bably, be
Mildred's. Of General Ducie I never even heard, as he married after
my separation, and subsequently to the receipt of my brother-in-law's
letters, I wished to forget the existence of the family. I went to
Europe, and remained abroad seven years and as this was at a time
when the continent was closed against the English, I was not in a way
to hear any thing on the subject. On my return, my wife's aunt was
dead; the last of my wife's brothers was dead; her sister must then
have been Mrs. Ducie; no one mentioned the Warrenders, all traces of
whom were nearly lost in this country, and to me the subject was too
painful to be either sought or dwelt on. It is a curious fact, that,
in 1829, during our late visit to the old world, I ascended the Nile
with General Ducie for a travelling companion. We met at Alexandria,
and wont to the cataracts and returned in company, He knew me as John
Effingham, an American traveller of fortune, if of no particular
merit, and I knew him as an agreeable English general officer. He had
the reserve of an Englishman of rank, and seldom spoke of his family,
and it was only on our return, that I found he had letters from his
wife, Lady Dunluce; but little did I dream that Lady Dunluce was
Mabel Warrender. How often are we on the very verge of important
information, and yet live on in ignorance and obscurity! The Ducies
appear finally to have arrived at the opinion that the marriage was
legal, and that no reproach rests on the birth of Paul, by the
inquiries made concerning the eccentric John Assheton."

"They fancied, in common with my uncle Warrender, for a long time,
that the John Assheton whom you have mentioned, sir," said Paul, "was
my father. But. some accidental information, at a late day, convinced
them of their error, and then they naturally enough supposed that it
was the only other John Assheton that could be heard of, who passes,
and probably with sufficient reason, for a bachelor. This latter
gentleman I have myself always supposed to be my father, though he
has treated two or three letters I have written to him, with the
indifference with which one would be apt to treat the pretensions of
an impostor. Pride has prevented me from attempting to renew the
correspondence lately."

"It is John Assheton of Bristol, my mother's brother's son, as
inveterate a bachelor as is to be found in the Union" said John
Effingham, smiling, in spite of the grave subject and deep emotions
that