the same time, that his filial admonition might be neglected if not
backed by some sufficient motive, his lordship frankly let me into
the secret of my granduncle by the mother's side, Mr. S. Mowbray of
Nettlewood's last will and testament, by which I saw, to my
astonishment and alarm, that a large and fair estate was bequeathed
to the eldest son and heir of the Earl of Etherington, on condition
of his forming a matrimonial alliance with a lady of the house of
Mowbray, of St. Ronan's.--Mercy of Heaven! how I stared! Here had I
been making every preparation for wedding Francis to the very girl,
whose hand would insure to myself wealth and independence!--And even
the first loss, though great, was not likely to be the last. My
father spoke of the marriage like a land-surveyor, but of the estate
of Nettlewood like an impassioned lover. He seemed to dote on every
acre of it, and dwelt on its contiguity to his own domains as a
circumstance which rendered the union of the estates not desirable
merely, but constituted an arrangement, pointed out by the hand of
nature. And although he observed, that, on account of the youth of
the parties, treaty of marriage could not be immediately undertaken,
it was yet clear he would approve at heart of any bold stroke which
would abolish the interval of time that might otherwise intervene,
ere Oakendale and Nettlewood became one property.

"Here, then, were shipwrecked my fair hopes. It was clear as
sunshine, that a private marriage, unpardonable in the abstract,
would become venial, nay, highly laudable, in my father's eyes, if
it united his heir with Clara Mowbray; and if he really had, as my
fears suggested, the means of establishing legitimacy on my
brother's part, nothing was so likely to tempt him to use them, as
the certainty that, by his doing so, Nettlewood and Oakendale would
be united into one. The very catastrophe which I had prepared, as
sure to exclude my rival from his father's favour, was thus likely,
unless it could be prevented, to become a strong motive and argument
for the Earl placing his rights above mine.

"I shut myself up in my bedroom; locked the door; read, and again
read my father's letter; and, instead of giving way to idle passion,
(beware of that, Harry, even in the most desperate circumstances,) I
considered, with keen