"So far so well!" said Dorrington, as he closed the letter, "and as fortune seems determined to bring Adela and me to gether, independent of every adverse circumstance, I must do what I can to assist, rather than thwart the fickle Dame in her kind purposes." In this happy disposition of mind he sat down and indited the following general epistle to the family of Fairchurch.

"Boxingwood; time, 10 o'clock, night. "To my Mother, Uncle, Aunt, and Cousins, "The whole bevy of what I apprehend would be smiling countenances, if they were awake, will be happy to hear when this letter is opened, and after they have shaken off their drowsy slumbers, that I, Dorrington Ainslie, am, at present rusticating or ruralizing in one of the most romantic parts of the County of Devon. To record with the partienlarity of an antiquarian chronicle all that I have seen, all that I have heard, and all through which I have passed, would require not only more time on my part than I shall ever be able to command, but more patience on yours, than, I am afraid, you would be willing to bestow upon such a history; all, therefore, that I have to tell of the past, shall be reserved for our fireside evenings after my return, and what is in the womb of the future; you, I hope, will accept the invitation I am about to give, and see for yourselves.

"You must know then, that since I have arrived here, a series of inevitable circumstances have connected me with a chain of adventures the most singular and surprising that have ever fallen to the lot of any person within the same compass of time. I have been made the instrument of saving one man and one lady from being drowned, and another lady from being killed. I have become a sort of popular hero, and have made more friends in a few days than many a man has been able to make all his life. Indeed, there seems to be some inscrutable destiny connecting me with! this locality and its people, quite beyond my comprehension. I met accidentally with Miss Adela Ilbert at the ruins of Treadunder Castle, and she was the lady whom I rescued from destruction, whilst going to examine a Druidical rock, She was on horseback and going thereby chance, and so was I, but each with an entirely distinct party. The other lady was the daughter of a Captain Austin How she got into her difficulty I have not been properly informed, but she is not only beautiful enough to be the heroine of fifty romances, but to be a second Helen, and to create a new Homer to sing the "Battle of the Villages" about her charms. A third lady I have just come from hearing chaunt a few songs with one of the sweetest Devonian voices you ever heard. She is the niece of a naturalist, with whom I have accidentally become acquainted, and who, with a few peculiarities, seems a very estimable sort of man. But I am forgetting all about the real object of this letter, which is to invite you all here on Monday next or sooner, if you like, to be present at an archery fete, which is to take place on the lawn of Willowbranch. All the wealth, beauty, and fashion in these parts are to be present, and Miss Adela Ilbert is to shoot for a silver arrow. Every one of you must, therefore, arrange to come. The accommodation here is pretty good, and when we are all together, we can make shift to be happy and comfortable enough for a single night, should you not think of prolonging your stay in this neigh bourhood to a further time.

"Let me hear, by return of post, what you determine upon, and I shall have everything arranged against the day of your coming.

"Good night! I am just going to bed, where I have no doubt you all were an hour ago.

"DORRINGTON AINSLIE. "P. S.-I forgot to say that I have a general invitation to Willowbranch, and the moment I hear from you, I shall tell Adela what are your arrangements. You must come, all of you together. There is no want of accommodation in

Such was the hasty and unsatisfactory epistle which Dorrington sent to Fairchurch, and which, from the very press of matter with which he was crammed, he felt it most irksome to compose. Nay, he took longer time to indite this letter, than he would have done to write a connected chapter, of reasonable length, of the history of his own adventures, had he been engaged upon such an immortal work. He was, therefore, glad when he got through with it, and without saying more about Miss Ilbert than he could help. His next duty was to despatch it to the post-office; which done, he retired to rest, Whilst his letter is lying amongst a few scarcely intelligible communications in the Boxingwood repository of private news, we must transport the reader to the parsonage of the Rev. Mr. Galton, and let him see what has transpired there, during the brief period of Dorrington's absence.

