eart rebelled against this change. In what was the
despised Raymond not the same? If the acquisition of power in the shape of
wealth caused this alteration, that power should they feel as an iron yoke.
Power therefore was the aim of all his endeavours; aggrandizement the mark
at which he for ever shot. In open ambition or close intrigue, his end was
the same--to attain the first station in his own country.

This account filled me with curiosity. The events that in succession
followed his return to England, gave me keener feelings. Among his other
advantages, Lord Raymond was supremely handsome; every one admired him; of
women he was the idol. He was courteous, honey-tongued--an adept in
fascinating arts. What could not this man achieve in the busy English
world? Change succeeded to change; the entire history did not reach me; for
Adrian had ceased to write, and Perdita was a laconic correspondent. The
rumour went that Adrian had become--how write the fatal word--mad: that
Lord Raymond was the favourite of the ex-queen, her daughter's destined
husband. Nay, more, that this aspiring noble revived the claim of the house
of Windsor to the crown, and that, on the event of Adrian's incurable
disorder and his marriage with the sister, the brow of the ambitious
Raymond might be encircled with the magic ring of regality.

Such a tale filled the trumpet of many voiced fame; such a tale rendered my
longer stay at Vienna, away from the friend of my youth, intolerable. Now I
must fulfil my vow; now range myself at his side, and be his ally and
support till death. Farewell to courtly pleasure; to politic intrigue; to
the maze of passion and folly! All hail, England! Native England, receive
thy child! thou art the scene of all my hopes, the mighty theatre on which
is acted the only drama that can, heart and soul, bear me along with it in
its development. A voice most irresistible, a power omnipotent, drew me
thither. After an absence of two years I landed on its shores, not daring
to make any inquiries, fearful of every remark. My first visit would be to
my sister, who inhabited a little cottage, a part of Adrian's gift, on the
borders of Windsor Forest. From her I should learn the truth concerning our
protector; I should hear why she had withdrawn from the protection of the
Princess Evadne, and be instructed as to the influence which this
overtopping and towering Raymond exercised over the fortunes of my friend.

I had never before b