rthwith."

"I regret extremely," replied Mrs. Darlington, "the unpleasant
occurrence to which you allude; but I do not see how it is possible for
me to turn these people out of the house."

"Very well, ma'am. Suit yourself about that. You can choose between us.
Both can't remain."

"If I were to tell this Mr. Scragg to seek another boarding-house, he
would insult me," said Mrs. Darlington.

"Strange that you would take such a fellow into your house!"

"My rooms were vacant, and I had to fill them."

"Better to have let them remain vacant. But this is neither here nor
there. If this fellow remains, we go."

And go they did on the next day. Mrs. Darlington was afraid to approach
Mr. Scragg on the subject. Had she done so, she would have received
nothing but abuse.

Two weeks afterward, the room vacated by Mr. and Mrs. Ring was taken by
a tall, fine-looking man, who wore a pair of handsome whiskers and
dressed elegantly. He gave his name as Burton, and agreed to pay eight
dollars. Mrs. Darlington liked him very much. There was a certain style
about him that evidenced good breeding and a knowledge of the world.
What his business was he did not say. He was usually in the house as
late as ten o'clock in the morning, and rarely came in before twelve at
night.

Soon after Mr. Burton became a member of Mrs. Darlington's household,
he began to show particular attentions to Miriam, who was in her
nineteenth year, and was, as we have said, a gentle, timid, shrinking
girl. Though she did not encourage, she would not reject the attentions
of the polite and elegant stranger, who had so much that was agreeable
to say that she insensibly acquired a kind of prepossession in his
favour.

As now constituted, the family of Mrs. Darlington was not so pleasant
and harmonious as could have been desired. Mr. Scragg had already
succeeded in making himself so disagreeable to the other boarders, that
they were scarcely civil to him; and Mrs. Grimes, who was quite
gracious with Mrs. Scragg at first, no longer spoke to her. They had
fallen out about some trifle, quarrelled, and then cut each other's
acquaintance. When the breakfast, dinner, or tea bell rang, and the
boarders assembled at the table, there was generally, at first, an
embarrassing silence. Scragg looked like a bull-dog waiting for an
occasion to bark; Mrs. Scragg sat with her lips closely compressed and
her head partly turned away, so as to keep her eyes out of the line of