"But, my dear Sir Hubsty, let her judge for herself. My son will be here in two days." 66 By that time, I think, I must claim Miss Welby myself." "Yourself! Gracious, Sir Hubsty; the ages! Why, she's only twentyone!" "And I am sixty-two." Mr Vibbler looked ineffably taken a-back. "So it was all for this," he muttered, "the grand discovery has been made the old, disgusting, selfish scoundrel!" "But we had better go and consult the young lady herself," continued Sir Hubsty, as he moved across the room, accompanied by Mr Bagsby. Mr Vibbler slipped up to the sofa where his wife was sitting, and whispered to her-" Great things have happened; Helen Welby is worth twenty thousand pounds at least, and Alfred always insulted her. Sir Hubsty is going to marry her himself! Send for Alfred immediately." Mrs Vibbler started. "How? where? when? Twenty thousand pounds?" but when she looked round, her husband had disappeared. Mrs Higgles saw something had happened. "Dear Mrs Vibbler, has anything occurred?" "Yes; such a thing-no, no, nothing; only Mr Vibbler gave me a sort of shock." "A shock? nothing serious, I hope?" enquired Mrs Higgles, burning with curiosity; "nothing about your daughters?' "Oh, no; I wish it were!" said Mrs Vibbler. "The lucky, proud, disdainful creature! she'll look down on us all now." "What is it? for any sake tell me. I'm dying with curiosity." "Where is she? let me see her," said Mrs Vibbler, instead of giving a direct answer; and then she added, "let me congratulate Lady Pippen!" "Lady Pippen! who is she? is she here? do let me see her," cried Mrs Higgles, following her friend towards the folding door of the library. This motion of the two seniors attracted the attention of all the others, even of the two Miss Vibblers and their swains; and a general move took place towards the scene of what every one felt was an unusual occurrence, though what it could be, no one had the least idea. While these various incidents had been taking place in the drawingroom, Helen had seated herself on a sofa in the study-quite unnoticed, as usual and had been shortly afterwards joined by Mr Brend, whose motions were equally unworthy of being observed. What their conversation may have been for the first half hour we have no means of judging; but at the moment of our recommencing our report, Helen was evidently replying to some question of her companion. Reject your friendship?-your love? for adversity has schooled me so well into self-reliance, that I disdain to pretend to be ignorant of your meaning. See my position here-and you can't perceive one half of its wretchedness; recollect the years we spent together in the home where we were both so happy; and believe that it is only a most sacred and insuperable obligation, that makes me beg that I may never see you again." "But what can the obligation be? It is, perhaps, a misunderstanding— an obligation that no one had a right to impose on you." "It was my father." "I can't believe it, Helen; he loved me; I know he loved me; and it is impossible he can have laid his injunction on you to consign me to perfect misery. I won't believe it, Helen." 66 Often, often he repeated it to me when you first came to Otterston, within a month of his death. It was because he loved you he did so; because he saw that we-that we were -that is to say, that you" "Loved his daughter Helen from the moment he saw her, and all the years I lived in the same house; and that was the reason! I have been much deceived. I did not deserve such treatment." "Ah, don't mistake him, Charles. You were rich, recollect, and he was poor. Malicious people told him when he took you as a pupil, that he had taken the surest way of providing for his girl. He bound me never to let it be said that a poor vicar's daughter" "And for an absurd scruple like that, you will make us both unhappy! Do you not think he would have relented, Helen, if he had lived?" "Never; but let this conversation cease. Leave me to my own misery, and do not double it by reminding me of happier times." Mr Brend took Helen's hand in his-"This is perfect madness, Helen; is there no way of conquering this confounded scruple-would it alter your resolution if you knew that I was poor ?" "'Pon my word, Sir Hubsty," said Mr Vibbler, who at this moment came to the scene of action, "your friend seems to take matters pretty coolly! You've told him, I suppose, of Miss Welby's good fortune ?” "Not I," answered Sir Hubsty'; "but his own good fortune seems considerable, too, just at the present time." "Sir, I consider it unfair," said Mr Vibbler, in a rage; "I considerit unjust, I consider it dishonourable, to bring a person here without a penny, to run off with my niece. My son, sir, shall make him answer for his conduct-he will! Was such a thing ever heard of? Here I come in, and find an impertinent fellow holding my niece's hand" "And continuing to hold it, as far as my want of spectacles enables me to judge," added Sir Hubsty. "The very moment it was ascertained she had a splendid fortune !" "A splendid fortune!" exclaimed, as if in chorus, the whole party assembled at the folding door. "And her, to throw herself away on a protegé of Sir Hubsty Pippenperhaps as a decoy for the objects of Sir Hubsty Pippen himself-an individual we never knew till this very day-a fellow without a shilling!" "Is it true that this gentleman is so poor?" enquired Helen of Sir Hubsty. "Poor! no