Ashley, and other stories ... Fifteenth thousand

Front matter

ASHLEY MRS. HENRY WOOD'S NOVELS Sale over Two Million Copies. EAST LYNNE. -30./. Thousand. THE CHANNINGS. 100//; Thousand. MRS. HALLI BURTON'S TROUBLES. 150./. Thousand. THE SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT. 00th Tlwnsand. LORD OAKBURNS DAUGHTERS. 00th Tlwusaiui. VERNER'S PRIDE. 65th Thousand. ROLAND YORKE. 115th Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOW. First Series. 50th Thousand. MILDRED ARKELL. 68th Thousand. ST. MARTIN'S EVE. 68th Thousand. TREVLYN HOLD. COM Thousand. GEORGE CANTERBURY'S WILL. 65th Thousand. THE RED COURT FARM. TOM Thousand. WITHIN THE MAZE. 91th Thousand. ELSTER'S FOLLY. 50th Thousand. LADY ADELAIDE. 50M Thousand. OSWALD CRAY. 52nd Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOW. Second Series. 33rd Thousand. ANNE HEREFORD. 45./; Thousand. DENE HOLLOW. 50th Thousand. EDINA. 32nd Thousand. A LIFE'S SECRET. iSth Thousand.

COURT NETHERLEIGH. 36th Thousand. BESSY RANE. 30th Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOW. Third Series. New Edition. THE MASTER OF GREYLANDS. 40th Thousand. ORVILLE COLLEGE. 33rd Thousand. POMEROV ABBEY. 40.4 Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOW. Fourth Series. .Vow Edition. THE HOUSE OF HALL-WELL. 15th Thousand. THE STORY OF CHARLES STRANGE. 15th Thousand. ASHLEY. 15th Thousand. LONDON : RICHARD RENTLEY & SON, New Burlington Street, W. (Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.') i ASHLEY AND OTHER STORIES. BY MES. HENRY WOOD, author of EAST LYNNE," " THE CHANNINGS," " JOHNNY LUDLOW," ETC, jpifucnrij STftousanO. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, publishers in ©tiinary to |_?rt fBajtsto tfjr ©urrn. 1897. 'All rights reserved.) I. OX DON : PRINTER Rt WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, &TAAIF01U> STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

Preface

. The following stories are now published in a collected form for the first time. To the reader, therefore, they will be virtually as new matter. It will be observed that in the first three stories some of the characters are reproduced, though, in one instance, merely a name — that of Chase. Mrs. Henry "Wood intended, had she lived, to weave these stories into one romance. How this would have been accomplished by the expe rienced hand of the author of " East Lynne " we do not doubt. Fresh plot and new characters would have been introduced into the narrative, so connecting one story with another. But the pen was .laid aside before the purpose was carried out ; and it only remains for the reader to imagine for himself a chain of circumstances by which these now separate threads would have been gathered into a consecutive and complete whole.

We have stated the fact because it undoubtedly adds to the interest of the following pages, which are amongst the most graphic and vigorous of the stories written by Mrs. Henry Wood. One more remark may be made. It may be said by some that the leading incident, the three-fold tragedy, in the story of "Mr. Castonel," is far-fetched and improbable. But truth, we know, is stranger than fiction, and these inci dents in the career of the surgeon are founded upon absolute fact- C 0 N T E N T S . ASHLEY. CHAPTER rAGE -, I. Lauretta Carnagte ... ... ... ... l II. High Treason ... ... ... ... 9 III. " Ryle the Second" ... ... ... ... 25 IV. Old Hannah ... ... ... ... 36 V. The Butterfly Chase ... ... ... ... 45 VI. St. Ouest ... ... ... ... ... 53 VII. "Miladi will be kind to him?" ... ... ... 61 VIII.

