"Not that I ever heard."

"Nothing connected with that which Mr. Azledine (or Sir Everton, as you call him) has in his possession, which threw the least light upon the parties ?"

"Then from that day to this no one has been able to guess, even, how it happened ?" "No."

"You don't know what it is Mr. Azledine has in his possession ?"

"I do not."

"Poor Ephraim! Good night, Mr. Flinn, once more."

They parted: Judiah to kneel and pray for his beloved master before he closed his eyes in sleep; Mayfield to toss upon a restless bed, with many a scorpion thought for companions.

CHAPTER VII.

I cannot taste the benefits of life with the same relish I was wont to do. These I grow weary of; and hold their fellowship a treacherous, bloody friendship.

The Changeling.

FOR several months after the arrival of Sir Stephen and his companions, Azledine Hall was another Black Rock, except that no adventures were undertaken, and that there was no Jennet M'Blee to grace the family circle. But the whole tone and character of their proceedings smacked of the licentious orgies of the "Black Rock's Mouth" and the "Devil's Throat." Even this, however, was not enough to keep them upon pleasant terms with themselves. Kilvert began to grow weary of gentlemanly retirement; and Black Kenneth complained that his health was suffering for want of exercise. They longed to ascertain whether there would still be danger in visiting their

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former comrades; or whether the latter could not be invited to Azledine Park; so that if they must pass the rest of their lives like honest men, they might do it altogether, and edify each other.

It was at length determined that Black Kenneth should set out, in the disguise of a gentleman, reconnoitre their old quarters, and bring back tidings of its inmates.

"I like the errand," said he, "though I know I am going with one end of a rope round my neck; but," he added, adjusting his lace cravat, as he contemplated himself in a mirror, "the Chevalier Gabrielli will know how to hide the other end of it."

The next morning, being furnished with the requisite funds by Sir Stephen, or rather by Mayfield (who managed all the money transactions of his son-in-law), he set forth upon his journey, Three Farthing Nick consenting to accompany him as his servant; which character he was to assume the first convenient opportunity, it not being deemed expedient that the domestics at the Hall should witness his transformation from Major James to Jem Major.

Sir Stephen witnessed their departure with much satisfaction, and secretly hoped they might find attractions at Black Rock which would wholly relieve him from them. Already he was beginning to feel that a barrier stood between him and his desires, which he could never pass till he had shaken off the associates by whom he was surrounded. Already, too, he began to comprehend why Mayfield had so surrounded him. The first keen relish of the amazing change he had undergone having abated, there followed moments of reflection when, by recalling all the past, he fancied he could see the whole extent of the toils that had been spread for him; and the gratitude he really felt, at the moment, for what he considered Mayfield's generous protection, was rapidly giving way to feelings of resentment at the crafty use he had made of the circumstances in which he was placed.

One or two attempts to mingle in the society where his uncle's company had always been courted, and which had been repulsed with a mortifying coldness, amounting almost to insult, rankled in his mind. Even in his anticipated gratification at appearing as a Baro

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net" among his former rustic companions and acquaintance he was disappointed; for the honest people of Ashbourne as he passed through the village, showed by their shrugs, nods, and looks, that they regarded him as an unwelcome intruder, unworthy of the good fortune which had befallen him. His very servants obeyed his commands, or he fancied they did, as if their recollection of Stephen Dugard stifled all respect for Sir Stephen Azledine.

Why was this? He did not believe there was any reason for doing so; that a single soul knew, or had heard a whisper, of the life he had led from the time of quitting Mr. Bosley. The whole of that period was a blank, which not one of those who now shunned him could fill up. Why, then, was he thus avoided? Why thus repulsed, or thus coldly received? Why was he driven back into his own circle; and why could no one be found who would enter it with him?

As often as these thoughts suggested themselves to his mind, (and every day they did so more and more,) he could discover but one explanation of them. That explanation was comprised in a single word-MAYFIELD!