shrub was to be
found; the fields lay bare on either side, with no other partition but
a dead hedge, and a deep dyke. "Patientia fit melius," thought I, as
Horace said, and Vincent would say; and in order to divert my thoughts
from my situation, I turned them towards my diplomatic success with Lord
Chester. Presently, for I think scarcely five minutes had elapsed since
Tyrrell's departure, a horseman passed me at a sharp pace; the moon was
hid by the dense cloud, and the night, though not wholly dark, was dim
and obscured, so that I could only catch the outline of the flitting
figure. A thrill of fear crept over me, when I saw that it was enveloped
in a horseman's cloak. I soon rallied--"There are more cloaks in the
world than one," said I to myself; "besides, even if it be Tyrrell's
dodger, as he calls him, the baronet is better mounted than any
highwayman since the days of Du Val; and is, moreover, strong enough and
cunning enough to take admirable care of himself." With this reflection
I dismissed the occurrence from my thoughts, and once more returned to
self-congratulations upon my own incomparable genius. "I shall now,"
I thought, "have well earned my seat in parliament; Dawton will
indisputably be, if not the prime, the principal minister in rank and
influence. He cannot fail to promote me for his own sake, as well as
mine; and when I have once fairly got my legs in St. Stephen's, I shall
soon have my hands in office: 'power,' says some one, 'is a snake that
when it once finds a hole into which it can introduce its head, soon
manages to wriggle in the rest of its body.'" With such meditations I
endeavoured to beguile the time and cheat myself into forgetfulness of
the lameness of my horse, and the dripping wetness of his rider. At last
the storm began sullenly to subside: one impetuous torrent, ten-fold
more violent than those that had preceded it, was followed by a
momentary stillness, which was again broken by a short relapse of a less
formidable severity, and the moment it ceased, the beautiful moon broke
out, the cloud rolled heavily away, and the sky shone forth, as fair and
smiling as Lady--at a ball, after she has been beating her husband at
home.

But at that instant, or perhaps a second before the storm ceased, I
thought I heard the sound of a human cry. I paused, and my heart stood
still--I could have heard a gnat hum: the sound was not repeated; my ear
caught nothing but the plashing of the rain drops