Without waiting for my reply he began. Amidst darkness and gloom,
occasionally broken by flashes of lightning, the stranger related to me,
as we sat at table in the library, his truly touching history.

'Before proceeding to relate the events of my life, it will not be amiss
to give you some account of my ancestors. My great-grandfather on the
male side was a silk mercer, in Cheapside, who, when he died, left his
son, who was his only child, a fortune of one hundred thousand pounds and
a splendid business; the son, however, had no inclination for trade, the
summit of his ambition was to be a country gentleman, to found a family,
and to pass the remainder of his days in rural ease and dignity, and all
this he managed to accomplish; he disposed of his business, purchased a
beautiful and extensive estate for fourscore thousand pounds, built upon
it the mansion to which I had the honour of welcoming you to-day, married
the daughter of a neighbouring squire, who brought him a fortune of five
thousand pounds, became a magistrate, and only wanted a son and heir to
make him completely happy; this blessing, it is true, was for a long time
denied him; it came, however, at last, as is usual, when least expected.
His lady was brought to bed of my father, and then who so happy a man as
my grandsire; he gave away two thousand pounds in charities, and in the
joy of his heart made a speech at the next quarter sessions; the rest of
his life was spent in ease, tranquillity, and rural dignity; he died of
apoplexy on the day that my father came of age; perhaps it would be
difficult to mention a man who in all respects was so fortunate as my
grandfather: his death was sudden it is true, but I am not one of those
who pray to be delivered from a sudden death.

'I should not call my father a fortunate man; it is true that he had the
advantage of a first-rate education; that he made the grand tour with a
private tutor, as was the fashion at that time; that he came to a
splendid fortune on the very day that he came of age; that for many years
he tasted all the diversions of the capital; that, at last determined to
settle, he married the sister of a baronet, an amiable and accomplished
lady, with a large fortune; that he had the best stud of hunters in the
country, on which, during the season, he followed the fox gallantly; had
he been a fortunate man he would never have cursed his fate, as he was
frequently known to do; ten months after his