wrath; "I won't listen to your abominable slanders ! Would you dare insinuate any thing against that admirable woman, the paragon of her sex? Madam! madam! if these are your Yankee principles, you had better accompany your hopeful son, for my house shall not afford you another night's shelter. "Yankee principles !" cried Mrs. Tenby, whose American blood was now fairly up, and who began in consequence to pour forth a torrent of Virginian eloquence which drowned all Henry's expostulations, and presently drove Penguin from the room. "Come, boy, let's pack up our duds and begone!" she exclaimed, as soon as the object of her vituperation had escaped, "though it's a 'tarnal shame to send us trampoozing about the country at this time of day !" Henry willingly assisting her in the operation, they quickly got ready their luggage; and having left word with the servants whither it was to be forwarded, they quitted Grottohouse, without seeking any fresh interview, either with Mr. or Mrs. Penguin, and in due time reached the George at Thaxted, where it was their intention to remain until they should decide upon their future plans. In the recent rare and spirited assertion of her independence, Mrs. Tenby, taken in the first instance by surprise, had been supported by feelings of pride, anger, and nationality; but during the walk to Thaxted, her passion had gradually subsided, and by the time they had reached the inn, her natural sordidness of character had pretty well recovered its ascendency. Regret at having lost the immediate advantages of "peck and perch," as well as at the demolition of all the future hopes from Penguin's testamentary dispositions, soured her temper, and prompted her to vent her ill-humour upon Henry, whom she accused as the unlucky cause of all these manifold privations and disappointments. Reminding him, that they were no longer in the free and comfortable quarters of Grotto-house, but at an inn, where they must pay through the nose for every thing, she besought him to be careful of what he ordered, quoting many a Poor Richard maxim upon the duties of economy, and losing no opportunity of endeavouring to wound his feelings, already sufficiently lacerated, by peevish allusions to his unluckiness, his indiscretion, and his gullibility. To escape from this petty persecution, Henry was glad to retire to his bed, where, however, his anxiety of mind would not for some time allow him to sleep. Mrs. Penguin's most extraordinary and unexpected charge against him, and the assent that would probably be yielded to it by the world, as readily as it had found credence with Penguin, prepared him for encountering general obloquy and reproach; a visitation which, even when unmerited, it was difficult to bear, and to which Henry was the more keenly sensitive, because he had been not less scrupulous in the observance, than honourably solicitous to obtain the reputation of moral rectitude. Perhaps he was still more hurt on Mrs. Penguin's account than on his own. Of so celestial a quality did he consider the native purity of the female mind, that every one who lapsed from the heaven of her virtue, he contemplated as an addition to the number of the fallen angels; and in the case upon which his thoughts were dwelling, the malignant falsehood, and the dark revenge to which she had had recourse, proved to him how rapid and deplorable is the fall when the paths of purity are once deserted, a humiliating reflection, which he could not make without feeling as if his own moral dignity had been lowered. Mrs. Penguin, indeed, was but an exception; she could not shake his general confidence in the sex; but his mind was saddened and depressed, and in this temporary access of morbid feeling, he could not revert to Emily Welbeck, and to her mysterious assignation in the Forest, without misgivings and sinkings of the heart, to which, at any other moment, he would not have been subjected. Agitated by various conjectures and resolves, he remained for a long time awake; but the consoling reflection, that whatever might happen he was innocent; that he had, during the course of that most anxious day, meritoriously resisted two temptations of the most opposite character; and that a causeless despondency was ingratitude to Heaven, at length enabled him to tranquillize his mind, and to forget himself in sleep. CHAPTER VIII If thou lovest her, Or entertainest a hope to blast my wishes, THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. A FEW hours repose, and a few minutes morning reflection, restored to Henry that firm tone of moral courage which was the characteristic of his mind. If it could not be altogether affirmed that his "bosom's lord sate lightly on its throne," it might be said with truth that his temporary depression had vanished, and that, in the consciousness of his soul being free from stain, he was prepared to endure with fortitude whatever annoyances or vexations might be entailed upon him by the malignant fabrications of Mrs. Penguin. Well aware that injurious rumours are commonly_aggravated by each fresh reporter, and anxious to anticipate Emily's knowledge of the recent occurrences at Grotto-house, he resolved to make another and an immediate attempt at gaining an interview with her, to which he was impelled not less by the desire of exculpating himself before-hand, than by his anxiety to obtain, if possible, some explanation of the meeting, or rather the assignation in the Forest. This he considered to be now quite as necessary upon her account as his