until the evening, or his wife to go out at all; for the dull wettish morning had now resolved into a settled rain-and another look to the girl who brought the dismissal, whose blushing looks expressed, in unmistakable language, a full detection of the feint or ruse. The ingratitude of the parties had now, however, occurred to awaken her contempt, and she prepared to make the much wished-for retreat; the rapidity of which, nevertheless, like her own very laudable, though rather disproved intentions, was destined to be, for a little at least, intercepted. Mrs Fife saw, in passing through a very uncomfortable looking salon, adorned with the stucco imitations of Canova, the vomitory of another very smart apartment standing cautiously, and, as it appeared, purposely agee.

"I wonder❞—and she forgot in that one word the possible ambuscade of the parties who had just announced, by so many astonishing (we cannot call them white) lies, their unqualified desire to see, as well as to hear, of the forthcoming dislodgement-" what sort of place their dining-room can be?" and Mrs Fife, des

patching the servant girl with some trifling orders to her coachman, gently pushed her head into the apartment; and there she as gently discovered-Mrs Sham herself, in a dowdy dress, busily engaged in making up a piece of silk that seemed to have been at least twice dyed, and in imposing from time to time an impressive "hush" upon the now quiet romps of two very active and mischievous looking babes.

Mrs Fife drew in—but quickly darted back again, to detect Captain Sham's own bare brushed hat, cleaned shamois gloves, walkingcane, and snuff-box, resting opposite upon the torn hide of a worn-out cabinet piano-forte. Mrs Fife would have pounced back a second time, in order to compass a table, tight over which was drawn a fine but vulgar orange-patterned cloth, of which she had just been able to catch the edge; and behind which she did not merely suspect the husband of the lady himself to be ensconced-but at that important instant her double sight had caught a glimpse of the returning maid, carrying the desired umbrella aloft,

under whose unsatisfactory shade she was now to have the honour of returning to her carriage.

"Thankful nobody noticed me!" said Mrs Fife to herself, while giving orders to rest the horses at St Andrews, on her route to Lady Lumberfield's, in whose dominions, should nothing further occur, she was now inclined to seek refuge; and reflecting seriously on the consequences to which her late discovery might have exposed her-for the day's excursion was now beginning somehow or other to cause her spirits to flag-she rode away infinitely contented with her own management and dexterity. But somebody had noticed her. The most distant signification of noise-such as the steps of a person moving in the room above, an inclination to cough in descending a pair of stairs, or even sounds of a much slighter nature and significance- often prove sufficient to awake the activity of a woman who is not deaf, an abstracted enthusiast in devotion, or in love.

Mrs Captain Sham had traced, from her seat of duty, every motion of the foe; had noted the

suspicious pause at the dining-parlour door; had perfectly comprehended her guest's pretext for sending away the maid on a message to her coachman; and had seen the head when it first popped forth, uncertain at the moment where it was to fix. But it was Mrs Sham's policyafter having been so unexpectedly delivered up, through means of the very stratagem by which she had hoped more easily to have come at the intentions of so extraordinary a person as Mrs Fife -to put on the true appearance of perfect unconsciousness; and, by virtue of this management, to compel the enemy to understand the little success she was likely to meet with on a second invasion. For as Mrs Sham did not find it so convenient now-a-days to transport her family to such a place as Fife-hall in the style she wished, there was no occasion-and her husband was of the same opinion-that she should burden herself with any unnecessary recollections of former kindness and hospitality; though Captain Sham himself had hitherto pretended to do so, under an expectation, however, now luckily set

at rest, of finding cheaper quarters somewhere in Mrs Fife's immediate neighbourhood.

In the mean time, Mrs Fife's campaign in the kingdom was likely to end where it had, properly speaking, begun-with the Shams. On her arrival at St Andrews, she was informed that the party she was come so far in quest of had, after viewing all the lions that were worth, proceeded on their tour that night; and were by this time, in spite of all their gauche stupidity, utterly beyond all trace or reach. And further, that Lady Lumberfield was at present, though little in the habit of visiting abroad, gone from home. Mrs Fife considered at first, whether or not she should stay out the night where she was, and next day take in, on her return, either Castle Regular, or Methodical House; for, once on the qui vive, it was proper that she should glean the whole transactions of the country on her route. But the scheme was doubtful. The persons about her seemed either to be in a hurry, or too deaf to understand what was meant. She had been where she was before; and she was