Whilst Dorrington was professedly making a short tour through some of the most picturesque parts of the country, the family of the Galtons had not diminished with his absence, for he had been only gone a single day, when chance brought an unexpected visitor to fill his place at the family table. This person was the long-lost Captain Ainslie, who, having quitted the Madeiran trade, went to India, where he had been, for some years, amassing a fortune in the various ports of that extensive country. He had just returned to England, and was about to proceed to Madeira for the purpose of seeing his brother, his sister, and Dorrington, when he bethought himself of first paying a visit to Mrs. Galton, the sister of his brother's wife, before he should put his intention into execution. This he had accordingly done; and whilst Dorrington was pursuing his fortune upon the wings of Cupid, on the coast of Devon, the Captain was quietly and happily enjoying his cigar in the retreats of Fairchurch.

"Who is that gentleman coming up the garden walk?" said Mary Galton to her Mother, one fine forenoon, as they both sat at the drawing-room window, which opened out upon a world of flowers.

"Tis Charles," cried Mrs. Galton, "Captain Ainslie, as I live!" and hastened out of the house to meet him. She ran towards him and seizing the seaman by his brown hand gave him a welcome which covered his face with smiles. She, however, had scarcely been allowed to speak a word to him, when Mrs. Ainslie saluted him, then Miss Mary and all the other young ladies in their turns, so that the Captain found that a head-wind had suddenly arrested his course, and that he was literally taken aback in a hurricane of joy and affection. As there is, however, nothing easier to imagine than the language of such a meeting, we will not trouble the reader by repeating what is seldom more than a series of common-places,

When the Captain found himself fairly shipped within the walls of the parsonage, it became his turn to make enquiries regarding the only relative which, he still thought, the world had left him.

"Well, Mrs. Ainslie," said he, "I did not expect that I should have met you here, and if my brother is here also, it will save me a trip to Madeira."

"Alas, he is dead!" replied Mrs. Ainslie.

'Indeed!" said the Captain. "How long since."

"Some years ago he died; and, as I had no relatives in the island, I decided on coming to England to pass the remainder of my days."

As the Captain had not yet seen Dorrington, he began to fear that he, too, might have slipped his cable, as he would have called it, had he ventured just then to speak, and gone the way of all flesh, therefore he hesitated to enquire after him. At length, his name was mentioned, when he was satisfied of his existence, and was overjoyed to hear that he had grown a fine man, and had just gone to take a few days' | pleasure by making a tour through some portion of the

country.

At that moment the reverend gentleman made his appearance, after having been visiting one of his sick parishioners, and he but confirmed the welcome Captain Charles had already received. He was duly apprised of the will which had been left by his brother, and the handsome bequest which it contained to him. The circumstances of the Captain, however, were now such as required no addition to enable him to gratify all his wishes, which he had never suffered to extend beyond a prudent limitation. His own industry, economy, and success, now found him a wealthy but with a constitution considerably impaired by long exposure to the vicissitudes of the various climates in which he had sailed. Indeed, it was partly from the idea that a trip to Madeira would recruit his health, that he was going there, whilst, at the same time, he would be happy in the social enjoyments of his friends. Of course he now dismissed from his mind, all intention of proceeding thither, and already began to meditate a scheme of settling down with his sisterin-law and Dorrington, somewhere on the coast and in the county of Devon.

man,

In none,

The daily routine of life was passing in its usually quiet way in the parsonage, when the letter of Dorrington arrived, announcing where he was, and diffusing an unusual spirit of animation throughout the household. however, did the joyful animation take the same form that it did in Captain Ainslie. He burst into tears. Nor did he try to conceal the weakness of the friend in the strength of the man.

"I-I-I am so overjoyed," he faltered out, as he kept feeling his pockets for a large orange-coloured India silk handkerchief, which he now drew forth from the depths of an inside receptacle of that nature in his blue coat, "I-I am so overjoyed to hear of the rogue, that I-I-cannot help," the remainder of his speech was buried in the ample folds of his handkerchief, with which he covered the whole of his face.

"I shall go!" cried Mary, upon whom had devolved the duty of reading the letter.

"And so shall I!" cried another.

"So shall I!" cried a third.

"I will!" exclaimed a fourth.

