from this grave writer Una has culled passages to minister to her romantic and highflown fancies. I did not think the evil had gone so far, though; and it would puzzle a conjurer to know what she has to make her miserable, and to inspire these ridiculous notions. It will not do to let this sort of thing go on longer. I must decide on what is best to be done at once.

"Well, Sir," said the lady, who was tired of Mr. Laneton's cogitation, and who waited impatiently for an outbreak of indignation against Una for her heathenish predilections.-"Well, Sir, pray, don't you now think some restraint necessary?'

"Restraint, pish!" he answered contemptuously; "the girl doesn't want restraint." "No? Then, Sir, what do you suppose she does want?"

"What every woman ought to have, Madam;" and his face wore a smile of malicious pleasantry, as he looked hard at his maiden relative-"a husband; and a husband she shall have, before she is many months older!" And having expressed his determination, he retired to his private room, to profitably pass the evening over the pages of his ledger.

man.

CHAPTER XVII.

Thrift is the fuel of magnificence.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

THOSE Who were intimate with Mr. Laneton knew, that a favourable time for seeing him on any affair was at his breakfast-table. He always breakfasted alone, and precisely at eight o'clock. By that time he had transacted a good day's business for an active Whatever matters required close investigation and much thought-as the complicated liabilities of an estate-the perplexed accounts of doubtful debtors-the instructions to be given to his various agents on points submitted to him-these he reserved. for his early morning's work. When he had settled them, he was ready for the active business of the day. He was never undecided what answer he should give to any application. His mind was clear whoever came to him, and his reply firm and final.

It was not often that this sagacious man had any thing to ruffle his temper. His plans were always so well laid, that he left little to fortune or chance. Yet occasionally it did happen that unexpected obstacles rose up to thwart him, and his impatience and irritation at such times were the greater, that he was so little used to contradiction.

Like all men of business-those superior men who mix in the largest concerns of the world, and deal with thousands and hundreds of thousands by a word or a signature-he had a great dislike to the slow forms of the law; though, from the very nature of his dealings, he was often involved in litigation. It was opposed to all his habits and ideas that affairs should remain unsettled for years; whenever an opportunity presented itself, he made no scruple of employing all his influence for the removal of suits out of the jurisdiction of the courts. Chancery was an abomination to him. He liked to keep the string of all his affairs in his own hand; and, when he employed a solicitor, to employ him as he did one of his clerks, and to impose on him the same restrictions. It was one of his maxims, that only scoundrels appealed to legal tribunals, as men of honour, having a

clear notion of the terms they intended to make, might always deal fairly and openly with each other. This was an excellent principle for Mr. Laneton to adopt, as in all his games with others he took care to keep the strongest cards in his own hand. Often the law is an instrument in the hands of the strong for the oppression of the weak; but sometimes it is a shield to the weak against the rapacity of the strong.

Mr. Laneton sat at breakfast, with his newspaper, as usual, in his hand. But his brow was more clouded than common, and the corners of his lips were drawn into an angry and scornful curve. He had been considering a letter which had overthrown one of his cherished schemes.

Even in minds so well regulated, so evenly balanced as his, the appreciation of objects is not always exactly proportioned to their intrinsic importance. Some lurking motive of pride, some indefinable sentiment of fancy, will find a place in the most mathematical mind, when dealing with the varied concerns of life.

But

He knew that a coronet waited his acceptance whenever he chose to receive it. he had several things to arrange first. He

wished to see his daughter married, that the

VOL. I.

R

title might be settled on her heirs; and he wished also to obtain possession of a favourite estate, which for many years past had been hovering within his reach, but which had provokingly eluded his grasp when he attempted to seize it; and this estate was no other than the fine property late in the possession of Sir Stephen Ashley, Baronet.

This estate was in some way or other connected with one of those knightly ancestors, whom the officers of the Herald's College had been so obliging as to discover for Mr. Laneton's grandfather when he applied to them for a coat-of-arms. The ingenious gentlemen of that establishment, always willing to find an illustrious descent for persons who have acquired great wealth, but are unfortunately ignorant of their own father, had discovered that this property, or a part of it, had been confiscated to the Crown before the time of the Tudors, when one De Laynetoune had been attainted of high treason. Thence, after some mutations, it had gone into possession of the Ashleys in the reign of the first Stuart. With this estate were associated some of Mr. Laneton's earlier recollections. The story had been told him while, as a child, he was playing with his father's bunch of seals, and