d again, or that I could go to you, though
you cannot return to me!

I leant my head upon the table and wept. Those tears produced a
salutary effect upon my mind, and slipping down upon my knees, I poured
out the feelings of my oppressed heart in prayer, and after awhile rose
from the ground in a more composed state of mind. The picture still lay
there smiling upon me. "Is it of you, dearest mother," said I, "that
bad men dare whisper hard things? Who could look at that pure lovely
face and believe aught against your honour? I could despise my father,
though his only son, could I for an instant imagine him capable of
taking advantage of such youth and innocence. But no, it is a foul
slander invented by a villain to answer some base purpose; and may I
perish, when I believe it true!"

I locked the portraits carefully in my desk, and retired to bed. The
wine I had drank and the unusual excitement of my feelings for a long
time prevented sleep, and it was the dawn of day before I sank to rest.

CHAPTER XIII.

A VISIT FROM THE GREAT MAN OF THE FAMILY.

From that day I became Mr. Moncton's factotum, his confidential clerk,
and principal agent. In all matters that required prompt and skilful
management, he invariably employed me.

If he did not regard me with affection, for that was foreign to his
nature, he respected my abilities, and placed the greatest reliance
on my principles. I attended him in most of his professional journeys,
and was present in every court in which he had an important case. I
no sooner appeared with him in public than I became a person of
considerable consequence among his friends and acquaintances, and
invitations flowed in upon me from all quarters. One thing appeared
very certain, that the same persons who had despised the shabbily-dressed
lawyer's clerk, no longer regarded me with cold eyes as a _poor
relation_, but were among the first to overwhelm me with civilities;
and, for a while, I was intoxicated with the adulation I received from
the world and its smooth-tongued votaries.

Three months glided rapidly away, and every day added to my
self-importance, and brought with it fresh opportunities of enlarging
the circle of my friends, and of acquiring a competent knowledge of the
conventional rules of society. Though naturally fond of company, I
hated dissipation, and those low vices which many young men designate
as pleasure, in the pursuit of which they too often degrade their
m