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"Tell her that I'm not up yet, and to call again." "I told her so; but she says she has no time to call again, and her business is too important to be delayed."

"Very well, I'll be down directly," returned Dorrington, observing, with wonder, to himself as he emerged from the, blankets, "what can the woman want with me?" In a short time he was in the presence of Mrs. Mansell, and we must leave it to himself to explain her business in another letter, which he wrote to his foster-parent at Fairchurch.

"One of the strangest adventures in which it has ever fallen to my lot to be engaged, has occurred this day, and has filled me with so many singular and unaccountable surmises, that I must relieve my mind of the disagreeable feelings to which it has given rise, by communicating to you, as clearly as I can, the whole circumstances as they have taken place. Be fore you receive this, the family will have received another letter which was posted late last night, and which in some slight degree, related to one or two other adventures in which I, accidentally, became a principal, but which could have no mysterious connection personal to myself; whilst this which I am about to recount, seems to have an immediate relation to my early history. I will not detain you, however, with further prelusive remark.

"At an early hour this morning, then, my slumbers were broken by repeated calls at my chamber door, which I found to come from the waiter of the inn, announcing that I was wanted to be spoken to, immediately, by a Mrs. Mansell. This personage I had seen before, as it was to her cottage that the young lady whom I found upon the beach was borne, and who is the widowed mother of some fishermen, residing on a lonely and wild part of the coast. What such a person at so early an hour in the morning could be wanting with me, of course, I could not possibly divine, and as she would take no denial, but declared that her business was too important to be delayed, and that she must see me, I was fain to dress myself and forthwith descend into her presence.

"When I appeared before her, I was struck with the almost breathless surprise with which she took me by the hand and gazed in my face, meanwhile muttering to herself some words too inaudible for me to understand, but at the same time, seeming to have a conclusive import to herself. I must confess, I was not prepared for such a strange freedom as she took with me, nor did I altogether like the scrutinizing examination which the intensity of a pair of large dark eyes, illuminating a set of hard, bold, and skinny features, bestowed

philosopher, whilst my good-humour did not desert me, however trying I felt the ordeal to be. When I thought she had perfectly satisfied herself; I took the opportunity of asking her what she wanted with me?

My business is private,' said she, 'and you must come with me alone to a place where I will take you, and which, if such a thing were possible'-here she sorrowfully shook her head-'might awaken memories, that I doubt, have now slept for ever.'

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My dear woman,' said I, 'you are mistaken in the

person. "Am I?' said she hastily, and added, "It may be so; but Dora Mansell still thinks that the dead is living.'

"As it was impossible for me to understand her meaning, and as she appeared to express herself in a kind of enigmatical speech, which it would have puzzled the intellects of the sharpest lawyer who ever whetted the razor of his mind at a Yankee bar, to comprehend, I prepared to go with her, although I had my doubts as to her perfect sanity, and might have had the same of my own had my curiosity allowed sufficient time for such a condition of mind to arise within me whilst I was walking in company with her, and in obedience to her command,

often stop and point out to me remarkable objects, and ask me if I recollected of ever having seen anything like them before; to all of which, as a matter of course, I was compelled to return a negative. At length we arrived at the beach where we beheld one of her sons, as it turned out to be, resting in the stern of a little boat which lay between the shore and a small island, which is known hereabouts as the Gull rock and situate at some distance in the sea. Here she repeated her inquiry as to whether I had seen any place like that before, to which I was compelled to respond as I had hitherto done. Hailing the boat, and entering it, we were rowed to the island, which, when we gained, she left the boat in the charge of her son, and led me through many nooks and corners, often repeating her former question; but finding that I had no other reply to make than a general "No," she finally stood upon a point of rock, with her face turned towards the sea, and lifting her hands to heaven, she exclained in the most solemn manner:

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"I swear that the dead is still living, and that the time is at hand when such is to be proved.'

