sistency, he might fall in with the views so bluntly expressed. With perfect self-possession then, and a quiet smile, he replied

"This is stringent questioning, my dear sir. Still, I respect your frankness; you speak your sentiments freely, and I will be equally candid in return. My family, Laurel, of Air-shire, is, as I before intimated, an ancient one, and has always been remarkable for loyalty to the Scottish crown. In later times, my more immediate progenitors were so far impoverished by their devotion to the cause of the Stuarts as to leave a considerable mortgage on the estate. This I am anxious to clear off, and, therefore, agreeing entirely in your opinion that there is no shame in honest industry, I have determined to be the first of my name engaged in trade. For this purpose I came to make some inquiries in Liverpool, and am still hesitating whether to settle here or in the metropolis, which I am inclined to prefer, as presenting a more ample field for exertion."

"A strange statement, truly," said the captain, with a suspicious shake of the head, but in a more gentle tone than he had before used. "However, if

you can raise funds to

go

into any

honest business,

and have common sense enough to succeed in it, I shall have a better opinion of you than I entertain at present."

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Captain Carlos," said Peter, with some dignity, thinking it was now time to assume the airs of

outraged respectability, "I have told you my name,

my position, my country, my ancestors-all with candour and without scruple. I have saved your life, sir; I love your daughter, and I despise your wealth! The time will come-nay, it is fast approaching, when you will know me better. Till then farewell;" and, making the captain a distant bow, he stalked to the door, which he closed peremptorily after him, by way of giving a clencher to his simulated wrath.

Love has quick ears. As Miss Carlos caught the sound of the closing door she rushed hastily from an adjoining chamber, and met the receding (not the retiring) Peter looking about, anxious to catch a glimpse of what he called her divine countenance, on which he said he was desirous above all things to feast his eyes. He would have seized her hand, but he was ungloved, and feared detection.

66

'Well, how did you get on with my father ? Tell me in a few words what passed between you."

The dialogue was interrupted by the appearance of the captain, who opened the parlour door at the moment, for he had objects of his own in desiring to know the stranger's address, and wished to procure it before he left the house. The young lady started back as she heard his footsteps.

"Liverpool is a large town, sir," said he, "rather too large to trace the descendant of even so great a man as a Scotch baronet, without a clue. Will you give me a more exact one?'

"My movements in this part of the country are uncertain," said Peter, as he opened the street door. "As I mentioned before, my bailiff, Stirrup, of Castle Ditch, will enclose any thing you have to say to me." He took off his hat to the captain, and walked briskly away.

"My boat sails swiftly both with wind and sail," was Peter's exclamation, as he mentally reviewed the strange scene with Captain Carlos. "The old boy, it is clear, can't do without me-I am essential to his schemes-I shall drive my own termsand it will go hard with me if last night's adventure is not the most fortunate thing that ever happened to Peter Laurel. The girl's mine-I

shall touch the siller-and then farewell—”

These gratifying reflections, which had the effect of increasing his speed, as his heart dilated at the brilliant prospects before him, now brought him to the scene of his labours. Before diving into the saddler's shop, he took a rapid survey, like a man about to commit a felony, of the adjoining streets and the passers by, for there was nothing that he so much dreaded as the possibility of being traced. He passed in rapidly, disrobed himself of his fine gear, and fell to work with an energetic industry at the hammer and the needle that suffered no relaxation from the fancied proximity of the treasure he was so eager to clutch. Peter had little faith in proverbs that were not encouraging, and he treated the "slip 'twixt the cup and the lip" with haughty disdain.

CHAPTER IX.

Heaven forming each on other to depend,

A master, or a servant, or a friend,

Bids each on other for assistance call,

Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all.
Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally
The common interest, or endear the tie.

To this we owe true friendship, love sincere ;
Each home felt joy that life inherits here.

I'll keep this secret from the world,
As warily as those that deal in poison,
Keep poison from their children.

POPE,

WEBSTER'S Duchess of Malfy.

The information which Captain Carlos had received respecting the smuggler's connexion with the attack upon him, was too precious and too timely to be neglected. He lost not a moment in availing himself of every possible machinery to secure his capture. Placards, published portraits of his person, and a startling sum for his apprehension, displayed in bold capitals, arrested the public attention in every direction. Promptitude was necessary, for the captain's professional duties called him away, and in his absence the business could not be so effectually done. The constables were constantly on the alert, and their zeal was stimulated by the hope

of the prospective reward, and by the receipt of several handsome anticipatory sweeteners. On this great point the captain concentrated all his activity, and paid less attention than usual to matters immediately referring to his freight and the minutia of his vessel.

The captain's determination to take Euphemia with him to sea, excited no little surprise in the family; and in the bosom of the kind-hearted, gentle Matilda, a feeling of grief not unmixed with apprehension. She had long been warmly attached to the child, and by every means in her power endeavoured to alleviate the harshness of which during her father's moody humours, the innocent creature was the victim. The mystery thrown around Euphemia's origin she had never been able satisfactorily to penetrate, and from a commendable fear of giving her father offence, had long ceased to pursue enquiries on the subject. But now that they were about to be separated, perhaps for ever-now that her father's mind was doggedly, determinedly made up to carry off the girl, no one knew whither, the feelings of the young lady became tortured by anxiety and alarm. From habit and association, we become imperceptibly fond even of the dumb animals that surround our hearths. Anugly cur, whose first appearance excited our dislike, establishes by familiarity, a claim on our attention, which gradually mellows into recognition and friendship on the one side, and is acknowledged by sundry wags