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Master Humphrey's Clock:

grinned his approval of the jest until his white teeth shone
again.

The old man stood helplessly among them for a little time,
and then said, turning to his assailant :

"You yourself were speaking of plunder just now, you
know. Don't be so violent with me.
you not?"
You were, were

other people, but that's my constitution, and I can't help it; so don't blame me, Isaac List."

"not

"I blame you!" returned the person addressed; liberal as you; and as you say, he might pay it back if he for the world, Mr. Jowl. I wish I could afford to be as won, and if he lost"

Jowl.

"Not of plundering among present company! Honor "You're not to take that into consideration at all," said among---among gentlemen, sir," returned the other, who from all I know of chances,) why, it's better to lose other seemed to have been very near giving an awkward termina-people's money than one's own, I hope ?" "But suppose he did, (and nothing's less likely tion to the sentence.

"Don't be hard upon him Jowl," said Isaac List. "He's very sorry for giving offence. There--go on with what you were saying---go on."

"I'm a jolly old tender-hearted lamb, I am," cried Mr.
Jowl," to be sitting here at my time of life giving advice,
when I know it won't be taken, and that I shall get nothing
but abuse for my pains But that's the way I've gone
through life. Experience has never put a chill upon my
warm-heartedness.

"I tell you he 's very sorry, do n't I?" remonstrated
Isaac List, "and that he wishes you 'd go on."
"Does he wish it?" said the other.

Ay," groaned the old man sitting down, and rocking
himself to and fro. "Go on, go on.
with it; I can't do it; go on.'
It's in vain to fight

"I

go on then," said Jowl, "where I left off, when you got up so quick. If you 're persuaded that it's time for luck to turn, as it certainly is, and find that you have n't means enough to try it, (and that 's where it is, for you know yourself that you never have the funds to keep on long enough at a sitting,) help yourself to what seems put in your way on purpose. Borrow it, I say, and when you 're able, pay it back again."

"Certainly," Isaac List struck in, "if this good lady as keeps the wax-works has money, and does keep it in a tin box when she goes to bed, and does n't lock her door for fear of fire, it seems a easy thing; quite a Providence, I should call it, but then I've been religiously brought up.' "You see, Isaac," said his friend, growing more eager, and drawing himself closer to the old man, while he signed to the gipsy not to come between them; "you see, Isaac, strangers are going in and out every hour of the day; nothing would be more likely than for one of these strangers to get under the good lady's bed, or lock himself in the cupboard; suspicion would be very wide, and would fall a long way from the mark, no doubt. I'd give him his revenge to the last farthing he brought, whatever the amount

was.

"But could you?" argued Isaac List. strong enough?" "Is your bank "Strong enough! answered the other, with assumed disdain. "Here, you sir, give me that box out of the

straw.

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This was addressed to the gipsy, who crawled into the low tent on all fours, and after some rummaging and rustling returned with a cash box, which the man who had spoken opened with a key he wore about his person.

"Do you see this?" he said, gathering up the money in his hand and letting it drop back into the box, between his fingers, like water. "Do you hear it? Do you know the sound of gold? There, put it back--and do n't talk about banks again, Isaac, till you've got one of your own." Isaac List, with great apparent humility, protested that he had never doubted the credit of a gentleman so notorious for his honorable dealing as Mr. Jowl, and that he had hinted at the production of the box, not for the satisfaction of his doubts, for he could have none, but with a view to being regaled with a sight of so much wealth, which though it might be deemed by some but an unsubstantial and visionary pleasure, was to one in his circumstances a source of extreme delight, only to be surpassed by its safe depository in his own personal pockets. Although Mr. List and Mr. Jowl addressed themselves to each other, it was remarkable that they both looked narrowly at the old man, who, with his eyes fixed upon the fire, sat,brooding over it, yet listening eagerly--as it seemed from a certain involuntary motion of his head, or twitching of the face from time to time---to all they said.