own, since Mrs. Penguin, who had been equally a spectator of the transaction, and who, under present circumstances, was not likely to put any restraints upon her tongue, might circulate calumnies in the neighbourhood calculated to wound most deeply the feelings of so sensitive a being as Emily, even if they did not ruin her reputation. Influenced by these considerations, he walked over, at an early hour in the morning, to the Manor-house, revolving in his mind the most delicate way of stating the object of his visit. On his entering the great hall, the end of which was fitted up like a small court of law, he beheld Welbeck, sitting as a magistrate in an elevated arm-chair, surrounded by a posse of gamekeepers and others, whose depositions he was taking against a gang of poachers, the latter being easily recognised by their chop-fallen looks and pinioned arms, while the table was covered with the game which they had snared on the preceding night. Beckoning Henry to his side, the justice requested him to walk up-stairs to the room over the porch, as he was particularly anxious to have his opinion of an old play which Emy had at length found, after a long search; adding, that its perusal would afford him amusement during the half-hour that would elapse before he himself should be able to despatch the business upon which he was then occupied. Henry would have much rather received an invitation to join his young and interesting daughter in the parlour, than to sit in judgment upon an old drama, amid the dusty quartos, and loaded fire-arms, which imparted such a sombre character to Welbeck's own room; but not wishing his visit to assume the appearance of being pointedly made to Emily, whom he hoped to encounter before he again quitted the house, he proceeded to the porch-room. Fortune favoured him beyond his expectations, for on entering the apartment, he beheld Emily standing on a chair, with her back towards the door, replacing one of the ponderous, black-looking old books. She had no sooner recognised him, than she jumped to the ground, a roseate suffusion, and a soft sweet smile lighting up her usually pale and pensive features, and as she advanced towards him, she exclaimed with an animated voice, “Oh, Mr. Melcomb! I was so vexed when I found you had called yesterday, during my absence; and I am so glad I have found the old play-book that was missing! I was determined never to cease hunting for it, for I thought its perusal might afford you pleasure." There was nothing particular in her words, nothing in her manner, beyond its customary cordiality and benignity; to explain the magical effect of her looks and accents upon Henry would therefore be impossible; but a lover may understand us when we state, that they carried to his heart an instantaneous, a thrilling, an electrical conviction, of her unalterable truth and stainless purity. Any doubts that might have lurked in the recesses of his bosom would have been chased away at once; but there were none, and his face confessed the implicit trust and delighted exhilaration of his soul, as he exclaimed, "Oh! Miss Welbeck! I cannot tell you how assured and happy I feel at this moment. The first sight of you, and the first sound of your voice, have filled me with pleasant and holy thoughts, and with a steadfast faith. But let me not allude to misgivings, which it was sinful in me to have entertained, even for a moment. I have much to say to you,-much that is of a confidential nature, and of deep moment to both of us; and as I know not how long we may be left without interruption, I must request the favour of your listening to me now." He reached a chair for Emily, who sate timidly down in it, blushing deeply, her bosom beginning to heave, and her downcast eyes being fixed upon the floor. Henry placed himself beside her, and continued, "If I hate any thing upon earth, it is a lie. I claim no merit for my sincerity and truth, since I believe them to be constitutional in me, and I could not knowingly utter a falsehood without doing a violence to my nature. I say not this boastfully, but to induce you, by your knowledge of my character, to yield me your entire belief, when I most solemnly assure you that I am innocent of the atrocious charges which, as I much fear, you will shortly hear coupled with the name of Henry Melcomb." "With your name!" faltered Emily, her looks still bent upon the ground; "with yours! Can any thing dishonourable be attributed to you?" "Yes, worse than dishonourable; every thing that is base and infamous. You will hear that I have been guilty of an act of ingratitude, the very mention of which makes me shudder-that I have attempted to rob my friend and benefactor of the affections of his wife." "Impossible! who has dared to invent so monstrous a calumny?" exclaimed Emily, throwing up her head, looking at her companion with an expression of indignant surprise, little in accordance with her habitual meekness, and again suddenly casting down her eyes in blushing confusion. "Thank you, thank you a thousand times for your generous confidence, for your disbelief of this most cruel aspersion; and if I cannot explain the circumstances under which I have quitted Mr. Penguin's roof, I implore you to put a charitable construction upon my silence." "From my knowledge of your sentiments and actions, I will never, never, never believe that you could have even contemplated any thing depraved, still less so detestable a crime as this!" “Most fervently, most gratefully do I repeat my thanks for |