"Ashley for ever!" ... ... ... 78 IX. Major Hayne's Perplexity ... ... ... 86 X. The Delayed Will ... ... ... ... 95 XI. Blanche ... ... ... ... ... 104 XII. "I do not understand" ... ... ... 109 XIII. The Major's Story ... ... ... ... 117 XIV. Cheating does not always prosper ... ... 124 CHAPTRR THE ENGAGEMENT OF SUSAN CHASE. I. Lieutenant Carnagie ... ... ... ... 133 II. The Twenty-ninth of May ... ... ,., 115 III. A Consultation ... ... ... ... ... 109 IV. The Pines ... ... ... ... ... 165 V. At Cross Purposes ... ... ... ... 175 VI. Mr. Leicester ... ... ... ... 186 VII. The End of an Ill-starred Visit ... ... 200 VIII. Home at Last ... ... ... ... 210 IX. Frances Maitlaxd's Anger ... ... ... CONTENTS. THE PREBENDARY'S DAUGHTER. CHAXTKR PAGE I. The Lunatic Asylum ... ... ... 2H9 II. Mr. and Mrs. Glynn ... ... ... ... 243 III.

The Storm ... ... ... 218 IV. A Stern Summons ... ... ... ... 254 V. At Aenbrook Rectory ... ... ... ' 264 VI. Dr. Remar's Decision ... ... ... ... 271 VII. " May I not hope ? " ... ... ... 277 VIII. Nemesis... ... ... ... 2bl MR. CASTONEL I. The Beauties of Ebury ... ... ... 295 II. Mrs. Muff's Dream ... ... ... ... 308 III. Ellen Leicester ... ... ... ... 323 IV. The Second Mrs. Castonel ... ... ... 337 V. The Six Grey Powders ... ... ... 348 VI. A Vain Remonstrance ... ... ... ... 30S VII. A Wedding Peal ... ... ... ... 375 VIII. Dame Vaughan's Wonder ... ... ... 397 IX. Mr. Tuck's Fright ... ... ... ... 400 X. Beech Lodge ... ... ... ... ... ASHLEY

Chapter I. Lauretta Caknagie

The red light of the sun, nearing its setting, shone brilliantly on the fair domains of Ashley. The house, a fine mansion, stood on an eminence in its park, and com manded an extensive view of the near and distant scenery. Several of the windows opened to the lawn, and there leisurely stepped out of one of them a gentleman of middle age, followed by a young lady in the bloom of youth. He, Sir Henry Ashley, held a telescope in his hand, and, setting it to the right focus, turned it in the direction of the high road, which they could see winding along beneath them into the distance. . " Anna ! " called out a peremptory voice from within the room, " you have not put on your sun-bonnet." " I have my parasol, mamma." " Come in and put on your sun-bonnet instantly. Your face will be a fright to be seen.

The sun this month browns worse than at midsummer." Lady Pope's mandates were not to be disobeyed, and .Anna Rivers retreated to the house. a ASHLEY. " Look here, Anna," said Sir Henry Ashley, when she re appeared ; " yours is a farther sight than mine. Is that the carriage, near Prout's farm ? There's something moving." Miss Rivers looked towards the spot indicated by Sir Henry : first by aid of the glass, then steadily with her naked eye. " I think it is a post-chaise," was her answer. " Then there has been some bungle at the station, and she has missed my carriage." " There always is a bungle when things are left to servants," interposed Lady Pope's voice again. " You should have gone yourself, as I advised, Sir Harry." " So I would, had I been sure of her coming. But I went yesterday, and I went the day before, and nothing came of it.

I can't pass my days dancing between here and Stopton. She's staying, no doubt, at that old Indian's at Liverpool. They who were to receive her and start her off here." " I wish she was not coming at all," cried Lady Pope. " The idea of a gay man — as you may be called — being left resident guardian to a girl of twenty ! Steps must be taken to provide her with another home — and a never ending trouble I foresee we shall have about it. You might have taken my advice and declined to receive her here at all. Under the circumstances you would have been justified, without any breach of politeness." "It would have been more a breach of kindness," said Sir Harry, dryly. " As you happen to be with me, this house is as suitable for her, at present, as any other. But I cannot make out how it was the General never received the news of my wife's death."

" Very likely you forgot to write," observed Lady Pope. "Carelessness was always the besetting sin of Henry Ashley." A conscious smile curled Sir Henry's lip. Carelessness LAURETTA CARNAGIE. 3 his besetting sin ! then what might be said of many others that beset him ? He made his sister no reply. She was given by nature to fits of grumbling, and Sir Harry had long ago found that the best plan was to let her grumble the fit out. He took up a newspaper, stretched himself on one of the benches, and read away at ease. Lady Pope raised her voice now and then, but Sir Harry took refuge in the journal, as an excuse for silence. Presently Anna Rivers, who had walked to the brow of the slope, came back again. " The chaise is coming on quickly, Sir Harry. It is a chaise, and has taken the Ashley turning."

