S AND
DOCTRINES OF THE WORLD THAN MIGHT BE SUPPOSED.--BUT HE VINDICATES
HIS CHARACTER, WHICH MIGHT OTHERWISE BE JEOPARDISED, BY THE
ADROITNESS WITH WHICH, HAVING RESOLVED TO ROAST CHESTNUTS IN THE
ASHES OF ANOTHER MAN'S HEARTH, HE HANDLES THEM WHEN HOTTEST BY THE
PROXY OF A--CAT'S PAW.

In the letter which George told Waife he had received from his uncle,
George had an excuse for the delicate and arduous mission he undertook,
which he did not confide to the old man, lest it should convey more
hopes than its nature justified. In this letter, Alban related, with a
degree of feeling that he rarely manifested, his farewell conversation
with Lionel, who had just departed to join his new regiment. The poor
young man had buoyed himself up with delighted expectations of the
result of Sophy's prolonged residence under Darrell's roof; he had
persuaded his reason that when Darrell had been thus enabled to see and
judge of her for himself, he would be irresistibly attracted towards
her; that Innocence, like Truth, would be mighty and prevail; Darrell
was engaged in the attempt to clear William Losely's name and blood from
the taint of felony;--Alban was commissioned to negotiate with Jasper
Losely on any terms that would remove all chance of future disgrace
from that quarter. Oh yes! to poor Lionel's eyes obstacles vanished--the
future became clear. And thus, when, after telling him of his final
interview with the Minister, Darrell said, "I trust that, in bringing
to William Losely this intelligence, I shall at least soften his
disappointment, when I make it thoroughly clear to him how impossible it
is that his Sophy can ever be more to me--to us--than a stranger whose
virtues create an interest in her welfare"--Lionel was stunned as by a
blow. Scarcely could he murmur:

"You have seen her--and your resolve remains the same."

"Can you doubt it?" answered Darrell, as if in surprise. "The resolve
may now give me pain on my account, as before it gave me pain on yours.
But if not moved by your pain, can I be moved by mine? That would be a
baseness." The Colonel, in depicting Lionel's state of mind after
the young soldier had written his farewell to Waife, and previous to
quitting London, expressed very gloomy forebodings. "I do not say,"
wrote he, "that Lionel will guiltily seek death in the field, nor does
death there come more to those who seek than to those who shun it;
but he will go upon a service exposed t