My advice," said Jowl, laying down again, with a careless air, "is plain-I have given it, in fact. I act as a friend. Why should I help a man to the means perhaps of winning all I have, unless I considered him my friend? It's foolish, I dare say, to be so thoughtful of the welfare of

winning! The delight of picking up the money-the bright "Ah!" cried Isaac List, rapturously, "the pleasures of shining yellow-boys-sweeping 'em into one's pocketthat one didn't stop short and turn back, but went half-way The deliciousness of having a triumph at last, and thinking to meet it! The-but you're not going, old gentleman

"I'll do it," said the old man, who had risen and taken
riedly. "I'll have it, every penny."
two or three hurried steps away, and now returned as hur-

ping him on the shoulder; "and I respect you for having
"Why, that's brave," cried Isaac, jumping up and slap
so much young blood left. Ha, ha, ha! Joe Jowl's hat
him. Ha, ha, ha!"
sorry he advised you now. We've got the laugh agains

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he stakes coin against coin, down to the last one in the
He gives me my revenge, mind," said the old man,
pointing to him eagerly with his shriveled hand; "mind-
box, be there many or few. Remember that!"
tween you."
"I'm witness," returned Isaac. "I'll see fair play be

luctance, "and I'll keep it. When does this match come
"I have passed my word," said Jowl, with feigned re-
off? I wish it was over.-To-night?"

"I must have the money first," said the old man; "and that I'll have to-morrow-"

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said the old man.
Why not to-night?" urged Jowl.
"It's late now, and I should be flushed and flurried,"
"It must be softly done
row night."
fort here. Luck to the best man! Fill!”
No, to-mor
"Then to-morrow be it," said Jowl. "A drop of com-

brim with brandy. The old man turned aside and mutter-
ed to himself before he drank. Her own name struck upo
The gipsy produced three tin cups, and filled them to the
the listener's ear, coupled with some wish so fervent, that
he seemed to breathe it in an agony of supplication.

"God be merciful to us!" cried the child within herself, " and help us in this trying hour! What shall I do to save him ?"

The remainder of their conversation was carried on in a merely to the execution of the project, and the best precau lower tone of voice, and was sufficiently concise; relating tions for diverting suspicion. The old man then shook hands with his tempters, and withdrew.

he often did, waved their hands, or shouted some brief en
They watched his bowed and stooping figure as it retreat-
ed slowly, and when he turned his head to look back, which
ly diminish into a mere speck upon the distant road, that
they turned to each other, and ventured to laugh aloud.
couragement. It was not until they had seen him gradual

done at last. He wanted more persuading that I expected.
"So," said Jowl, warming his hands at the fire, "it's
What 'll he bring, do you think?"
It 's three weeks ago since we first put this in his head.-

Isaac List.
"Whatever he brings, it 's halved between us,” returned
of it," he said, "and then cut his acquaintance, or we may
The other man nodded.
be suspected. Sharp's the word."
"We must make quick work

amused themselves a little with their victim's infatuation, they dismissed the subject as one which had been sufficientList and the gipsy acquiesced. When they had all three ly discussed, and began to talk in a jargon which the child did not understand. As their discourse appeared to relate to matters in which they were warmly interested, however, she deemed it the best time for escaping unobserved; and crept away with slow and cautious steps, keeping in the point beyond their range of vision. Then she fled homeshadow of the hedges, or forcing a path through them or the dry ditches, until she could emerge upon the road at a ward as quickly as she could, torn and bleeding from the wounds of thorns and briers, but more lacerated in mind, and threw herself upon her bed, distracted.

The first idea that flashed upon her mind was flight, in- | henceforth she must think and act for both. "I have saved stant flight; dragging him from that place, and rather dying him," she thought. "In all dangers and distresses, I will of want upon the roadside than exposing him again to remember that." such terrible temptations. Then she remembered that the At any other time the recollection of having deserted the crime was not to be committed until next night, and there friend who had shown them so much homely kindness, withwas the intermediate time for thinking, and resolving what out a word of justification-the thought that they were to do. Then she was distracted with a horrible fear that he guilty, in appearance, of treachery and ingratitude-even might be committing it at that moment; with fearful the having parted from the two sisters-would have filled thoughts of what he might be tempted and led on to do, if her with sorrow and regret. But now, all other considerahe were detected in the act, and had but a woman to strug-tions were lost in the new uncertainties and anxieties of gle with. It was impossible to bear such torture. She stole their wild and wandering life; and the very desperation of to the room where the money was, opened the door, and their condition roused and stimulated her. looked in. God be praised! He was not there, and she was sleeping soundly.