" Then she has missed the carriage ! " protested Lady Pope. " Those two men will be sticking themselves with it at Stopton until the last train's in to-night : and that will be eleven o'clock. Getting tipsy, of course. Bad management, Sir Harry." An interval of expectation, and the chaise spoken of rattled over the gravel drive of the lawn. A tall, dis tinguished-looking young man sprang from it before it had well stopped. Lady Pope wheeled her chair to the glass door, and put her head out, hoping to bring the arrival within view ; her ears also at work, as they generally were. " That's nob Miss Carnagie ! "Why, I do believe it is Anna," she sharply called out, breaking off her sentence, " Anna, come here. That's never Arthur Ashley ? " " Yes, mamma." " What brings him here now ? He " " How are you, dear Lady Pope ?

" cried the stranger, coming up with Sir Harry, and holding out his hand. " None the better for seeing you, Mr. Ashley," was the civil rejoinder. " Pray how is it that you come wasting your time here now, shirking your studies ? " " I went up for honours, dear aunt, and gained them. So ASHLEY. I can afford myself a holiday." At which satisfactory information, Lady Pope vouchsafed nothing but an un satisfactory grunt. The two gentlemen were speedily immersed in college politics, reminiscences to Sir Henry, realities to Arthur Ashley. Sir Henry had never gained university honours, had never tried for them, but he was delighted that Arthur, his presumptive heir, should do so. Sir Henry had been always childless, and this young man, his brother's eldest son, was the present heir to Ashley. Sir Henry had taken to him years ago, and brought him up as such.

A short period, and another arrival aroused them. They went out to meet it, Sir Harry hurriedly, Arthur Ashley and Miss Rivers lingeringly, for he seized the opportunity of speaking to her in a whisper. Sir Henry's carriage was drawn up before the entrance. A lady, dark as a gipsy, with flashing eyes and features of great beauty, sat in it, whilst a copper-coloured woman was awkwardly descending from the seat behind. Sir Harry soon had Miss Carnagie on his arm, and led her in. She seemed to take in everything with those keen, flashing eyes ; the extensive grounds, the indoor arrangements of the house ; and now she was addressing Lady Pope. It struck some of them that she was more self-possessed in manner than is common to a girl of twenty. " I hope I have the pleasure of meeting Lady Ashley in good health."

" This is my sister, Lady Pope," interrupted Sir Harry. " I wrote to General Carnagie of the loss I had experienced in my wife : the letter must have miscarried. Lady Pope and Miss Rivers will welcome you, dear Miss Carnagie, as warmly as Lady Ashley would have done." " I am an invalid," broke in Lady Pope : " a chronic affec tion of the hip joint : and cannot walk without difficulty. LAURETTA CARNAGIE. 5 So I am chiefly confined, in the day, to this chair. Anna Rivers will be my substitute in showing you to your rooms." At the foot of the stairs, when Anna Rivers was conduct ing Miss Carnagie towards them, they came upon young Ashley. " As no one has thought me worthy of an introduction to Miss Carnagie, I suppose I must introduce myself," he said. " Miss Carnagie, I am Arthur Ashley." His voice was so pleasant, his manner so easy, himself altogether so much of a gentleman, that it would have been sufficient passport to her favour, even without his good looks, and Miss Carnagie thought so.

But she hurried on. If ever there was a vain girl on eaith, it was Lauretta Carnagie, and she had no wish to linger with strangers until the dust and the travelling attire were taken off her. She had a favourite theory — that first impressions were everything. Some trunks were in her room, and the copper maid was seated on them ; her head wrapped round with folds of pink merino, and her shoulders with a covering of white linen. " You good-for-nothing, vicious creature ! " broke out Miss Carnagie. " How dare you sit idling there, instead of putting out my things to dress ? " " How can Nana get out missie's things if missie got the keys ? " responded the woman, her broad mouth breaking into a pleasant smile. " She is the most idle thing alive," said Miss Carnagie to Anna, as she threw a ring of keys to the attendant.

