pathetic tone of voice; "to be sure it was what was to be expected from your excellent sense."

"I don't bear it well, Mr Tyem; I'm surprised to hear you say I bear it well. I can't bear it at all. Oh

dear, oh dear!"

"Come, come, I see you are making noble struggles to subdue your natural feelings. You mustn't dwell on such sorrowful subjects always. Life is all before you the admiration of all who make your acquaintance, the affection of some who know you well. Ah!"

Miss Hibbert buried her face deeper in her handkerchief, to give herself time to think. The tone of voice struck her as something different from what she had ever heard before. Indeed, the combination of such words as admiration and affection with her name was enough to startle her. "Has this fellow the audacity," she thought, "to fancy he can talk me over?" She felt so convinced of her own ugliness, that she was sure nobody would even pay her compliments, unless for the sake of her money, and therefore speeches of the kind now adventured by Mr Tyem, were so many cautions to her to beware of robbery.

“You have many friends, Miss Hibbert?"

"No, I have no friends. I never had a friend in my life, and never wished to, and that's more," she answered, rather snappishly.

"A noble, independent spirit; I honour you for it. It is only silly creatures that rely on friends-I mean of their own sex, of course. Mensome of them, at least-can enter into your feelings-and "

"I don't want any body to enter into my feelings; and I can assure you, for your comfort, Mr Tyem, that I am perfectly able to take care of myself."

The bitter tone and sharp look this was said with, were, perhaps, only a different manifestation of the dutiful grief that consumed her. To ordinary mortals it would have appeared very like an outbreak of ill-nature; but Mr Tyem's breast was double-steeled. His waistcoat and fine gold chain would have resisted a sharper lunge than that, and he proceeded, in sublime unconsciousness of the impression he was making.

"You will lead a happy life at Willerdon Hall, Miss Hibbert; I envy the families in the neighbourhoodyou will be such an acquisition." "Shall I?-Oh!”

"Do you doubt it? Your modesty is too great. I'm only afraid your new friends will make you forget your old ones-do you think they will?"

"I told you before I hadn't any friends to forget."

"Oh, but you were wrong-you were indeed-you have friends, Miss Hibbert-attached ones-I can assure you I".

"Drew up my father's will, and think you can throw dust in my eyes. Why don't you go to my sister?" she said, breaking out.

"Your sister!-'pon my honour, my dear Miss Hibbert, you astonish me! And if I did draw your father's will-or if I ventured to suggest any thing to him about a preference of one daughter to another"

"Oho!-don't try to persuade me of that. I knew what my papa meant to do all along; he never could abide Elizabeth, and no wonder; she never loved him as I did. Oh dear, oh dear!"

"I am well aware of that. All the friends of the family are aware of it.

The only wonder is, that my deceased friend left her so well off as he did." "I wonder at it too," said the young lady, laying aside her pocket handker chief; "a hundred a-year is a very good income."

"It is indeed; and then there's the chance of the estate, and all the property. I think she has a very fair chance."

“ What right have you to say you think she has a fair chance?" exclaimed the indignant heiress, in the tone of a hyena interrupted in gnawing a bone. "I consider you very impertinent in saying any thing of the kind -very indelicate and insulting."

"Why-what have I done to offend you, my dear miss? I merely alluded to the fact, that in case of your having no children,"

"I have children! what do you mean, talking such detestable language to me, sir? I won't be insulted by you nor any one else, sir. I see your object, sneaking here like a paltry, pitiful lawyer as you are, and talking gross improprieties. If you're no gentleman, I'll show you I'm a lady. Leave the house, sir. Send me in your bill, and if I approve the items, I'll pay it; but never speak to me, or show yourself to me again, sir!"

Mr Tyem saw, in direct proximity with his face, a little red visage inflamed with anger; there was an uneasy jerking about the lady's arms, as if she longed to exercise her nails on his nose, and altogether the voice and attitude were so determined, that he saw it was vain to offer the least explanation; so, in a state of great terror and dismay, he rushed from the room, and nearly broke his neck in projecting himself down stairs.

"She, indeed!" continued the irritated heiress, whose blood was now fairly up. "She have a very fair chance! I'll teach her what her chance is worth!" and, like a hollow shot with the fusee lighted and all ready to explode, she burst into the bed-room of the astonished Elizabeth, who was sitting in an easy chair, looking more beautiful than ever in her deep mourning, and reading the Scottish Chiefs.

The two sisters made as complete a contrast as can well be conceived. Elizabeth, radiant with good nature, and the inward sunshine that proceeded from the very desirable quality of

her mind-equal to a good conscience itself in its beneficial effects on the complexion-which enabled her to cast off all care and uneasiness whatever; and Susan bursting with rage and spite; the more, perhaps, when she perceived the imperturbability of her thoughtless victim. "I want to know, Elizabeth," she began abruptly, "what your plans are-I'm going to Willerdon Hall next week."

“And am I not to go with you?" asked Elizabeth, closing her book, and putting a ribbon mark at the scene between Wallace and Helen Marr in the Tower.

"I wonder you can ask such a question. After the way you've always behaved to my poor dear papa, I can't expect you would behave any better

to me.

"And where in all the world am I to go?" enquired the bewildered girl, forgetting all about Helen Marr and Wallace. "I have no friend to go to."

"What! no friend, with all the beauty and captivating manners, and all that, that the Formans are always talking about? oh, you must have many friends that will be delighted to have you. You have a good income too-a very good income; I don't know how I am to pay it, I'm sure. But papa was always too generous."

"Susan, are you serious in what you are saying now; or is it only said in a fit of passion?"

"A passion!-what makes you fancy I'm in a passion? I'm never in a passion. No. I've been thinking the matter over, and once for all you shan't live with me. See what your friends will do for you."

"And do you call yourself a sister, behaving in the way you do?" said Elizabeth, rising up, and assuming the dignity given her by her outraged feelings and growing indignation. "You are older many years, you should be a mother to me; you throw me from you before my father is well cold in his grave-you turn me into a world of which I know nothing, friendless-homeless-destitute-and all for what? I'm sure I have done nothing to offend you."

"Oh no! nothing to offend me; only crossed me in every thing, and shown your hatred to me in all possible ways-that's all. But it won't do ; the house is mine now, and I will be