She went back to her own room, and tried to prepare herself for bed. But who could sleep-sleep! who could lia passively down, distracted by such terrors? They came upon her more strongly yet. Half undressed, and with her hair in wild disorder, she flew to the old man's bedside, clasped him by the wrist, and roused him from his sleep. "What's this?" he cried, starting up in bed, and fixing his eyes upon her spectral face.

"I have had a dreadful dream," said the child, with an energy that nothing but such terrors could have inspired. "A dreadful, horrible dream. I have had it once before. It is a dream of grey-haired men like you in darkened rooms by night, robbing the sleepers of their gold. "Up, up!" The old man shook in every joint, and folded his hands like one who prays.

"Not to me," said the child, "not to me-to Heaven, to save us from such deeds. This dream is too real. I cannot sleep, I cannot stay here, I cannot leave you alone under the roof where such dreams come. Up! We must fly." He looked at her as if she were a spirit-she might have been, for all the look of earth she had--and trembled more and more.

"There is no time to lose; I will not lose one minute," said the child. "Up! and away with me!" To-night?" murmured the old man.

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"Yes, to-night," replied the child. "To-morrow night will be too late. The dream will have come again. Nothing but flight can save us. Up!"

The old man rose from his bed, his forehead bedewed with the cold sweat of fear, and, bending before the child as if she had been an angel messenger sent to lead him where she would, made ready to follow her. She took him by the hand and led him on. As they passed the door of the room he had proposed to rob, she shuddered and looked up into his face. What a white face was that, and with what a look did he meet hers!

She took him to her own chamber, and, still holding him by the hand as if she feared to lose him for an instant, gathered together the little stock she had, and hung her basket on her arm. The old man took his wallet from her hands and strapped it on his shoulders-his staff, too, she had brought away--and then she led him forth.

Through the strait streets, and narrow crooked outskirts, their trembling feet passed quickly. Up the steep hill too, crowned by the old grey castle, they toiled with rapid steps, and had not once looked behind.

But as they drew nearer the ruined walls, the moon rose in all her gentle glory, and, from their venerable age, garlanded with ivy, moss, and waving grass, the child looked back upon the sleeping town, deep in the valley's shade, and on the far-off river with its winding track of light, and on the distant hills; and as she did so, she clasped the hand she held, less firmly, and bursting into tears, fell upon the old man's neck.

CHAPTER XLIII.

Her momentary weakness past, the child again summoned the resolution which had until now sustained her, and, endeavoring to keep steadily in her view the one idea that they were flying from disgrace and crime, and that her grandfather's preservation must depend solely upon her firmness, unaided by one word of advice or any helping hand, urged him onward and looked back no more.

While he, subdued and abashed, seemed to crouch before her, and to shrink and cower down as if in the presence of some superior creature, the child herself was sensible of a new feeling within her, which elevated her nature, and inspired her with an energy and confidence she had never known. There was no divided responsibility now; the whole burden of their two lives had fallen upon her, and

In the pale moonlight, which lent a wanness of its own, the delicate face where thoughtful care already mingled with the winning grace and loveliness of youth, the too bright eye, the spiritual head, the lips that pressed each other with such high resolve and courage of the heart, the slight figure, firm in its bearing and yet so very weak, told their silent tale, but told it only to the wind that rustled by, which, taking up its burden, carried, perhaps to some mother's pillow, faint dreams of childhood fading in its bloom, and resting in the sleep that knows no waking.

The night crept on apace, the moon went down, the stars grew pale and dim, and morning, cold as they, slowly approached. Then, from behind a distant hil', the noble sun rose up, driving the mists in phantom shapes before it, and clearing the earth of their ghostly forms till darkness came again. When it had climbed higher into the sky, and there was warmth in its cheerful beams, they laid them down to sleep, upon a bank, hard by some water.

But Nell retained her grasp upon the old man's arm, and long after he was slumbering soundly, watched him with untiring eyes. Fatigue stole over her at last; her grasp relaxed, tightened, relaxed again, and they slept side by side. A confused sound of voices, mingling with her dreams, awoke her. A man of very uncouth and rough appearance was standing over them, and two of his companions were looking on from a long heavy boat which had come close to the bank while they were sleeping. The boat had neither oar nor sail, but was towed by a couple of horses, who, with the rope to which they were harnessed, slack and dripping in the water, were resting on the path.

