ology, kept the colonel from seeing
Denbigh to return the book, until after his visit to the cottage. His
rhapsody of love, and offers to desert his intended wife, were nothing but
the common-place talk of his purposes; and his presumption in alluding to
his situation with Miss Moseley, proceeded from his impressions as to
Julia's real character. In the struggle for the bell, the pocket-book of
Denbigh accidentally fell from his coat, and the retreat of the colonel
was too precipitate to enable him to recover it.

Mrs. Fitzgerald was too much alarmed to distinguish nicely, and Egerton
proceeded to the ball-room with the indifference of a hardened offender.
When the arrival of Miss Jarvis, to whom he had committed himself,
prompted him to a speedy declaration, and the unlucky conversation of Mr.
Holt brought about a probable detection of his gaming propensities, the
colonel determined to get rid of his awkward situation and his debts by a
coup-de-main. He accordingly eloped with Miss Jarvis.

What portion of the foregoing narrative made the dying confession of
Egerton to the man he had so lately discovered to be the Earl of
Pendennyss, the reader can easily imagine.

Chapter XLIX.

The harvest had been gathered, and the beautiful vales of Pendennyss were
shooting forth a second crop of verdure. The husbandman was turning his
prudent forethought to the promises of the coming year, while the castle
itself exhibited to the gaze of the wondering peasant a sight of
cheerfulness and animation which had not been seen in it since the days of
the good duke. Its numerous windows were opened to the light of the sun,
its halls teemed with the faces of its happy inmates. Servants in various
liveries were seen gliding through its magnificent apartments and
multiplied passages. Horses, grooms, and carriages, with varied costumes
and different armorial bearings, crowded its spacious stables and offices.
Everything spoke society, splendor, and activity without; everything
denoted order, propriety, and happiness within.

In a long range of spacious apartments were grouped in the pursuit of
their morning employments, or in arranging their duties and pleasures of
the day, the guests and owners of the princely abode.

In one room was John Moseley, carefully examining the properties of some
flints which were submitted to his examination by his attending servant;
while Grace, sitting at his side, playfully snatches the stones fr