no,” said he—“it must be somebody that I can love.”

‘“Why, you just said you never could be in love again!”

‘“Well, love is not the word—but somebody that I can like.  I’ll search all England through, at all events!” he cried, with a sudden burst of hope, or desperation.  “Succeed or fail, it will be better than rushing headlong to destruction at that d-d club: so farewell to it and you.  Whenever I meet you on honest ground or under a Christian roof, I shall be glad to see you; but never more shall you entice me to that devil’s den!”

‘This was shameful language, but I shook hands with him, and we parted.  He kept his word; and from that time forward he has been a pattern of propriety, as far as I can tell; but till lately I have not had very much to do with him.  He occasionally sought my company, but as frequently shrunk from it, fearing lest I should wile him back to destruction, and I found his not very entertaining, especially as he sometimes attempted to awaken my conscience and draw me from the perdition he considered himself to have escaped; but when I did happen to meet him, I seldom failed to ask after the progress of his matrimonial efforts and researches, and, in general, he could give me but a poor account.  The mothers were repelled by his empty coffers and his reputation for gambling, and the daughters by his cloudy brow and melancholy temper—besides, he didn’t understand them; he wanted the spirit and assurance to carry his point.

‘I left him at it when I went to the continent; and on my return, at the year’s end, I found him still a disconsolate bachelor—though, certainly, looking somewhat less like an unblest exile from the tomb than before.  The young ladies had ceased to be afraid of him, and were beginning to think him quite interesting; but the mammas were still unrelenting.  It was about this time, Helen, that my good angel brought me into conjunction with you; and then I had eyes and ears for nobody else.  But, meantime, Lowborough became acquainted with our charming friend, Miss Wilmot—through the intervention of his good angel, no doubt he would tell you, though he did not dare to fix his hopes on one so courted and admired, till after they were brought into closer contact here at Staningley, and she, in the absence of her other admirers, indubitably courted his notice and held out every encouragement to his timid advances.  Then, indeed,