pass. The Baptist or the Wesleyan feels himself bound to obey the constitutions of the society to which he has joined himself. Why then should he expect the Churchman alone to act upon a looser rule, or to have a more elastic conscience? why is the Churchman not to take for his law the canons of his own Church? Those canons excommunicate all who impugn the formularies, articles, and ceremonies of the Church of England. Dissenters do impugn these things, and consequently have brought themselves under the spiritual ban of the Church.

How then can a dutiful Churchman league himself with these persons? It forms no part of his duty to judge them, or to pronounce any opinion upon their final acceptance with God. He will mourn over their error, he will grieve to see them deprived of privileges which he himself possesses, he will not dare to say otherwise than that their's may be a state of extreme peril; but, with these views and these feelings, he will for his own sake, and for the sake of all whom his example can influence, take special care, that under no pretence, however specious, or in behalf of any cause, however plausibly advocated, he allows himself to act with those who have put themselves out of the pale of the Church.

This may be rank bigotry in the eyes of the world, but that is not the question at issue.

CHAPTER XII.

The Conclusion.

-Give me leave

To speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foul body of the infected world,
If they will patiently receive my medicine."

SHAKESPERE.

WHEN the heroine of a novel sinks fainting on her lover's shoulder, poetry, propriety, and picturesque effect imperatively require that she should continue a reasonable time,-five or ten minutes, according to the greatness of the emergency,-in that interesting condition: but there appears to be no such conventional regulation as respects maid-servants who fall into a syncope, with nobody to witness it, (this latter, being a very material point), at the foot of the back stairs. It is to be hoped, therefore, that Susan Allen will not lose all the credit she may have hitherto

gained in the reader's opinion, when it is candidly confessed that her fainting-fit was of the shortest possible duration, and that the same strong exercise of the will, which had enabled her to battle with it successfully on its first approach, sufficed to rouse her when she heard the well-known voice of Jackson, the gardener, inquiring, as he hastily entered the kitchen, why the bell was ringing, and what was the matter.

Susan made her effort,―her best effort to speak, but the candles seemed to burn dimmer and dimmer, and her legs to feel as if they had no bones in them, and she probably would have sunk once more to the ground, if Jackson, with more self-possession than usually belongs to heavy sleepers who have been hastily wakened, had not pushed her into a chair, and given her a glass of the brandy, which was still upon the kitchen table. The effects of this powerful stimulant soon brought Susan to herself, and pointing to the various articles of value which were packed up ready to be carried off, she briefly told the gardener what had taken place, and that the burglars were actually in the house.

"Is there any window to the wine cellar ?" asked Jackson, and then immediately remembering that there was none, consoled himself with the reflection that there was but one point to be guarded. "Let them wish to break out ever so much," he added,

they are in the dark,-have no tools, and so they can't force a way through the wall: if they come out it must be at that door, and when we please: so now we'll give another peal to bring the neighbours."And Jackson commenced ringing the bell once more, with an effect much more powerful than poor Susan had been able to produce. His wife, he said, had luckily been awake, and had roused him, or Susan might have rung till morning, and he should never have heard it but he would engage somebody should hear him, as he was ringing now.

And he judged rightly. The felons, caught in their own trap, heard the sound, and they shuddered at the prospect before them,-certain apprehension, certain and heavy punishment. The landlord of the Dog and Duck heard it, and he laughed within himself as he looked over the booty he had secured, and pictured the dismay of the family, who, as he supposed, had just discovered their loss, and who must needs be without even the slightest clue to the part which he had had in the transaction. "The steed is stolen," he muttered, "and now the fools are making all this noise in shutting the stable door."-Mrs. Carraway heard the sound, and instantly supposing that Susan had set the house on fire by some act of carelessness, urged the driver of the market-cart forward with the assurance that she had left her purse and her

mother's gold watch in her bed-room, and that, come what would, she must have them before the fire reached that part of the house. The servants who were conveying Mrs. Becket homeward heard it too, but with great good judgment hastened on without apprising the old lady of their suspicions that anything was amiss. One other person connected with our history heard it, and that was Cordelia, who instead of coming home with the housekeeper, had obtained permission to walk back under the protection of Robert, the young man who had a great regard for her, and who was now returning, and listening with open ears to the sort of conversation, which, under such circumstances, is usually talked by moonlight. She too at the sound of the alarm bell hurried forward and arrived at Fairfield Court at precisely that fortunate moment when a strong fit of hysterics could be perpetrated with the greatest effect.

Meanwhile Jackson's exertions had brought to the house three or four of the sturdy Cottagers who lived in the immediate vicinity. Two of these, at Susan's suggestion, were placed on the outside of the house to prevent the robbers breaking through the wall, while two others were stationed at the cellar door.

And in this situation they continued (Susan taking care that nothing was moved from the