ut that would have been of
themselves sufficiently weighty to have confirmed his worst fears for
his own safety--the Protector's stern love of justice, and his especial
loathing of that vice of which the villain had been guilty. Had the Jew,
Ben Israel, and the maiden, Constance Cecil, been indifferent persons in
his sight, the double treachery of Burrell would have been requited upon
his head.

Next to Hugh Dalton, no man possessed so unbounded, and, so apparently,
unaccountable, an influence over Sir Robert Cecil as Sir Willmott
Burrell: he knew, as we have elsewhere stated, many of his secrets, and
shrewdly guessed at others of more weighty import; while, with the ready
sagacity of an accomplished knave, he contrived to appear well
acquainted with matters of which he was altogether ignorant, but the
existence of which he had abundant reasons for suspecting. The enfeebled
health and growing infirmities of the baronet rendered him an easy prey
to his wily acquaintance, who, driven to his last resource, resolved
upon adopting any course that might save him from destruction, by
inducing Sir Robert, not only to sanction, but command an immediate
marriage with his daughter.

In commencing the conversation with Burrell, Sir Robert peevishly
complained of the annoyance to which he had been subjected in receiving
and accommodating the young friend of Major Wellmore, although he
abstained from the indulgence of feelings similar to those he had
exhibited in the presence of his daughter. He then murmured bitterly of
sleepless nights--of restless days--of watchings and weariness--of
hideous dreams--of the toils, turmoils, and unfaithfulness of the
world--the usual theme of those who have done nothing to merit its
fidelity; and, as Sir Willmott Burrell looked upon him, he marvelled at
the change that but a few weeks had wrought in his appearance; his mind
seemed so enfeebled, that he deemed it even more altered than his body.
He was, moreover, much astonished to find that he dwelt so little upon
his recent and most heavy loss; for the attachment between Sir Robert
Cecil and his wife had been remarkable at a time when domestic happiness
was even the court fashion. But here Burrell was at fault; he knew
nothing of the position in which Sir Robert at present stood with regard
to Hugh Dalton, and was therefore ignorant of the positive peril by
which he was encompassed: a peril so great and so immediate, as to
render him, in a degree