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CHAPTER IX.

"Elle étoit de ce monde ou les plus belles choses Ont le pire destin;

Et Rose, elle a vecu ce que vivent les roses,

L'espace d'un matin.”

MALHERBE.

WHAT words can paint the delight with which the General once more entered upon his domains! At the last stage before they reached Montgomery Hall, spite of his serene and heavenly temper, he could not help evincing the utmost impatience, owing to a delay in procuring horses, lest, as he confessed himself, he should not arrive in time to behold, while it was yet daylight, his dear loved woods, and it gratified him to observe an equal interest in Lady Emily.

When the carriage drove round the last turning that led into the gates of the park, for a moment his feelings overcame him; and a few tears, in spite of all his efforts to restrain his emotion, rolled over his cheeks. Here he was welcomed by a troop of villagers, who flocked around his carriage, and rent the air with their acclamations-not the popular acclamations of a rabble, fired by momentary impulse into an enthusiasm for which they could give no reason, but the heartfelt proofs of an undoubted attachment which had existed for many generations towards the family of Montgomery, and which, handed down from father to son, the result of mutual services between the lord and his dependants, was carefully maintained by both in the habitual fulfilment of their several duties.

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"I am afraid," said the General, addressing Lord Mowbray, "all this must be rather tiresome to you, my dear Lord."

"It is doing me an injustice, I assure you, General, to suppose so," replied Lord Mow

bray; "

every thing which gives you pleasure is interesting to me besides."

"Humph!" interrupted the Colonel. "It must be a vitiated mind, indeed, which can deem such suffrage tiresome. In truth, I do not believe, that there exists that man to whom it could be indifferent; but there are too many, unfortunately, who forget, or disdain to use, the means by which these gratifying testimonies are preserved and cherished; for, though they violate all the ties which would preserve their rights in the hearts of their tenantry, they feel mortified and angry when they cease to receive such proofs of their attachment, as can alone be preserved by an unvarying interchange of good offices, and the influence of long residence and constant presence. When these means are neglected by the possessor of a great domain, he can have no right to expect the reward due only to an opposite mode of conduct. This is not your case, General; and hitherto, my Lord, it has not been yours; so that I may preach without fearing to displease."

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"Ay, and you have preached well too, my good Pennington," said the General.

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The latter, even during his forced absence, had thought of and consulted the welfare of all those connected with his estates. He had given constant proofs of a lively interest in their welfare, and even at distance and in absence had preserved their devoted attachment to him and to his family; the rapture with which they now greeted his return amongst them, was therefore genuine and vivid.

To leave no part of this happy picture untouched by the sunshine of joy, all the place had been kept up in its highest perfection. The old trees and young plantations were thriving and vigorous, and seemed to wave their foliage in welcome and in gladness. Even the good old Sir Richard Townley had wisely kept his snug corner by the fire-side in the oak parlour, together with the superannuated hounds Sprightly and Baymoon, though still they were not so superannuated as to have forgotten their lord; they did their very best to testify their joyous

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recognition of him, and even their fidelity was a balm to the good General's heart.

"How goes it, Sir Richard ?" he cried, when the latter first came to meet him; "I should not have known the Hall again, had I not found you here. I hope you have taken care of yourself during my long absence," he added, kindly laying his hand on his shoulder, and appearing to require its aid as he walked into the house." Ah! and my dear old hounds too, the last of that fine pack, still as fat and as sleek as ever!"

"Dear creatures !" cried Lady Emily, coaxing them; "and my canaries, and the old grey parrot ?"

"All vastly well, I am happy to say," answered Sir Richard, " only longing to see their beautiful mistress again. But I have taken the greatest care of them, I do assure your Ladyship; covered them up on the winter nights, and saw them all tended and cleaned every day. I would not have neglected any thing Lady Emily had a regard for-no, not for all the world. And, General, allow me to

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