"Holloa!" said the man, roughly. "What's the matter here, eh?"

"We were only asleep, sir," said Nell. "We have been walking all night."

"A pair of queer travellers to be walking all night,” observed the man who had first accosted them. "One of you is a trifle too old for that sort of work, and the other a trifls too young. Where are you going?"

Nell faltered, and pointed at hazard toward the West, upon which the man inquired if she meant a certain town which he named. Nell, to avoid further questioning, said "Yes, that was the place."

"Where have you come from?" was the next question; and this being an easier one to answer, Nell mentioned the name of the village in which their friend the schoolmaster dwelt, as being less likely to be known to the men or to provoke further inquiry.

"I thought somebody had been robbing and ill-using you, might be," said the man. "That's all. Good day."

Returning his salute and feeling greatly relieved by his departure, Nell looked after him as he mounted one of the horses, and the boat went on. It had not gone very far, when it stopped again, and she saw the men beckoning to her.

"Did you call to me?" said Nell, running up to them. "You may go with us if you like," replied one of those in the boat. "We're going to the same place."

The child hesitated for a moment, and thinking, as she had thought with great trepidation more than once before, that the men whom she had seen with her grandfather might perhaps, in their eagerness for the booty, follow them, and, regaining their influence over him, set hers at nought; and that if they went with these men, all traces of them must surely be lost at that spot; determined to accept the offer. The boat came close to the bank again, and before she had had any time for further consideration, she and her grandfather were on board and gliding smoothly down the canal.

The sun shone pleasantly upon the bright water, which was sometimes shaded by trees and sometimes open to a wide extent of country, intersected by running streams, and rich with wooded hills, cultivated land, and sheltered farms.

Now and then a village with its modest spire, thatched roofs, and gable-ends, would peep out from among the trees; and more than once a distant town, with great church towers looming through its smoke, and high factories or workshops, rising above the mass of houses, would come in view, and, by the length of time it lingered in the distance show them how slowly they travelled. Their way lay for the most part through the low grounds, and open plains; and except these distant places, and occasionally some men working in the fields, or lounging on the bridges under which they passed to see them creep along, nothing encroached on their monotonous and secluded track.

for its longer preservation, requested that she would oblige him with a song.

"You've got a very pretty voice, a very soft eye, and a very strong memory," said this gentleman; "the voice and eye I've got evidence for, and the memory's an opinion of my own. And I'm never wrong. Let me hear a song this minute."

"I don't think I know one. sir," returned Nell.

"You know forty-seven songs," said the man, with a gravity which admitted of no altercation on the subject. “Fortyseven's your number. Let me hear one of 'em-the best. Give me a song this minute."

Nell was rather disheartened, when they stopped at a kind Not knowing what might be the consequences of irritating of wharf late in the afternoon, to learn from one of the her friend, and trembling with the fear of doing so, poor Nell men that they would not reach their place of destination sang him some little ditty which she had learned in happier until the next day, and that if she had no provision with her times, and which was so agreeable to his ear, that on its conshe had better buy it there. She had but a few pence, hav-clusion he, in the same peremptory manner, requested to be ing already bargained with them for some bread, but even favored with another, to which he was so obliging as to roar of these it was necessary to be very careful, as they were a chorus to no particular tune, and with no words at all, but on their way to an utterly strange place, with no resource which amply made up in its amazing energy for its deficiency whatever. A small loaf and a morsel of cheese, therefore, in other respects. The noise of this vocal performance awak were all she could afford, and with these she took her place ened the other man, who, staggering upon deck and shaking in the boat again, and, after half an hour's delay, during his late opponent by the hand, swore that singing was his which the men were drinking at the public house, proceed- pride and joy and chief delight, and that he desired no better ed on the journey. entertainment. With a third call, more imperative than either of the two former, Nell felt obliged to comply, and this time a chorus was maintained not only by the two men together, position debarred from a nearer participation in the revels of but also by the third man on horseback, who, being by his the night, roared when his companious roared, and rent the In this way, with little cessation, and singing the very air. same songs again and again, the tired and exhausted child kept them in good humor all that night; and many a cottager, who was roused from his soundest sleep by the discor dant chorus as it floated away upon the wind, hid his head beneath the bed-clothes and trembled at the sounds.