doubt of it, he once had good prospects, poor devil, but at present they are very black; he has nothing now but his own ingenuity to depend on." "A builder, or artist, or something of that kind," whispered the two Miss Vibblers to their respective admirers. "Oh!" said Helen, "I wish it were indeed the case that he was poor!" "And that you yourself were a considerable heiress?" enquired Sir Hubsty; "and in right of your uncle's will my ward ? eh, Miss Helen? Then be quite easy on that score. You are rich." "Then, Charles," she said, holding out the hand which she had with drawn-"the impediment is removed." "And you consent, like a dear, goodnatured delightful girl as you are," said Sir Hubsty, "to be the Lady of Maldon Manor ?" "Why, what in Heaven's name is all this about? Do you ask her for yourself, after all?" said Mr Vibbler, bewildered. "Oh no," said Sir Hubsty, with a laugh "I believe I must shut up shop in that quarter, and put up a ticket, removed to the opposite side of the way,' for I shall immediately go and reside in the late Sir Charles Welby's. If I manage as well for his estate as I've done for this young gentleman's " "Mr Brend's, do you mean "No, no; Charles Maldon of Maldon Manor; he had an object in concealing his name as long as he came, like a knight of old, in disguise, in search of his ladye love; but now that he has found her, I suppose there is no farther need of concealment eh, Bagsby?" "None whatever," answered the lawyer; "we are all witnesses to her promise; and I believe if she drew back, he might recover very heavy damages. I shall be happy to be agent for the plaintiff for a very moderate per-centage on the sum awarded." The Vibblers, great and small-the Higgleses, young and old-the clergyman, as in duty bound-and the physician, as might be expected, lost no time in congratulating all parties on so happy a result. Whether all of them were sincere in their felicitations, we have no means of knowing; but probably Mr Vibbler found it as well to alter his intention of sending for his son, as that young gentleman remained stationary in Lincoln's Inn. "Bythe-by, Mr Bagsby," he said, drawing that highly gratified gentleman into one corner, we were speaking about the allowance I might claim during the three years my niece has been here. Now that her prospects are so glorious, should you think four hundred a-year too much-eh ?" "We must speak of that afterwards; but whatever it is, you can deduct it from her mother's portion, and pay over the remainder to me. " of your father's, to pay to Mrs Welby two thousand pounds, or, retaining it in his own hands, burdening the estate with it at four per cent. Are you aware of its ever having been paid? But, in short, I tell you I have gone carefully over all the accounts, and it has not been paid. I will let you know the present amount in a day or two, and both matters can be arranged at once. Is this satisfactory?" Satisfactory it might be-and, from the gratified malice perceptible on the lawyer's visage, it probably was-to Mr Bagsby himself, but the state of affairs was viewed in a very different light by the thunderstruck Mr Vibbler. In the midst of this happy conclusion to three years' misery on the part of two amiable young people, it pains us, as grave historians, to have to relate, that on the result of the evening's discoveries being conveyed to the servants' hall, Mr Tippings did not behave with the equanimity and decorum befitting his years and station. It is credibly reported that he kissed the cook in the most open and barefaced manner; and threw his hat with such prodigious impetus up to the ceiling, that he made it a shocking bad hat in a very few minutes, with two or three large indentations in the rim; that he drank an innumerable number of pints of strong ale, to the health of the young couple, and finally rolled off to bed, expressing an opinion of the family whose bread he was eating or rather whose beer he was drinking-which could by no pos.. sibility be construed into a compliment; while, at the same time, he gave it as his decided impression, that the young people were the handsomest match in England-sweet-tempered, splendid steppers, and both regularly thoroughbred. THE PIED-A-TERRE. SENTIMENTAL Young students may be in the right, Within cry of the Clubs, in the heart of Mayfair. About twenty, the appetite's strong as a horse, A bowlful of beans are digested of course, And black-strap or brown beer wash them down well enough; He fares like a fighting cock, innocent man! Nor envies the daintiest pied-à-terre, Within cry of the Clubs, in the heart of Mayfair. In the morning he works at his garden or hay, In the evening he'll open Pope, Parnell, or Gay, When her basket is full, though his tale's but half read, Up she jumps with, "Come, dear, we're too late out of bed!" And he'd turn up his nose at a pied-à-terre, Within cry of the Clubs, in the heart of Mayfair. If his neighbour the parson looks over the stile, They converse-as they call it but, heavens! what a doze! At the fun of the point-at the fact of the prose ! Shrewd remarks of the Tatler-conundrums from Joe- How remote from the tone of a pied-à-terre, Within cry of the Clubs, in the heart of Mayfair! Come and settle in London.