in our Indian settlements. The scenes which followed have been
partly detailed in Mannering's letter to Mr. Mervyn; and to expand what
is there stated into farther explanation would be to abuse the patience
of our readers.

We shall therefore proceed with our promised extracts from Miss
Mannering's letters to her friend.

SIXTH EXTRACT

'I have seen him again, Matilda--seen him twice. I have used every
argument to convince him that this secret intercourse is dangerous to us
both; I even pressed him to pursue his views of fortune without farther
regard to me, and to consider my peace of mind as sufficiently secured by
the knowledge that he had not fallen under my father's sword. He
answers--but how can I detail all he has to answer? He claims those hopes
as his due which my mother permitted him to entertain, and would persuade
me to the madness of a union without my father's sanction. But to this,
Matilda, I will not be persuaded. I have resisted, I have subdued, the
rebellious feelings which arose to aid his plea; yet how to extricate
myself from this unhappy labyrinth in which fate and folly have entangled
us both!

'I have thought upon it, Matilda, till my head is almost giddy; nor can I
conceive a better plan than to make a full confession to my father. He
deserves it, for his kindness is unceasing; and I think I have observed
in his character, since I have studied it more nearly, that his harsher
feelings are chiefly excited where he suspects deceit or imposition; and
in that respect, perhaps, his character was formerly misunderstood by one
who was dear to him. He has, too, a tinge of romance in his disposition;
and I have seen the narrative of a generous action, a trait of heroism,
or virtuous self-denial, extract tears from him which refused to flow at
a tale of mere distress. But then Brown urges that he is personally
hostile to him. And the obscurity of his birth, that would be indeed a
stumbling-block. O, Matilda, I hope none of your ancestors ever fought at
Poictiers or Agincourt! If it were not for the veneration which my father
attaches to the memory of old Sir Miles Mannering, I should make out my
explanation with half the tremor which must now attend it.'

SEVENTH EXTRACT

'I have this instant received your letter--your most welcome letter!
Thanks, my dearest friend, for your sympathy and your counsels; I can
only repay them with unbounded confidence.

'You ask me what Brown is by origin, that his