They brought some beer and spirits into the boat with them, and what with drinking freely before, and again now, were soon in a fair way of being quarrelsome and intoxicated. Avoiding the small cabin, therefore, which was very dark and filthy, and to which they often invited both her and her grandfather, Nell sat in the open air with the old man by her side, listening to their boisterous hosts with a palpitating heart, and almost wishing herself safe on shore again though she should have to walk all night.

They were in truth very rugged, noisy fellows, and quite brutal among themselves, though civil enough to their two passengers. Thus, when a quarrel arose between the man who was steering and his friend in the cabin, upon the question who had first suggested the propriety of offering Nell some beer, and when the quarrel led to a scuffle in which they beat each other fearfully, to her inexpressible terror, neither visited his displeasure upon her, but each contented himself with venting it on his adversary, on whom, in addition to blows, he bestowed a variety of compliments, which, happily for the child, were conveyed in terms to her quite unintelligible. The difference was finally adjusted, by the man who had come out of the cabin knocking the other into it head first, and taking the helm into his own hands, without evincing the least discomposure himself, or causing any in his friend, who, being of a tolerably strong constitution and perfectly inured to such trifles, went to sleep as he was, with his heels upward, and in a couple of minutes or so was snoring comfortably.

By this time it was night again, and though the child felt cold, being but poorly clad, her anxious thoughts were far removed from her own suffering or uneasiness, and busily engaged in endeavoring to devise some scheme for their joint subsistence. The same spirit which had supported her on the previous night, upheld and sustained her now. Her grandfather lay sleeping safely at her side, and the crime to which his madness urged him was not committed. That was her

comfort.

How every circumstance of her short, eventful life, came thronging into her mind as they traveled on! Slight incidents, never thought of or remembered until now; faces seen once and ever since forgotten; words spoken and scarcely heeded at the time; scenes of a year ago and those of yesterday mixing up and linking themselves together; familiar places shaping themselves out in the darkness from things which, when approached, were of all others the most remote and most unlike them; sometimes a strange confusion in ker mind relative to the occasion of her being there, and the place to which she was going, and the people she was with; and imagination suggesting remarks and questions which sounded so plainly in her ears, that she would start and turn, and be almost tempted to reply-all the fancies and contradictions common in watching and excitement, and restless change of place, beset the child.

She happened, while she was thus engaged, to encounter the face of the man on deck, in whom the sentimental stage of drunkenness had now succeeded to the boisterous, and who, taking from his mouth a short pipe, quilted over with string

At length the morning dawned. It was no sooner light than it began to rain heavily. As the child could not endure the intolerable vapors of the cabin, they covered her, in eturn for her exertions, with some pieces of sail-cloth and ends of tarpaulin, which sufficed to keep her tolerably dry, and to shelter her grandfather besides. As the day advanced the rain increased. At noon it poured down more hopelessly and heavily than ever, without the faintest promise of abatement.

They had for some time been gradually approaching the place for which they were bound. The water had become thicker and dirtier; other barges coming from it passed them frequently; the paths of coal-ash and huts of staring brick marked the vicinity of some great manufacturing town; while scattered streets and houses, and smoke from distant furnaces, indicated that they were already in the outskirts. Now, the clustered roofs, and piles of buildings trembling with the working of engines, and dimly resounding with their shrieks and throbbings; the tall chimneys vomiting forth a black vapor, which hung in a dense, ill-favored cloud above the house-tops, and filled the air with gloom; the clank of hammers beating upon iron, the roar of busy streets and noisy crowds, gradually augmenting until all the various sourdi blended into one, and none was distinguishable for itself, announced the termination of their journey.

The boat floated into the wharf to which it belonged. The men were occupied directly. The child and her grandfather, after waiting in vain to thank them, or ask them whither they should go, passed through a dirty lane into a crowded street, and stood amid its din and tumult, and in the pouring rain,as strange, bewildered, and confused, as if they had lived a thousand years before, and were raised from the dead and placed there by a miracle.

MASSILLON.-Louis XIV. said one day to Massillon, after hearing him preach at Versailles: "Father, I have heard many great orators in this chapel; I have been highly pleased with them: but for you, whenever I hear you, 1 go away displeased with myself; for I see more of my own character." This has been considered the finest encomium ever bestowed upon a preacher.