" Indian servants always are. If 'I were not to rate her continually, I should get nothing done. Papa was often obliged to have her flogged." " Flogged 1 " uttered Anna, who had stood by, quite distressed at witnessing such discourtesy to a servant. " And as you don't allow flogging in England, and she knows it, she has made up her mind to be as vicious and ASHLEY. troublesome as possible," proceeded Miss Carnagie. " My mother was the daughter of a West Indian planter, and Nana was a slave born on the estate, so she is our own property, just the same as our horses or dogs. They had her taught hair-dressing and millinery, that she might be a maid to me ; and when mamma died, she specially be queathed her to me." " But Nana not idle, Nana not vicious ; Nana love missie, and try, try, try alwars to please her with all her heart," interrupted the woman, whilst tears ran down her cheeks.

" Can I assist you in any way ?" inquired Anna Rivers of Miss Carnagie. " If not, I will no longer intrude upon you." "You don't intrude. I hate to be alone. Sit down whilst she does my hair. I want to know all about every thing here. You are aware I am a stranger. Do you live here ? " " No. I am visiting here with ufamma, Lady Pope." " Was that really Sir Harry Ashley ? I pictured him as old as my father : and he had white whiskers and a bald head. Your uncle is a young man. At least, we should call him so in India : men age so rapidly there." " Sir Harry is more than forty : near fifty, I believe. But he is not my uncle." " No ! He introduced Lady Pope as his sister." " But Lady Pope is not my mother. In point of fact, she is not related to me. My father, Captain Rivers, was a widower, and she — who was Miss Ashley then — married him.

I was only two years old, and have never known any other mother. My father did not live long, and then she married an elderly man, Colonel Sir Ralph Pope." " Is he here ? " " Oh ! he is dead too : has been dead a long while." " Who was that we met in the hall ? ' Arthur Ashley,' he said. Some one also attached to the house ? " LAURETTA CARNAGIE. 7 " Sir Harry's nephew. He lives here. He is the heir to Ashley. His father, Sir Harry's brother, was the heir, but he is recently dead." " He will be Sir Arthur Ashley ? " " Of course. In time." " Which dress missie wear ? " inquired Nana, displaying two or three, all of them much alike : black silk with crape trimmings. Miss Carnagie pointed to one. " It is so annoying to be in mourning ! " she pettishly exclaimed. " One can never appear to advantage."

" I like black silk," remarked Anna. " It always looks well." " For you, who are fair ; but I look like a great black crow in it." And Anna Rivers laughed. Not like a black crow, but like a handsome girl. Sir Harry thought so when she descended to the drawing-room, and so did Arthur Ashley. The latter was extremely fond of handsome girls, and ready to flirt with all he had the good fortune to meet. It was no doubt very wrong of Lady Pope, but she was given to building castles in the air. She might have raised as many for herself as she pleased, but an inconvenience sometimes arose when she so favoured her friends. Several years older than her brother, she had exercised an influence over himself and his actions in early life, which she strove still to retain. She it was who had helped him to his wife, and now she had it in her head to help him to another — and that other Anna Rivers.

Anna was so completely under her finger and thumb, that she felt sure if she could only see her my Lady Ashley, she should be the real ruler of her brother's house. A suspicion had certainly arisen in her mind that Anna cared rather too much for Arthur Ashley, but it gave her little concern. She held the yonng ASHLEY. lady in perfect subjection, and she entered on a course of snubbing towards the gentleman, which she hoped would not fail to drive him away from Ashley. Cold, cautious, and positive, Lady Pope rarely failed to carry out any scheme on which she had set her mind.

Chapter II. High Treason

The time went on, and Lauretta Carnagie grew in favour with some of the inmates of Ashley. Not with all. Lady Pope took a dislike to her, and the same may be said of Anna Rivers. Miss Carnagie combated Lady Pope's wishes, she was indifferent to her complaints and ailments, she shocked her prejudices. It was next to open warfare between them ; their tastes and pursuits were so completely antagonistic. Breakfast over, Lady Pope would call for her work-basket and begin her morning's employment. Sometimes it would be clothes for charity children, some times fancy-work. Miss Carnagie held both in equal contempt. " If you would undertake some amusement of this nature, you would soon find pleasure in it," began Lady Pope to her one day. " Suppose you were to work a pair of slippers, for instance, for your friend at Liverpool, Nabob Call."

