Mr. Azledine received the intelligence of his son's approaching marriage with unaffected cheerfulness; applauded warmly the disinterested kindness of the General; and relished, exceedingly, Aston's account of the humorous way in which the whole affair had been conducted.

"I have great reason to rejoice,” said he, "not only on Cameron's account, but as regards my wife and daughters. Here," he continued, his voice faltering as he spoke, "I shall end my days, and that, too, ere long. My health is giving way; I feel that it is; while there is not the shadow of a hope that I can ever satisfy the claims which have brought me to this place. General Neville is rich; at his death his fortune will go to Caroline and his son Charles; and Cameron will thus be in a condition to shield off the worst evils of poverty from his mother and sisters. This reflexion, I assure you, is a great solace to me."

66

"I can well believe it," replied Aston, though I utterly disown your apprehensions. Rumours of strange matters have reached me from Azledine Hall that seem to foreshadow the return of former days —”

"How !"

"You must not urge me further at present; but I speak advisedly when I say that I hope nay, more, that I believe, your prison-doors will yet be flung open."

"When my hearse is there. I know what it is you aim at, my dear friend. But I would rather not be blindfolded. At no period of my life did the thought of death give me more uneasiness than became an erring creature, doubtful of pardon at the great account; and certainly I have not discovered within these walls any fresh reasons for wishing to delay a settlement."

Aston pressed the subject no further, and Mr. Azledine willingly changed it for the more agreeable one of the approaching nuptials, merely expressing his regret that he could not be present at them.

CHAPTER XIII.

A happy pair, one in the other blest!
She confident in herself he's wholly hers,

And cannot seek for change; and he secure

That it is not in the power of man to tempt her.
MASSINGER.

Aston accompa

THE wedding-day came. nied his friend to church. Bertha, too, was there, a young and beautiful bridemaid; and Charles felt a strange, mysterious delight, as she leaned upon his arm at the altar. Mrs. Azledine and Arabella (the latter knew too well that she could not go through the joyous scene) repaired to the prison to pass the time with the captive husband and father.

Here they were joined by the bridal party after the ceremony was over; and here, too, the bridal festival was held. The happy in heart carry their happiness with them, go where they may; and what happiness in this

world can compare with that of a youthful couple just quitting the altar, where they have called into existence a new state of being, and surrendered to its radiant visions of delight every thought and feeling of their souls ?

There were three in that little circle, however, whose hearts were not all in unison with the gladness of a marriage feast. There was Charles Neville gazing on the living Bertha by his side, and recalling every horrible image. of his lost Bertha; there was Aston, noting how his friend's happiness had sprung, as it were, out of calamity, while his own stillenduring misery had taken its rise from what appeared to be the fulness of felicity; and there was the gentle, uncomplaining Arabella, musing in sadness upon blighted hopes, and scarcely daring to let her thoughts busy themselves with the possibility of there being an hour like this in store for herself.

Nevertheless, it was both a cheerful and happy circle; for there was a glad father's heart within it; and there was a mother's joy at seeing a beloved son lifted from poverty; and there was an old soldier's generous spirit glowing with benevolent exultation at the

thought of having successfully contrived and executed a masterly stratagem in the art matrimonial; and lastly, there was honest Humphrey's somewhat obstreperous delight, who considered himself as mainly the cause of all, the whole, in his mind, being the natural consequence of his memorable meeting with Aston and Cameron.

The evening was pretty far advanced, when one of the turnkeys abruptly entered the room, and said there was a lady below who wished to speak with Sir Everton Azledine. "I told her," added the man, without much consideration for the feelings of those present, "that there was no Sir Everton Azledine here, but that we had a Mister Azledine, a prisoner for debt."

"Did she mention her name ?" inquired Cameron.

"Yes: Miss M'Blee."

"Miss M'Blee," said Mr. Azledine, repeating the name to himself, "I have no recollection of any such person. Did she say where she came from?"

"Yes, from a Black Rock's Mouth and a Devil's Throat," answered the fellow, bursting