my
hearing, that the invention of printing was nothing more or less than a
proof of the intellectual activity of the Devil. Upon my honor, I feel
for the first time in my life inclined to agree with him."

He mechanically took up the Glasgow journal, which Arnold had laid
aside, while he spoke.

"What's this!" he exclaimed, as a name caught his eye in the first line
of the newspaper at which he happened to look. "Mrs. Glenarm again! Are
they turning the iron-master's widow into a public character?"

There the name of the widow was, unquestionably; figuring for the
second time in type, in a letter of the gossiping sort, supplied by an
"Occasional Correspondent," and distinguished by the title of "Sayings
and Doings in the North." After tattling pleasantly of the prospects
of the shooting season, of the fashions from Paris, of an accident to a
tourist, and of a scandal in the Scottish Kirk, the writer proceeded
to the narrative of a case of interest, relating to a marriage in the
sphere known (in the language of footmen) as the sphere of "high life."

Considerable sensation (the correspondent announced) had been caused in
Perth and its neighborhood, by the exposure of an anonymous attempt
at extortion, of which a lady of distinction had lately been made
the object. As her name had already been publicly mentioned in an
application to the magistrates, there could be no impropriety in stating
that the lady in question was Mrs. Glenarm--whose approaching union with
the Honorable Geoffrey Delamayn was alluded to in another column of the
journal.

Mrs. Glenarm had, it appeared, received an anonymous letter, on the
first day of her arrival as guest at the house of a friend, residing
in the neighborhood of Perth. The letter warned her that there was an
obstacle, of which she was herself probably not aware, in the way of
her projected marriage with Mr. Geoffrey Delamayn. That gentleman had
seriously compromised himself with another lady; and the lady would
oppose his marriage to Mrs. Glenarm, with proof in writing to produce in
support of her claim. The proof was contained in two letters exchanged
between the parties, and signed by their names; and the correspondence
was placed at Mrs. Glenarm's disposal, on two conditions, as follows:

First, that she should offer a sufficiently liberal price to induce the
present possessor of the letters to part with them. Secondly, that she
should consent to adopt such a method of paying