" Pleasure in anything so horrid ! Thank you. I never learnt needlework, and hope I never shall. It is only fit for old maids and ugly women." " As I cannot be included in either of those classes, I will not reply to your words," was Lady Pope's retort, smothering her ire. " I did not say others never did any. I said it was only fit for that sort of people," was the careless apology of Miss Carnagie. ASHLEY. " If you were to amuse yourself with a little music this morning ? " " I never play when there's no one to play for." " We have plenty of books. Anna, reach " " Don't trouble yourself. I don't care for reading." " What do you care for, I wonder ? " thought Lady Pope. " I fear, Miss Carnagie, this wet morning is render ing you very dull." " Dreadfully so. I wish I had lain in bed." " Lying late in bed is pernicious to the health.

Even I, with my lame leg, am out of bed every morning at seven. How did you contrive to amuse yourself in India ? " " Oh, I like an Indian life I " was the animated reply ; " no one there reproaches you with being idle. I rode, and dressed, and flirted, and lay to be fanned, and " " Flirted .' " interrupted Lady Pope. " Surely I did not hear aright ? " " What's the harm of flirting ? " " A young lady reared in European society would shrink from such an avowal." " Why, it is what everybody does," returned Miss Carnagie. "Those who say they don't when they do are hypocrites, that's all. Old ones are more addicted to it than young. I saw you flirting the other evening, when that man dined here, Lord what's his name ? the new member." Lady Pope turned green ; she had never been so insulted in her life.

" Miss Carnagie ! " she uttered, in an awful tone. "Your remark upon myseli I pass over with the contempt it deserves," she added, after a pause, during which no apology came from Miss Carnagie, " but I cannot allow such pernicious sentiments to be avowed in the hearing of Miss Rivers." " They will do her no harm. Not half so much as poking her chest over that humdrum chenille stitch. I should throw it in the fire, if any one forced me to do it. So would she, if she dared." Anna Rivers looked up, a hot flush upon her face. She did not like the work, but she liked still less to fall under Lady Pope's displeasure. " I declare it is clearing up ! " called out Miss Carnagie, springing to the window before Lady Pope could find fitting words to retort. " Anna, get your habit on." " I cannot permit Miss Rivers to go out now," said Lady Pope.

Miss Carnagie turned her back to Lady Pope. " Anna, I say, will you go with me or not ? You heard Mr. Ashley say he would ride with us if the rain cleared up." Anna shook her head and whispered, " I dare do nothing that mamma opposes." " You ought to have been born a slave, like old Nana," scornfully exclaimed Miss Carnagie ; " the blacks on grand papa's estate are under no worse thraldom than you." And Lady Pope was tempted to wish that she had been born a slave-driver, if she might have applied the whip to the young lady's shoulders. Was such a girl likely to find favour with the precise Lady Pope ? She sat on, in deep indignation, scolding Anna, who was not in fault, and believing that Miss Carnagie had retired to her own room, to indulge her idle habit of lying down, or to browbeat Nana.

All at once the clatter of horses' feet was heard on the gravel. Lady Pope raised her ear, touched her chair, and went whirling away to the window. Riding off, followed by a groom, was Miss Car nagie, in the company of Arthur Ashley. Every nerve of propriety possessed by Lady Pope was tingling. Her chair reeled off to the fireplace, and the bell was rung violently. It was to summon her brother : but ASHLEY. Sir Harry had gone to the Sessions at Stopton. For two mortal hours my lady sat, feeding her indignation, and then the runagates entered. Only to increase it. For Miss Carnagie coolly said that they had had a delightful ride, and she should go again whenever she pleased. If Lady Pope forbid Anna Rivers to make one of the party, that the three might play propriety, she had nobody to thank but herself if they went without her.

" How in the world can you have been brought up ? " demanded the astonished Lady Pope. " Brought up ! " echoed Miss Carnagie, who was determined not to " give in," " I was with mamma in England for seven years ; from four years old till eleven ; and then she took me back to Madras with a governess." But if Miss Carnagie was in disgrace with Lady Pope, she found favour with her guardian. In her wilful ways, Sir Harry saw but charming grace ; with her ready speech and her great beauty he was more than fascinated. Miss Carnagie certainly possessed the art of attracting men to her side : no doubt her manners to them were more courteous than those she exhibited to Lady Pope. She privately told Sir Harry that Lady Pope was an ugly old tyrant, and Sir Harry enjoyed the confidence. His attention to her was growing more pointed than is usual from guardian to ward, and visitors to Ashley whispered, among them selves, that the place would soon have a second mistress.

