ed his sister; "it is not of such men as these that I
have any fear--and yet, cowards are sometimes driven to desperation, and
become more dangerous than better men--but it is not such as these that
I fear. But there are men in the world whose qualities are beyond their
seeming--whose spirit and courage lie hidden, like metals in the mine,
under an unmarked or a plain exterior.--You may meet with such--you are
rash and headlong, and apt to exercise your wit without always weighing
consequences, and thus"----

"On my word, Clara," answered Mowbray, "you are in a most sermonizing
humour this morning! the parson himself could not have been more logical
or profound. You have only to divide your discourse into heads, and
garnish it with conclusions for use, and conclusions for doctrine, and
it might be preached before a whole presbytery, with every chance of
instruction and edification. But I am a man of the world, my little
Clara; and though I wish to go in death's way as little as possible, I
must not fear the raw-head and bloody-bones neither.--And who the devil
is to put the question to me?--I must know that, Clara, for you have
some especial person in your eye when you bid me take care of
quarrelling."

Clara could not become paler than was her usual complexion; but her
voice faltered as she eagerly assured her brother, that she had no
particular person in her thoughts.

"Clara," said her brother, "do you remember, when there was a report of
a bogle[I-17] in the upper orchard, when we were both children?--Do you
remember how you were perpetually telling me to take care of the bogle,
and keep away from its haunts?--And do you remember my going on purpose
to detect the bogle, finding the cow-boy, with a shirt about him, busied
in pulling pears, and treating him to a handsome drubbing?--I am the
same Jack Mowbray still, as ready to face danger, and unmask imposition;
and your fears, Clara, will only make me watch more closely, till I find
out the real object of them. If you warn me of quarrelling with some
one, it must be because you know some one who is not unlikely to quarrel
with me. You are a flighty and fanciful girl, but you have sense enough
not to trouble either yourself or me on a point of honour, save when
there is some good reason for it."

Clara once more protested, and it was with the deepest anxiety to be
believed, that what she had said arose only out of the general
consequences which she apprehended fro