his son out of his senses if he believed him capable
of wishing to displace the Tudescan gravity of his court by the
introduction of the light and licentious manners of the Regency.

A year--eighteen months--passed away. At the end of this time Murphy
returned from England, and wept for joy on again embracing his young
pupil. After a few days, although unable to discover the reason of a
change which so deeply afflicted him, the worthy squire found Rodolph
chilled and constrained in his demeanour towards him, and almost rude
when he recalled to him his sequestered and rural life. Assured of the
natural kind heart of the young prince, and warned by a secret
presentiment, Murphy thought him for a time perverted by the pernicious
influence of Doctor Polidori, whom he instinctively abhorred, and
resolved to watch very narrowly. The doctor, for his part, was very much
annoyed by Murphy's return, for he feared his frankness, good sense, and
keen penetration. He instantly resolved, therefore, cost what it might,
to ruin the worthy Englishman in Rodolph's estimation. It was at this
crisis that Seyton and Sarah were presented and received at the court of
Gerolstein with such extreme distinction. We have said that Rodolph,
accompanied by Murphy, had been absent from the court on a journey for
some weeks. During this absence the doctor was by no means idle. It is
said that intriguers discover and recognise each other by certain
mysterious signs, which allow of them observing each other until their
interests decide them to form a close alliance, or declare unremitting
hostility.

Some days after the establishment of Sarah and her brother at the court
of the Grand Duke, Polidori became a close ally of Seyton's. The doctor
confessed to himself, with delectable cynicism, that he felt a natural
affinity for rogues and villains, and so he said that without pretending
to discover the end which Sarah and her brother desired to achieve, he
was attracted towards them by a sympathy so strong as to lead him to
imagine that they plotted some devilish purpose. Some questions of
Seyton's as to the disposition and early life of Rodolph, questions
which would have passed without notice with a person less awake to all
that occurred than the doctor, in a moment enlightened him as to the
ulterior aims of the brother and sister; all he doubted was, that the
aspirations of the Scotch lady were at the same time honourable as well
as ambitious. The arri