l, who still carried on the lucrative branch of traffic by which the
family had been first enriched. I mention these particulars to account,
in so far as I can, for the singular predicament in which I now find
myself placed."

"Proceed, my lord," said Mr. Mowbray; "there is no denying the
singularity of your story, and I presume you are quite serious in giving
me such an extraordinary detail."

"Entirely so, upon my honour--and a most serious matter it is, you will
presently find. When my worthy uncle, Mr. S. Mowbray, (for I will not
call him Scrogie even in the grave,) paid his debt to nature, every
body concluded he would be found to have disinherited his son, the
unfilial Scrogie, and so far every body was right--But it was also
generally believed that he would settle the estate on my father, Lord
Etherington, the son of his sister, and therein every one was wrong. For
my excellent grand-uncle had pondered with himself, that the favoured
name of Mowbray would take no advantage, and attain no additional
elevation, if his estate of Nettlewood (otherwise called Mowbray-Park)
should descend to our family without any condition; and with the
assistance of a sharp attorney, he settled it on me, then a schoolboy,
_on condition_ that I should, before attaining the age of twenty-five
complete, take unto myself in holy wedlock a young lady of good fame, of
the name of Mowbray, and, by preference, of the house of St. Ronan's,
should a damsel of that house exist.--Now my riddle is read."

"And a very extraordinary one it is," replied Mowbray, thoughtfully.

"Confess the truth," said Lord Etherington, laying his hand on his
shoulder; "you think the story will bear a grain of a scruple of doubt,
if not a whole scruple itself?"

"At least, my lord," answered Mowbray, "your lordship will allow, that,
being Miss Mowbray's only near relation, and sole guardian, I may,
without offence, pause upon a suit for her hand, made under such odd
circumstances."

"If you have the least doubt either respecting my rank or fortune, I can
give, of course, the most satisfactory references," said the Earl of
Etherington.

"That I can easily believe, my lord," said Mowbray; "nor do I in the
least fear deception, where detection would be so easy. Your lordship's
proceedings towards me, too," (with a conscious glance at the bills he
still held in his hand,) "have, I admit, been such as to intimate some
such deep cause of interest as you have been