LOVE OF BIRDS.-In Holland, nightingales and singingbirds in general are protected from molestation; and birdnesting, and every other injury to the melodists of the wood, is severely punished by local laws.

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Three days after the marriage treatey was signed-namely, on the 15th of January, 1554, the lords of the council, the lord mayor, the aldermen, and forty of the head commoners of the city, were summoned to the Tower, where they were received in the presence-chamber of the palace by Gardiner and Renard; the former of whom, in his capacity of chancellor, made them a long oration, informing them that an alliance was definitively concluded between the Queen and Philip of Spain; and adding, "that they were bound to thank God that so noble, worthy, and famous a prince would so humble himself in his union with her highness, as to take upon him rather the character of a subject, than a monarch of equal power."

The terms of the treaty were next read, and the chancellor expatiated upon the many important concessions made by the imperial ambassadors; endeavoring to demonstrate that England was by far the greatest gainer by the alliance, and stating, "that it was her highness's pleasure and request, that like good subjects they would, for her sake, most lovingly receive her illustrious consort with reverence, joy, and honor."

No plaudits followed this announcement, nor was the slightest expression of joy manifested, except by the lords Arundel, Paget, and Rochester-the main supporters of the match, as has been previously stated, when it was brought before Parliament. Gardiner glanced at the council-at the civic authorities-as if in expectation of a reply, but none was attempted, unless their very silence could be so construed. Whatever his real sentiments might be, the chancellor assumed an air of deep displeasure, and turning to Renard, who, with arms folded on his breast, scanned the assemblage with a cold scrutinizing gaze, asked in an under tone, whether he should dismiss them?

"On no account," replied the ambassador. "Compel them to give utterance to their thoughts. We shall the better know how to deal with them. My project once carried and Philip united to Mary," he muttered to himself, will speedily cudgel these stubborn English bull-dogs into obedience."

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we

well, I care not who wins the day, provided I foil Renard, and that I will do at any cost."

"A thousand marks that I read your excellency's thoughts!” cried a martial-looking personage, approaching them. He was attired in a coat of mail, with quilted sleeves, a velvet cassock, cuisses, and buff boots drawn up above the knee; and carried in his hand a black velvet cap, ornamented with broad bone-work lace. His arms were rapier and dagger, both of the largest size. "Is the wager accepted?" he added, taking the ambassador's arm within his own, and drawing him aside.

replied De Noailles, "I am thinking how prosperously all "My thoughts are easily guessed, Sir Thomas Wyat," goes for us."

three only are favorable to the imperialists. If you ap"Right," rejoined Wyat; out of that large assemblage prove it, I will myself-though not a member of the council-answer Gardiner's speech, and tell him we will not suffer this hateful alliance to take place."

"That were unwise:" rejoined De Noailles, "do not meddle in the matter. It will only attract suspicion toward us."

"I care not if it does," replied Wyat; "we are all ready and sure of support. I will go further, if need be, and add, if the queen weds not Courtenay, a general insur

rection will follow."

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the earl, who had followed them, and overheard the reCourtenay will never wed the queen," observed

mark.

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"If he retains his power, farewell to the liberty of Englishmen," rejoined Wyat; "we shall become as abject as the Flemings. But I, for one, will never submit to the yoke of Spain."

"Not so loud!" cried De Noailles, checking him. "You will effectually destroy our scheme. Renard only and some one not connected with the plot will take the seeks some plea to attack us. Have a moment's patience, responsibility upon himself."

"Renard does not appear to relish the reception which the announcement of her Majesty's proposed alliance has The prudence of the ambassador's counsel was speedily met with," observed De Noailles, who stood in one corner exemplified. While the conversation above related ocof the chamber with Courtenay. "It will give him a fore-curred, a few words passed between the principal members taste of what is to follow. Had your lordship been pro- of the council and the heads of the civic authorities, posed to the assembly, their manner would have been wide- and, at their instance, the Earl of Pembroke stepped forly different."

"Perhaps so," returned Courtenay, with a gratified smile; "and yet I know not."

"It may be shortly put to the proof," answered De

Noailles.

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Never," replied Courtenay; "I will never wed Mary." "But Elizabeth?" cried the ambassador.

ward.

