before the
paintless railings around Mr. Welford's house. Welford himself came
out at the time, and felt compelled--for he was by no means one whose
sympathetic emotions flowed easily--to give a glance to the condition
of a man who lay motionless before his very door. The horseman quickly
recovered his senses, but found himself unable to rise; one of his legs
was broken. Supported in the arms of his groom, he looked around, and
his eye met Welford's. An instant recognition gave life to the face
of the former, and threw a dark blush over the sullen features of the
latter.

"Heavens!" said the cavalier, "is that--"

"Hist, my lord!" cried Welford, quickly interrupting him, and glancing
round. "But you are hurt,--will you enter my house?"

The horseman signified his assent, and, between the groom and Welford,
was borne within the shabby door of the ex-solicitor. The groom was
then despatched with an excuse to the party, many of whom were already
hastening around the house; and though one or two did force themselves
across the inhospitable threshold, yet so soon as they had uttered a few
expletives, and felt their stare sink beneath the sullen and chilling
asperity of the host, they satisfied themselves that though it was d---d
unlucky for their friend, yet they could do nothing for him at present;
and promising to send to inquire after him the next day, they remounted
and rode homeward, with an eye more attentive than usual to the motion
of their steeds. They did not, however, depart till the surgeon of the
town had made his appearance, and declared that the patient must not on
any account be moved. A lord's leg was a windfall that did not happen
every day to the surgeon of -------. All this while we may imagine the
state of anxiety experienced in the town, and the agonized endurance of
those rural nerves which are produced in scanty populations, and have
so Taliacotian a sympathy with the affairs of other people. One day,
two days, three days, a week, a fortnight, nay, a month, passed, and the
lord was still the inmate of Mr. Welford's abode. Leaving the gossips to
feed on their curiosity,--"cannibals of their own hearts,"--we must
give a glance towards the interior of the inhospitable mansion of the
ex-solicitor.

It was towards evening, the sufferer was supported on a sofa, and the
beautiful Mrs. Welford, who had officiated as his nurse, was placing the
pillow under the shattered limb. He himself was attempting to