ce as she did in superintending the education
of her high-born pupil. The beautiful girl acquired her tasks so
rapidly, and with such an intense desire for improvement, that Sir
Alexander declared, that she beat his Madge hollow.

"Dinah North exulted in the growing charms of her grand-daughter. If
the old woman regarded anything on earth with affection, it was the
tall, fair girl so unlike herself. And Alice, too--I have often
wondered how it were possible--Alice loved with the most ardent
affection, that forbidding-looking, odious creature.

"To me, since the death of my mother, she had been civil but
reserved--never addressing me without occasion required--and I neither
sought nor cared for her regard.

"It was on the return of one of those holidays, when I returned home
full of eager anticipations of happiness, of joyous days spent at the
Park in company with Margaret and Alice, that I first beheld that
artful villain, Robert Moncton.

"It was a lovely July evening. The York coach set me down at the Park
gates, and I entered the pretty cottage with my scanty luggage on my
back, and found the lawyer engaged in earnest conversation with my
grandmother.

"Struck with the appearance of the man, which at first sight is very
remarkable, I paused for some minutes on the threshold, unobserved by
the parties. Like you, Geoffrey, I shall never forget the impression
his countenance made upon me. The features so handsome, the colouring
so fine, the person that of a finished gentleman; and yet, all this
pleasing combination of form and face marred by that cold, cruel,
merciless eye. Its expression so dead, so joyless, sent a chill through
my whole frame, and I shrank from encountering its icy gaze, and was
about quietly to retire by a back door, when my attention was arrested
by the following brief conversation.

"'I should like to see the lad.'

"'We expect him home from school by the coach to-night.'

"'What age is he?'

"'Just sixteen.'

"'What does Sir Alexander mean to do for him?'

"'Send him to college, I believe. He is very fond of him.'

"'Humph!--and then to London to make a lawyer of him. Leave him to me,
Dinah, I will make a solicitor of him in earnest. I have taught many a
bold heart and reckless hand to solicit the charity of others.'

"'Devil doubt you!' rejoined the fiend with a hollow, cackling laugh.
'But you may find the boy one too many for you, with all your cunning.
He'll not start at shado