"To comprehend in all its extent, the effect of this strange piece of acting, it would be necessary for you to have seen the woman. She stands nearly six foot, and seems to be about fifty years of age. Her hair is long and crisp rather than curly, and of a blackish grey. Her figure is as straight as a pole, whilst the prominent and somewhat wild features of her bronzed countenance, projecting from a white cap, invested her position with what we might conceive to be the appearance of an ancient pythoness delivering her oracles, or a Druidical priestess invoking some curse upon the invaders of the sacred sanctuary in which she performed her religious rites.

"When she found that she could awaken, in my mind, no remembrances of the objects to which she had more particularly directed my attention, she desired me to strip my left foot that she might see it.

"This request carried something so ludicrous in it, that I could not help thinking the woman really crazed, and that I had been the dupe of her bewildered fancies. She appeared to me now, to be no more than one of those ignorant professors of some of those occult sciences which deal with the fortunes of people, and unveil the whole pretended future of their destiny. Accordingly I, at first, declined the honour of submitting my naked foot to her inspection; but, when she asked me if there was not a mark upon it under my left ankle, I no longer hesitated to exhibit the member she apparently so much desired to sec. This was no sooner done, than she burst into a fervour of passion to which I have never seen anything equal. She seized my foot, and fell upon her knees, and wept and kissed it. Her extraordinary conduct was so unaffected, that I myself was almost overpowered by it, till she rose and in an earnest and solemn voice again exclaimed,

"I swear, that the dead is still living, and that the time is at hand when the dark shall be made light, the true take the place of the false, and the wronged be righted.'

"After this we returned to the boat, and were rowed to the land again, where we parted; I, with an injunction laid upon me, to remain here a few days, and to say nothing to any one in the neighbourhood of what I had heard from her, and all would be well. I asked her, however, what she meant by the dead being still living?

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Hush!' said she, a few days will uncover the deeds of the past. Till then, fare-you-well, and be silent.'

"With this she left me, and after a solitary wander among the stupendous cliffs of this magnificent neighbourhood, I have come home, to send you this account of my adventure. I refrain from making any comment upon it myself. Altogether it seems such a mystery to me, that I am puzzled to know by whose inscrutable agency this woman came to be aware that I had a mark under my left ankle. All the other parts of her conduct I was inclined to treat with ridicule; but when she disclosed this piece of knowledge, it gave rise to a very different kind of feeling in

I can hardly believe myself that I am now, Your dutiful and well beloved "DORRINGTON. "P. S.-Read this to them all at Fairchurch, and let me have your comments."

Such was the nature of the second missive with which the family of Fairchurch were regaled from Dorrington, but which was received in a very different spirit from that of the other. Mrs. Ainslie was, of all, the most concerned, as she believed that the mystery of Dorrington's birth and parentage would be revealed by the instrumentality of this woman, whom she had no doubt, that Providence had especially preserved for that purpose.

"It is to me," said she at the breakfast table, "one of those unaccountable circumstances which so rarely fall out in human affairs, that one can only set it down to the special interference of that Power which overrules and guides us all.” ↑ "If I knew the exact spot of this Gull rock of which he speaks, I could soon tell if it were any way near the spot where I picked him up," observed the Captain.

The idea of such a thing!" added Mary. Such a wild, witch-like creature as that, the mother of Dorrington; impossible!"

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"Well; she may or she may not. At all events," said the Seaman, "she evidently knows something of him, more than I do, that knew him before any of you; for I never heard of his having a mark on his left ankle before."

"But it is the case," said Mrs. Ainslie, and his nurse Delilah that we had for him, compared it to a heart with a drop of blood, as it were, oozing from its centre."

"What could that be put there for?" suggested Mary's wondering faculty again.

"Well, it would seem, now, for some specific purpose," replied Mrs. Ainslie.

"To discover him by, I have no doubt," decided Mary. "But what is to be done? Here we have two letters now to answer. What is to be done?"

"In reference to the second letter, nothing can be done until we hear something more about the woman. My opinion is, that she should be taken up, and closely interrogated upon a subject so mysterious, and one in which we are all more or less interested," observed the Pastor.

“Now, my opinion," cried the Captain, "is that we should all go to Boxingwood together. There is the phacton, that