hat seemed to make no
impression upon me at the time, but which I recollected when my thoughts
were got into somewhat of a slower motion. In the midst of one of my
paroxysms of exclamation, and when I thought myself most alone, the
shadow of a man as avoiding me passed transiently by me at a small
distance. Though I had scarcely caught a faint glimpse of his person,
there was something in the occurrence that persuaded me it was Mr.
Falkland. I shuddered at the possibility of his having overheard the
words of my soliloquy. But this idea, alarming as it was, had not power
immediately to suspend the career of my reflections. Subsequent
circumstances however brought back the apprehension to my mind. I had
scarcely a doubt of its reality, when dinner-time came, and Mr. Falkland
was not to be found. Supper and bed-time passed in the same manner. The
only conclusion made by his servants upon this circumstance was, that he
was gone upon one of his accustomed melancholy rambles.

CHAPTER VI.

The period at which my story is now arrived seemed as if it were the
very crisis of the fortune of Mr. Falkland. Incident followed upon
incident, in a kind of breathless succession. About nine o'clock the
next morning an alarm was given, that one of the chimneys of the house
was on fire. No accident could be apparently more trivial; but presently
it blazed with such fury, as to make it clear that some beam of the
house, which in the first building had been improperly placed, had been
reached by the flames. Some danger was apprehended for the whole
edifice. The confusion was the greater, in consequence of the absence of
the master, as well as of Mr. Collins, the steward. While some of the
domestics were employed in endeavouring to extinguish the flames, it was
thought proper that others should busy themselves in removing the most
valuable moveables to a lawn in the garden. I took some command in the
affair, to which indeed my station in the family seemed to entitle me,
and for which I was judged qualified by my understanding and mental
resources.

Having given some general directions, I conceived, that it was not
enough to stand by and superintend, but that I should contribute my
personal labour in the public concern. I set out for that purpose; and
my steps, by some mysterious fatality, were directed to the private
apartment at the end of the library. Here, as I looked round, my eye was
suddenly caught by the trunk mentioned in t