If Lady Pope had only suspected that ! But it appeared that visitors were reckoning without their host. For Sir Harry's manner suddenly changed. He grew cool in his intercourse with Miss Carnagie, and, indeed, took to holding himself very much aloof altogether from home society, spending his time abroad, or in his own rooms. So much the more pleasing to Miss Carnagie. For Sir Harry Ashley she cared not ; but a passion, strong and ardent as her own nature, had taken root within her for his nephew and heir. From the first moment she saw Arthur Ashley, he had made a deep impression on her. More fascinating, both in looks and manner, than any man she had hitherto known, it scarcely needed the opportunities, which were undoubtedly afforded in abundance, for this impression to grow into love. She already indulged visions of the future, when he should be her husband, hers only and for all time ; when he should parade her to the world, his chosen and envied wife ; she indulged in visions of her future sway as mistress of Ashley ; for Lauretta Carnagie hankered after position, and possessed a love of money and social power.

Her life in Madras had been one of pomp and luxury: but this same pomp and luxury had made considerable inroads on the fortune of General and Mrs. Carnagie, and when they died, the former but three months subsequent to the latter, it was found that their impoverished estate would afford but a few hundreds per annum for their daughter. Double its whole amount had hitherto been expended on her dress alone. So she sought Arthur Ashley's society, or he hers, or perhaps the seeking was mutual ; at any rate, they were much together. Which was scarcely justifiable on Mr. Ashley's part, for an attachment, a real attachment, known to none, subsisted between himself and Anna Rivers. Almost from the first, Anna had detected the pleasure Miss Carnagie took in Mr. Ashley's society, and the bitter pains of jealousy were aroused in her heart.

Had this wild Indian girl come to supplant her ? It seemed like it. And Anna had no means of showing her resentment, save by absenting her self from Mr. Ashley's presence. But it happened one warm summer evening that Anna met him in the shrubbery. He stopped and drew her arm within his, and greeted her familiarly and tenderly, as was bis wont. ASHLEY. 14 " Let me alone, Mr. Ashley," she angrily replied. " Your right to treat me so has passed." " Not passed yet, Anna," he rejoined, retaining her arm ; " not until an explanation has taken place between us. Tell me the reason of your recent coldness. Why is it you have lately shunned me ? " Anna Rivers was superior to coquetry ; moreover, she loved Arthur Ashley too well to indulge in it ; and she looked at him in surprise. "My conduct has only been regulated by yours," she said.

" Ask yourself what that has been." " Anna, let us clear up this bugbear between us. I suspect where the offence lies — in my being so much with Miss Carnagie. If this has given you uneasiness, I sincerely beg your pardon. We have been together a great deal : I acknowledge it : but the fault has not been wholly miue." " Mine, perhaps ? " resentfully spoke Anna. " Yes," he laughed, " for leaving me so much to myself ; and also — if I may whisper it to you — Miss Carnagie's. She might have sought me less. Oh, Anna, you are a regular goose ! These flighty damsels are worth their weight in gold to flirt with, but for anything else — excuse me. Why, I would not marry Lauretta Carnagie if the East India Company dowered her with all its possessions." Now if the intelligent reader can imagine him — or her — self in Miss Carnagie's shoes, they may perhaps picture what might be that young lady's sensations when she heard this candid avowal of Ashley's heir : and hear it she did, for she was on the other side of the shrubbery hedge.

All her wild blood, inherited from her half-caste West Indian mother, rose to boiling-water heat ; nay, more like to bubbles of liquid fire. Never had she suspected that there was aught but common friendship between him and Miss Rivers. Forgetful of all maidenly reserve, casting aside all delicacy of feeling, her veins tingling, her face glowing, and her splendid eyes flashing as with a tiger's fury, Lauretta Carnagie passed through an opening of the shrubbery, and stood before her rival and Mr. Ashley. Upon which Miss Rivers drew away from the latter, and stood proud and defiant, and the gentleman would have given all his pockets were worth, if some kind gust of wind, stronger than ordinary, had just then soared him aloft, and deposited him in any other spot of this wide earth. Serve you right, Mr. Arthur, for you have been unpardonably sweet upon that impulsive girl.