-There's no place like that Wits, and well-preserved women, and smooth easy chat Fresh and bright as champagne, sharp and racy as hock- If you've slumber'd till noon-read the papers till four- Sufficient to show what the story's about; And then stroll'd in St James's, and lounged in The Bow, The expense need not fright you: up one pair of stairs Busts of Grisi, and vases from old Tuscan tombs. Let your couple of hacks be old Anderson's care,— To augment the gay squeeze at their Concert or Drum,) Within cry of the Clubs, in the heart of Mayfair. With your cronies' fair wives be as warm as you please, Above all, let no Note, as you value your ease, Say a word which might not be proclaimed in Pall- Mall. You don't want so much milk, it is probable, now, As to make it judicious to set up a cow; Such appendages don't suit a pied-à-terre, Within cry of the Clubs, in the heart of Mayfair. Totus teres (if possible don't get rotundus !)— And then set in The West, all alone, as the sun does- Leaving friends who will say to themselves-when the Post Within cry of the Clubs, in the heart of Mayfair." SOUTHSIDE, July 9, 1841. T. T. A GLANCE AT THE ELECTIONS. WHILE we write, the elections are substantially over. The distant sound of a few contests is still heard in Ireland, like dropping shots at the close of a hard-fought battle; but these partial encounters cannot now affect the general result: the fate of the day is decided; the victory is won-so fairly, so signally won, and that at every point of the line, that the defeated party cannot find in any quarter ground of consolation, far less a topic for triumph. Driven with disgrace from almost every position in the counties, our opponents have lost ground even in the boroughs, which they considered as their stronghold. They have been defeated not merely in the smaller constituencies, but in the metropolis itself, in the capital of Ireland, and in some of the largest mercantile and manufacturing constituencies in the empire. In spite of the attempts of their journals to disguise the extent of their discomfiture, their mortification and despair are transparent. We see them "exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen." That Conservative party, which in 1832 could scarcely muster more than a hundred representatives in parliament, has now obtained not a measuring-cast majority-not a mere working majority; but a majority so decisive as to baffle the efforts of intrigue, and to ensure to it in administration efficiency and permanency. Such a result, so speedily and yet so calmly following the delusive excitement with which the Reform Bill had agitated the country, and the shock which that tremendous experiment gave for a time to the stability and equable working of the constitution, may well excite feelings, not only of gratitude to that overruling Providence by which the issues of events are controlled, and to the consummate discretion and prudence by which, under its guidance, the conduct and policy of the Conservative leaders have been directed-but of just pride in the nation itself, and admiration of those solid and sterling qualities in its character, which have led to so desirable a consummation. Probably in no other country in the world, except Great Britain, would such a change have been effected without the intermediate ordeal of a revolution, and its attendant sufferings. But the great change which, in the course of ten years, has restored the Conservative party, apparently stricken down and paralysed by the immediate action of the Reform Bill, not merely to power and place, but to popular favour and confidence, has been effected by no violence or convulsion. It has resulted from no pressure of revolutionary distress, dispelling by the stern lessons of actual experience the dreams of honest enthusiasts and the delusions circulated by interested agitators. Nor has it been accelerated by the power of the court throwing its weight into the Conservative scale when that of Liberalism was observed to waver; nor promoted by intrigue or coalition, nor purchased by the compromise of principles, or trimming concessions to the spirit of democracy. It has been produced by the influence of returning reason, operating silently but surely upon a national character in which the elements of a right judgment— religion, reverence for right and custom, and respect for integrity and honour-are too deeply sown to be easily eradicated; and which, though it may for a time be misled by the stimulus of an insane agitation, cannot permanently be warped or perverted. The people of England, recovering from the crisis of the Reform agitation, have watched the conduct of the two great contending parties in the state since the transference of office to the Whigs; have compared their practices and professions; and after a ten years' trial, in which the fairest hearing has been given to the Liberal party, and every device resorted to on their part to protract an adverse decision which they perceived at last to be inevitable-the British nation has deliberately and unequivocally recorded its verdict in favour of the principles of Conservatism. That this result has been owing in a considerable degree to the remarkable, though not altogether unexpected display of political weakness and incapacity on the part of the Whigs during their tenure of office, and to the address and ability with which these failures have been exposed by the Conservatives, cannot be doubted. To be weak is miserable in all situations, but pre-eminently in those who pretend to govern the destinies of a |