ere were more gentlemen of your public spirit and
Christian benevolence,' cried Aunt Becky, very cordially; 'and I have
heard of all your goodness to that unhappy family of Doctor
Sturk's--poor wretched man!'

'A bagatelle, Madam,' said Dangerfield, shaking his head and waving his
hand slightly; 'but I hope to do them, or at least the public, a service
of some importance, by bringing conviction home to the assassin who
struck him down, and that in terms so clear and authentic, as will leave
no room for doubt in the minds of any; and to this end I'm resolved to
stick at no trifling sacrifice, and, rather than fail, I'll drain my
purse.'

'Mon petit coquin!' prattled the parrot in the bow-window.

'And, Madam,' said he, after he had risen to take his leave, 'as I
before said, I'm a plain man. I mean, so soon as I can wind my business
up, to leave this place and country--I would _to-night_, if I could; but
less, I fear, than some days--perhaps a week will not suffice. When I'm
gone, Madam, I beg you'll exercise no reserve respecting the cause of my
somewhat abrupt departure; I could easily make a pretext of something
else; but the truth, Madam, is easiest as well as best to be told; I
protracted my stay so long as hope continued. Now my suit is ended. I
can no longer endure the place. The remembrance of your kindness only,
sweetens the bitterness of my regret, and that I shall bear with me so
long, Madam, as life remains.'

And saying this, as Mr. Richardson writes, 'he bowed upon her passive
hand,' and Miss Rebecca made him a grand and gracious courtesy.

As he retreated, whom should Dominick announce but Captain Cluffe and
Lieutenant Puddock. And there was an odd smile on Mr. Dangerfield's
visage, as he slightly acknowledged them in passing, which Aunt Rebecca
somehow did not like.

So Aunt Becky's levee went on; and as Homer, in our school-boy ear, sang
the mournful truth, that 'as are the generations of the forest leaves so
are the succession of men,' the Dangerfield efflorescence had no sooner
disappeared, and that dry leaf whisked away down the stairs, than
Cluffe and Puddock budded forth and bloomed in his place, in the
sunshine of Aunt Rebecca's splendid presence.

Cluffe, in virtue of his rank and pretensions, marched in the van, and,
as Aunt Becky received him, little Puddock's round eyes swept the room
in search, perhaps, of some absent object.

'The general's not here,' said Aunt Becky loftily and seve