CHAPTER V.

Contrasted views of life.

WHEN the period appointed for the departure of our friends from London arrived, Mr. Dalben and Henry set out within-side a postchaise, Maurice being on the dickey without; this last personage having been duly brushed up for a respectable introduction to the inferior regions of the household of Woodville; the scars and bruizes which remained from his skirmish with his grandmother being by this time so faint as only to be discerned by particular inspection.

It was after an early breakfast that the travellers took leave of their kind friends in Aldersgate-street, every individual of whom had rendered themselves dear to their visitors by those manifold small courtesies which are more easily felt than described. Mr. Dalben had written to Marten, to inform him when they expected to be at Woodville, and had originally intended to make the journey in one day, but having since altered his plan, from an increas ing sense of weakness, he had only had time to apprize Lord H of this change of his

determination; he, therefore, expected that Marten would have been at least twenty-four hours with his noble friends before the arrival of the London party.

My reader is anxious to know how far Woodville is from town, and, in consequence, how far from London that half-way house is, at which the travellers, after a deliberate progress, arrived towards the dusk of the winter's evening. These matters, however, will not be revealed; all that will be said is, that the town in which Mr. Dalben spent that night is an inconsiderable one, and that the inn is of an inferior description, the whole of the front of the first floor being occupied by one large room, divided into three apartments for common occasions by sliding pannels, one of these being fitted up as a bed-room, and the two others as parlours, though the centre one was also furnished with a sofa, which, on occasion, was easily converted into a comfortable bed for a single person.

Henry was no sooner arrived than he engaged the third and most quiet apartment for his uncle, and ordered dinner to be brought up into the second room, signifying his wish that the sofa therein should be prepared for his accommodation, after his uncle had retired.

Mr. Dalben appeared to be considerably fatigued, and ate but little, and after dinner, by Henry's advice, went to bed. Having, with the assistance of Maurice, seen his beloved guardian safely deposited, with every necessary comfort about him, Henry returned to the room where they had dined, but finding that arrange

ments were being made for preparing his couch, and not having a book which he could lay his hands on, he asked if there were no newspapers in the house, and was directed to a sort of coffee-room below, where were a large fire and several tables, with a few newspapers. Uncongenial as this place was to Henry, yet it was better than the room above, where two women servants were making his bed; and he accordingly sat down and took up a paper, though rather amusing himself by observing the mode of life about him, than by studying its contents.

There were in the room three persons-one who sat alone near the fire-place, and somewhat in the shade, being a thin, spare, cadaverous man, meanly apparelled, and having somewhat the air of an inferior schoolmaster, or perhaps a gauger. This person sat silent, with his eyes on the fire, and as if his meditations were none of the most agreeable. The other two looked as if they were in better circumstances as to worldly matters, being substantial in their persons, their clothes being good, and their deportment that of people who knew that their purses were of some profundity. The one of these was a tall, big-boned man, dressed as just come from off a journey, having on a huge shaggy great-coat-what would be called by some a wrap rascal,'-and probably, in this instance, a term not improperly applied; the other being a shorter man, of a rubicund visage, though one wanting that heartiness and openness of expression which is sometimes connected with this sort of bloom of complexion. This latter person wore the air of being quite

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at home where he was, and a blue bag, evidently containing books and papers, which lay at his elbow, seemed to indicate his profession. A small round table, with two empty tumblers, in each of which was a tea-spoon, proved that whatever might be the subject of the conference between these worthies, it had not hitherto been carried on under the influence of the temperance society.

When people have nothing to do, as was Henry's case, they are very apt to send out their senses, particularly those of which the ears and eyes are the instruments, to forage for amusement. Henry had no interest whatever, as he supposed, in these two men, but almost unconsciously to himself, he had formed his theory respecting them in two minutes after he had seen them: he concluded that one was a lawyer, and as to the other, he wavered between a substantial farmer and an ordinary description of country surgeon, though presently he dropped the idea of the surgeon, and took up the notion that the man was a gentleman's or nobleman's steward, having heard him say, We did not make so much of our venison last season as the year before.' He, however, heard little more of what was said, as they spoke low and in broken sentences, with many inuendos, and he felt himself suddenly admonished, that it was very unhandsome to listen, where the parties, though strangers, evidently desired that their communications should not be understood. Presently, however, the lawyer having rung a little hand-bell which lay on the table, the landlady came in—a plump, comely, elderly dame,

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but full of ceremonials, especially towards the lawyer.

"Mrs. Blenkinsop," said the latter, “don't you see that our glasses are empty? you were not used to be so inconsiderate of your guests. Come, come, if you are not more attentive, we will be off to the Castle-it is but across the street-and you will never see me again."

"Save us, sir," she said, smiling and courtseying, "from such a misfortune. If I lose you, 'squire, I had as well lose my right-hand." And she was taking up the empty glasses, when the lawyer spoke.

"Is the room above ready, goody? and remember that the supper must not be delayed after the gentleman comes; and if the game is not roasted to a turn, you know what-I have done with you; and mind you the wine-you understand me-the old bin."

"You shall be satisfied, sir," she answered, courtseying again.

"Well, if the room is ready above, Mrs. Blenkinsop," resumed the lawyer, " you shall send the tumblers up there, when you have replenished them; and we will go up, Mr. Bradley- we can talk better there." And so saying, he took up the candle and his bag, and went out of the room with his companion, after the latter had thrown off his greatcoat. The landlady lingered a moment after her guests, hanging the greatcoat the greatcoat and the two hats on pegs on the wall; and whilst thus engaged, the solitary man in the corner exclaimed, bitterly, "As big a rogue as treads the earth!"