tender remembrance of the name of father! Yet I trust the affection you evinced for him in life, will make you regard this his last (though secret) request, and advice.

"Too oft have you heard the relation of my early misfortunes, to need a repetition here; but prepare, my Harry, for a tale you little expect, and which reached my knowledge a few months after my marriage.

"Some years prior to that event, your mother bestowed her affections on Mallet, her father's steward; who, at last, asked her of his master in marriage; but Mr. Holly refused him with the proudest disdain, and threatened to dismiss him, if he ever again renewed the subject. Miss Holly proved more favourable to his addresses, and at the time Sir Horace demanded her as a wife for me, was in a state advancing to become a mother!"

"Just Powers!" exclaimed Mr. Talton. "Do I hear aright? or can I credit the assertion?"

"My father's veracity, Sir," faltered Sir Henry, "is not to be doubted; even if my mother's subsequent conduct had not confirmed the circumstance as true."

"Proceed—proceed, dear Henry!" cried the agitated Louise. Sir Henry resumed the relation of his father.

"Alarmed at a circumstance which must inevitably have exposed her shame, she fled for protection to her aunt, and by a well-feigned tale, not only induced that lady to receive her; but to promise secrecy respecting her state, and the place of her retreat: whilst Mallet, dreading a discovery of their illicit connexion, withdrew to France; and four months after Miss Holly was delivered of a daughter, which the aunt undertook to rear; and, at the desire of her niece, who was wearied of solitude and restraint, waited on Mr. Holly, to intercede in her behalf. He admitted their excuses, consented to receive his daughter, and to bury the past in oblivion; but to prevent her again disappointing him, he informed Sir Horace of her expected return, and with him projected the scheme which plunged me into misery!

"A few months after our ill-fated marriage, Mr. Holly's sister died, leaving the whole of her fortune to your mother in secret trust, as I not two months since discovered, for her infant daughter. But avarice is your mother's motto, as well as Sir Horace's; to that she yielded, and, smothering every softer feeling, abandoned the child to the care of its father; and, appropriating the money to her own use, sent a peasant with the infant Louise to Mallet at Rennes!"

Sir Henry was here interrupted by Louise, who, bursting into tears, said—"Ah the dreaded secret is explained! Oh, Harland, will you not now despise the woman to whom you are united? The conduct of her parents must stamp indelible shame on her name!"

"The virtues of Louise," said Harland tenderly, "are all her own, nor can the actions of her parents lessen her for a moment in my regard."

Sir Henry paused a moment, till the violence of her emotion had subsided; then continued:

"The discovery of these circumstances by the officiousness of the woman she employed to transport the child, considerably degraded your mother, in my opinion: had she, indeed, been as amiable as she endeavoured to appear in the eye of the world, she might in time have obliterated Eliza from my heart; but the pity I had felt for her, as a victim, like myself, of parental tyranny, was then turned to contempt and disgust: she perceived the change, and soon learned the cause, and from that time marked me as the object of her vengeance.

"Already a favourite with Sir Horace, she easily insinuated herself into his affections, by continual coincidence with his opinion, and the appearance of personal attachment; and the ascendancy once gained, bent him entirely to her will. His anger to Ellenor, which had been gradually subsiding, was by her revived, and artfully fanned to the greatest height: whilst the coldness of my behaviour was exaggerated, and imputed to the affection I still retained for Miss Elvyn. Enraged at the bare supposition, he made his will, restricting me from assisting one, or ever marrying the other. Not satisfied with this, however, as your mother became seriously indisposed, and fearing I should disregard the sacrifice of my fortune if again at liberty; he determined to accomplish the design he had before projected of uniting Eliza to my brother.

"The deaths of Mr. Holly and Sir Horace, were followed, my Henry, by your birth; nor till you are yourself a father, can you conceive with what transports I pressed you to my bosom. In you I anticipated a future source of happiness; and as my fondness increased, you became with me (be not surprised, my Henry, if chance have not yet discovered it) likewise an object of thy mother's indifference—and hatred! But, for your sake, I buried my sorrows in my own bosom; enduring every species of behaviour studiously calculated to drive me to a separation; and, could I have been assured you would have enjoyed the property after her decease, I would not have hesitated a moment in my determination; but too well did I know her principles to place the power in her hands.

"The return of my Ellenor and her infant, increased the anxiety which preyed on my mind; though I trust, she will do justice to her brother, in believing his heart never for an instant coincided with the will of her father.

"For years your mother continued the same unwearied course of conduct; affecting an outward appearance of submission to me, and affection to you; whilst in secret she rendered home distasteful, and embittered every moment I was obliged to pass in her society.

"How different the conduct of Eliza! She, though united to a man she did not love, learned to esteem him for his virtues; cheerfully fulfilling the duties of her station, she enjoyed the sweets of friendship, and experienced content from internal rectitude. What a contrast!

"The hours I passed at the Parsonage, with friends so beloved, in assisting to form the mind of my Henry, I need not recount; but, comparatively happy as they were, they could not compensate for the behaviour of your mother, which at last has forced me to an early grave.

"At your intercession, I consented to visit France; but receiving intelligence Mallet had revisited Wales, I as hastily returned, and found your mother had, indeed, renewed her acquaintance with this her early lover! Unfeeling—insulting woman! couldst thou not stay a few short weeks, till death had left thee free to accept the lover of thy choice!—Yet even this I could have excused; nay, perhaps, have pardoned: but from the private room, I heard them exulting in the prospect of my death, and projecting plans to deprive you, my beloved boy, of your inheritance; but the measures I have pursued, I trust, will render Mallet's schemes abortive.

"By this means, I likewise learned that the infant Louise had been deserted by its equally unnatural father, who left it exposed at the Convent gate of St. Ursule. Even your mother, for a moment, reprobated the inhumanity of the action;