"We are aware, my lord," he said, addressing Gardiner, "that we ought on the present occasion, to signify our approval of the queen's choice-to offer her our heartfelt congratulations-our prayers for her happiness. But we shall not seek to disguise our sentiments. We do not approve this match; and we have heard your lordship's communication with pain-with sorrow-with displeasuredispleasure, that designing counsellors should have prevailed upon her highness to take a step fatal to her own happiness, and to the welfare of her kingdom. Our solicitations are, therefore-and we earnestly entreat your lordship to represent them to her majesty-that she will break "One is dependent upon the other," rejoined De Noail-off this engagement, and espouse some English nobleman. les. "While Mary reigns, you must give up all hopes of

"Ay, Elizabeth," echoed the earl, passionately, "with, or without a throne, she would be equally dear to me." "You shall have her and the crown as well," replied De

Noailles.

"I care not for the latter, provided I can obtain the former," returned the earl.

Elizabeth."

"It is that conviction alone that induces me to take part in the conspiracy," sighed Courtenay. "I am neither ambitious to rule this kingdom, nor to supplant Philip of Spain. But I would risk fortune, title, life itself, for Elizabeth."

"I know it," ejaculated De Noailles to himself, “and therefore I hold her out as a lure to you, weak, wavering fool! I will use you as far as I find necessary, but no further. Rash and hair-brained as he is, Lord Guilford Dudley would make the better leader, and is the more likely to succeed. Jane's party is hourly gaining strength. Well,

*Continued from page 656.

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"I am bound to add that your excellency has advanced nothing but the truth," acquiesced Gardiner; "and though, at first, as is well known to Lord Pembroke and others of the council, I was as averse to the match as he or they could be, I am now its warmest advocate. But I will not prolong the discussion. Her highness's word is passed to the prince-the contract signed-the treaty concluded. Your remonstrances, therefore, are too late. And if you will suffer me to point out to you the only course that can with propriety be pursued, I would urge you to offer her majesty your loyal congratulations on her choice-to prepare to receive her consort in the manner she has directed and to watch over the interests of your country so carefully, that the evils you dread may never arise." "If my solemn assurance will satisfy the Earl of Pembroke and the other honorable persons here present," remarked Renard, "I will declare, in the prince my master's name, that he has not the remotest intention of interfering with the government of this country-of engaging it in any war-or of placing his followers in any office or post of authority."

"Whatever may be the prince's intentions,” rejoined Gardiner, "he is precluded by the treaty from acting upon them. At the same time, it is but right to add, that these terms were not wrung from his ambassador, but voluntarily proposed by him."

"They will never be adhered to," cried Sir Thomas Wyat, stepping forward, and facing Renard, whom he regarded with a look of defiance.

"Do you dare to question my word, sir?" exclaimed Renard.

"I do," replied Wyat, sternly. "And let no Englishman put faith in one of your nation, or he will repent his folly. I am a loyal subject of the queen, and would shed my heart's blood in her defence. But I am also a lover of my country, and will never surrender her to the dominion of Spain !"

"Sir Thomas Wyat,” rejoined Gardiner, you are well known as one of the queen's bravest soldiers; and it is well you are so, or your temerity would place you in peril. "

"I care not what the consequences are to myself my lord," replied Wyat, "if the queen will listen to my warning. It is useless to proceed further with this match. The nation will never suffer it to take place; nor will the prince be allowed to set foot upon our shores. "

"These are bold words, Sir Thomas," observed Gardiner, suspiciously. "Whence do you draw your conclusions?" "From sure premises, my lord," answered Wyat. "The very loyalty entertained by her subjects towards the queen makes them resolute not to permit her to sacrifice herself. They have not forgotten the harsh treatment experienced by Philip's first wife, Maria of Portugal. Hear me, my lord chancellor, and report what I say to her highness. If this match is persisted in, a general insurrection will follow.”

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"This is a mere pretext for some rebellious deings, Sir Thomas," replied Gardiner, sternly. "Sedition ever masks itself under the garb of loyalty. Take heed, Sir. Your actions shall be strictly watched, and if aught occurs to confirm my suspicions, I shall deem it my duty to recommend her majesty to place you in arrest. "Wyat's rashness will destroy us, Noailles to Courtenay. "Before we separate, my lords," observed Renard, “I think it right to make known to you that the emperor, deeming it inconsistent with the dignity of so mighty a queen as your sovereign to wed beneath her own rank, is about to resign the crown of Naples and the dukedom of Milan to his son, prior to the auspicious event. "

A slight murmur of applause arose from the council at this

announcement.

