seize my niece was not made by smugglers, or with any view to plunder: but, be this as it may, the sequel of my story, which is now near its close, will prove to you that I have reason to be the happiest and most grateful of men."

Colonel Pennington arose, walked quickly to the General's chair, seized the back of it with one hand, while with the other he covered his face, and thus awaited the rest of his friend's communication.

"My messenger is returned from Turin, and I have this day received from my agents the register of my mother's marriage, which took place in the English Ambassador's palace, together with that of my birth, which happened some fifteen months afterwards at Paris. Other letters and documents give a full detail of this event. My mother did unfortunately marry my father without consent of their parents; and from this imprudence has ensued all the misery their offspring has endured, and which might, but for the wonderful and providential preservation of these papers, have sent him down to a dishonoured grave. The particulars of this busi

ness I need not now enter into; its blessed conclusion suffices to restore me, and all those most dear to me, to happiness and honour."

Lady Emily threw herself into her uncle's

arms.

The Colonel left the room to hide his emotion. Lord Mowbray was not less intensely affected with a sense of happiness; and the broken words, the glances of affection, and the silent prayers which were mutually exchanged between the parties, and offered in silence by each to Heaven for this unexpected felicity, could alone convey any idea of their respective feelings.

Lord Mowbray took an early opportunity the next day to request a conversation with the General, and he then, with all the timidity of a real passion, requested Lady Emily's hand. He avowed his having already disclosed his love to herself, and added, he believed he had reason to hope, that, should the General not oppose their union, Lady Emily was inclined to lend a favourable ear to his suit.

"My dear Lord, it were impossible for me to deny, if I wished it, any thing that my

precious Emily conceives necessary to her happiness; but in the present instance, as in almost every other, from her birth up until now, that blessed creature's choice only confirms my own. -She is yours, my dear Lord, with all that the fondest and most parental love can add to bless your union. Yet stay, do not thank me yet; one proviso I must make. It shall never be said that General Montgomery gave his niece to Lord Mowbray while a shadow of reflected disgrace from her uncle could rest upon her.

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"Oh my dear, my honoured General! do not, do not dash the full and brimming over cup of felicity with such vain and useless and cruel alloy."

"I know, my dear Lord, all you would say; but in this respect I am inexorable. Go-go to Emily, consult with her; she will tell you, I am right. Soon, very soon, this dark surmise must be done away, and then not a shadow will remain to dim the brightness of our horizon."

Lord Mowbray acquiesced mournfully, for

he saw that to press his suit would be of no avail, and he felt, too, that there was an indelicacy in so doing, from which he shrunk. With grateful and delighted acknowledgments he poured out his heart's feelings before General Montgomery, and then left him, to share with Lady Emily the joy with which his own bosom was overflowing.

She, with her usual gentleness and implicit obedience to her uncle's wishes, endeavoured to place all the reason of the General's resolve in its best point of view; and Lord Mowbray felt compelled to restrain his own rebellious impatience, and to rest contented with a promise of that future bliss, which he would fain have secured at a nearer and more certain moment.

Colonel Pennington, with all his wonted impetuosity, upbraided the General with a too scrupulous refinement; but the resolve was not to be changed, and the General announced his immediate return to Montgomery Hall. As he wound up his intention with an affectionate invitation to Lord Mowbray to accompany them, and an assurance to the Colonel, that if he too

was not of the party, he would never more consider him as his friend,-this resolution was not likely to be productive of any thing but general satisfaction; and it is seldom that four persons more united in taste and mind, more happy in outward circumstances, or more blessed in virtuous and honourable attachment, ever set forth with gayer hearts to travel together in the road of life.