that I am, if he could but have
looked into my heart he would have been shocked at the pain that this
communication conveyed. Algernon, I wished his death. God has reversed
the awful sentence; it is the mother, not the father of the unhappy
infant, that will be called hence. Heaven knows that I am weary of
life--that I would willingly die, could I but take the poor babe with
me; should it, however, survive its unfortunate mother, promise me,
Algernon, by the love of our early years, to be a guardian and protector
to my child."

She endeavored to sink at his feet, but Algernon prevented her.

"Your request is granted, Elinor, and for the dear mother's sake, I
promise to cherish the infant as my own."

"It is enough. I thank my God for this great mercy; and now that I have
been permitted to clear my character, leave me, Algernon, and take my
blessing with you. Only remember in your prayers that such a miserable
wretch as Elinor Wildegrave still lives."

The violent ringing of the miser's bell hurried her away. Algernon
remained for some minutes rooted to the spot, his heart still heaving
with the sense of intolerable wrong. Elinor did not again appear; and
descending to what was once the Servants' Hall, he bade Ruth summon his
attendants, and slipping a guinea into that delighted damsel's hand, he
bade a long adieu to the home of his ancestors.

CHAPTER VI.

Oh, what a change--a goodly change!
I, too, am changed. I feel my heart expand;
My spirit, long bowed down with misery,
Grow light and buoyant 'mid these blessed scenes.--S.M.

As Elinor predicted, the miser slowly recovered, and for a few months
his severe illness had a salutary effect upon his mind and temper. He
was even inclined to treat his wife with more respect; and when informed
by Dr. Moore of the birth of his son, he received the intelligence with
less impatience than she had anticipated. But this gleam of sunshine did
not last long. With returning strength his old monomania returned; and
he began loudly to complain of the expense which his long illness had
incurred, and to rave at the extortion of doctors and nurses; declaring
the necessity of making every possible retrenchment, in order to replace
the money so lost. Elinor did not live long enough to endure these fresh
privations. She sunk into a lingering decline, and before her little boy
could lisp her name, the friendly turf had closed over his heart-broken
mother.

S