"You hear that," cried the Earl of Arundel. "Can you longer hesitate to congratulate the queen on her union?" The Earl was warmly seconded by Paget and Rochester. No other voice joined them.

"The sense of the assembly is against it," observed the Earl of Pembroke.

"I am amazed at your conduct, my lords, " cried Gardi

ner, angrily. "You deny your sovereign the right freely accorded to the meanest of her subjects,-the right to choose for herself a husband. For shame!-for shame! Your sense of justice, if not your loyalty, should prompt you to act differently. The prince of Spain has been termed a stranger to this country, whereas his august sire is not merely the queen's cousin, but the oldest ally of the crown. So far from the alliance being disadvantageous, it is highly profitable, ensuring, as it does, the emperor's aid against our constant enemies the Scots and the French. Of the truth of this you may judge by the opposition it has met with, overt and secret, from the ambassador of the King of France. But without enlarging upon the advantages of the union, which must be sufficiently apparent to you all, I shall content myself with stating that it is not your province to dic tate to the queen whom she shall marry, or whom she shall not marry, but humbly to acquiesce in her choice. Her majesty, in her exceeding goodness, has thought fit to lay be fore you-a step altogether needless-the conditions of her union. It pains me to say you have received her condescension in a most unbecoming manner. I trust, however, a better feeling has arisen among you, and that you will now enable me to report you, as I desire, to her highness." The only assenting voices were those of the three lords constituting the imperial party in the council. Having waited for a short time, Gardiner bowed gravely, and dismissed the assemblage.

As he was about to quit the presence-chamber, he perceived Courtenay standing in a pensive attitude in the embrasure of a window. Apparently, the room was entirely deserted, except by the two ushers, who, with white wands in their hands, were stationed on either side of the door. It suddenly occurred to Gardiner that this would be a favorable opportunity to question the Earl respecting the schemes in which he more than suspected he was a party, and he accordingly advanced toward him.

"You have heard the reception which the announcement of her majesty's marriage has met with," he said. "I will frankly own to you it would have been far more agreeable to me to have named your lordship to them. And you have to thank yourself that such has not been the case." "True, " replied Courtenay, raising his eyes, and fixing them upon the speaker. "But I have found love more powerful than ambition."

"And do you yet love Elizabeth?" demanded Gardiner, with a slight sneer. "Is it possible that an attachment can endure with your lordship longer than a month?"

"I never loved till I loved her," sighed Courtenay. "Be that as it may, you must abandon her," returned the chancellor. "The Queen will not consent to your union."

"Your lordship has just observed, in your address to the council," rejoined Courtenay, "that it is the privilege of all-even of the meanest-to choose in marriage whom they will. Since her highness would exert this right in her own favor, why deny it to her sister?"

"Because her sister has robbed her of her lover,” replied Gardiner. "Strong-minded as she is, Mary is not without some of the weaknesses of her sex. She could not bear to witness the happiness of a rival."

Courtenay smiled.

"I understand your meaning, my lord," pursued Gardiner, sternly; "but if you disobey the Queen's injunctions in this particular, you will lose your head, and so will the princess."

"The Queen's own situation is fraught with more peril than mine," replied Courtenay "If she persists in her match with the prince of Spain, she will lose her crown, and then who shall prevent my wedding Elizabeth?"

Gardiner looked at him as he said this so fixedly, that the earl involuntarily cast down his eyes.

"Your words and manner, my lord," observed the chan cellor, after a pause, "convince me that you are implicated in a conspiracy, known to be forming against the Queen.” "My lord!" cried Courtenay.

"Do not interrupt me," continued Gardiner-"the conduct of the council to-day, the menaces of Sir Thomas Wya!, your own words, convince me that decided measures must be taken. I shall therefore place you in arrest. And this time, rest assured, care shall be taken that you do not escape."

Courtenay laid his hand upon his sword, and looked uneasily at the door.

"Resistance will be in vain, my lord,” pursued Gardi.

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