reconciliation; and this must be brought about by Parson Preedom.— I will write to him.-Emma is a good wife.-Maria (excepting in one instance), an excellent woman.—Godfrey, a d-d rascal, because he is married; but for that, why-but it's an awkward affair-a bad job he is married- -a ring and a license would have set all right, if it had not been for this! Such things are constantly occurring in the world; and after marriage (although people may talk), they are not thought the worse of for it. He has done Emma the greatest injury, after all; and that is unpardonable! Pity that Godfrey should have been born in a country, where the law tolerates a plurality of livings, and only one wife. Milton regretted this; and yet there are worse people in the world than the Turks-heathens although they be. Widows sometimes marry two or three months after the death of their husbands; some have three or four husbands-my wife for instance-yet she is not at all afraid of ghosts,—does not care twopence for Clarkson, Clayton, or Copley; all their names began with a C, excepting mine. One of her husbands was sent to the hulks: I have often wondered whether he is dead or not. I hope he isn't. And yet there are worse women than my wife in the world! God knows-the 'babby' might have been mine! such things have happened before now, and will again, although it's against the law; yet there are very many good laws, while others are very foolish. The laws of nature, and the laws of man, often vary very much, as do the planets-a revolution or an eclipse cannot always be depended upon, no more than the coming of a comet. A man cannot constantly depend upon himself. I have proved this-got drunk, when I resolved to keep sober, and married, when I intended to remain single. My nativity foretold not the coming of a pitch-plaster ; there was scarcely a speck on Sol when it was cast. I must ascertain the hour in which Maria was born! Women are always backward to tell their ages; and this is a pity-you cannot depend upon their statistics. A woman who falls at thirty, wants nobody's pity; at twentyfive, knows what she is about; at twenty, ought to be forgiven; under that age, hang the man who refuses to marry her! Pass thirty, then only kick him; but her I would pardon, pity, and forgive; for love only could lead her into error, and love, at that age, ought to be considered as a matter beyond the power of law; or, at least, deserving of a distinction. Breaches of promise, and such like, ought then to become 'null and void,' saving in instances where the parties were found insane, or where some base, and selfish, and mean-interested and unmanly motive, can be produced. But leave love out then; he

wants no summoning. This would be difficult; for love is said to be always mad. But that I do not believe.

"Separate pity from love, and kind-heartedness from affection, and there is but little left worth preserving. Take love, and fear, and the world's opinion out of the balance, and see how the beam will then stand! Many a one would be seized upon for using light weights, who have the credit for being honest traders; for it is the same with business as love,-examine not too minutely, and you will be the more easily satisfied. But I will draw up a fair profit and loss account between Emma and Maria, and see how the balance stands."

Gregory then took out a sheet of paper, and placing the names of the two rivals at the head of each account in a debtor and creditor-like manner, summed up the matter as follows, balancing, however, each item as he went on :

To Balance of Account, PITY, FORGIVENESS, and Death.

Cr.

By Balance of Account, A REPENTANT HUSBAND.

This very original document was never intended to be brought to light during Gruff's life-time, nor are we at liberty to state how it came into our possession: but those who doubt its authenticity have our full consent to write to Parson Preedom, at Sutton-cum-Bottesford, for any further information they may require. There is also another account in existence, headed Godfrey Malvern ;' but it is so purposely blotted that only very few words are legible: those that can be made out are 'prison,' but that is crossed-shot,' this is also fairly

written over, and only 'D-n him!' stands unobliterated, in the bold round-hand writing of Gregory Gruff. But, even under this, there is a marginal retraction, a kind of moral, which stands out as a queer setoff, and is written in such little characters, that it requires the aid of a good glass to make the sentence out, and thus it reads, “ Young wives should never leave young husbands, for long; it is d-d dangerous. G. G."

Gregory Gruff never was a clever accountant; this is well known to every clerk in the house where he banked: any error under a thousand pounds he could not bear to investigate. He looked at the sum total, and if that was greatly out, he swore, and called them all thieves at once. He disliked being troubled with petty larceny; a real broad robbery only could move him. It must be all bad, to ruffle the good heart of our friend Gregory.

Had Godfrey Malvern left Maria in her misery, Gruff would never again have spoken to him; he would have walked over him in the street, without deigning to notice him; but when he saw the struggles Godfrey had made to support her, had satisfied himself that he had added to days of misery nights of mental labour, without either complaining, or seeking for help! Gregory could not find in his heart to write him down a villain. "He says he has sinned, and suffered for it," said Gregory to himself; "and the many pages he has written, under these pangs, show his sincerity. If EMMA forgives him, the WORLD ought. D-n the world! he has not troubled it for a farthing; and I will be a true friend to Maria after all."

Gregory Gruff kept his word; not a day elapsed without his calling upon her he was more kind to her than any father would have beenhe was her ministering angel!' And the landlady with whom Maria lodged, almost loved Gregory Gruff. But kindness could not now cheer the low spirits which preyed upon Maria. She was, indeed, very grateful, very thankful-and expressed her feelings not in words, but in tears. She was, indeed, very penitent; the man or woman who now beheld her, and could have reproached her for her sin, would have been human brutes ! Gruff would have struck them down, and trampled upon them with no more remorse than he felt at grinding the dirt under his heavy feet-any real man would have done the same. Α weeping angel seemed to walk behind her wherever she went-with wings folded, and hands pressed upon the mouth, as if to stifle every sob. Many a time, when Gruff walked out with Maria, he took her thin delicate white hand within his own, and pressed it with a gentle

pressure when he saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and said, "Never mind, I am your fond old father now, and I love you!" No child ever loved its parent with more affection than Maria did our good friend Gregory. So they wandered out together in the outskirts of the Borough whenever the weather permitted, and Godfrey was too much occupied to accompany them. But Gregory was not Godfrey, with all his kindness; and this simple truth gave Maria many a heart-ache!

Nor were the scenes the same; for Maria, in her earlier years, had been nursed in the purer air of the West-end of London, amid squares and carriages, parks and splendid streets, shops with plate-glass fronts, in the windows of which were exhibited the costliest of silks and velvets, shawls from Cashmere, and fashions from Paris, which formed a strange contrast to those in the Old Kent or Walworth Road. There was little that savoured of the aristocratical in the neighbourhood which she now traversed, where night-caps were ticketed at sixpencehalfpenny each, gloves at ninepence per pair, bonnets, ready to put on, at four-and-sixpence, and showy-looking shoes, at two-and-threepence; where dresses were marked sevenpence-halfpenny a-yard, and warranted to wash into the bargain;-where every three or four shops sold tobacco and stationery,—grocers dealt in halfpenny bundles of wood, and fashionable dress-makers took in plain sewing, and got-up linen neatly; where the dirty beer-boy jostled the man who sold baked potatoes, and the lady on the first floor went out to buy her own mutton-chops, while the gentleman who occupied the front parlour might be seen at the back-door every morning, polishing his own boots. Very different were these scenes, to what our dark-haired beauty had been accustomed to, when some friend's carriage called in a morning to take her np a-shopping, or, in the afternoon, carried her, with a luxurious roll, through the Parks; while night brought theatres and soirées, songs and music, and all the dear little tittle-tattle, which is the very soul of existence among those who have more money than they can spend, and more time than they know how to consume. But Maria had long yawned over these pleasures, before she met with Godfrey Malvern: like our first mother, in the garden of Paradise, she became wearied of the roses without thorns, the birds that sang all day long and never quarrelled, the lions that played with the lambs, and all the still quietude which threw such a dreamy monotony over the garden. She wanted a change: and she soon found one; and, when it was too late, she turned her head, and beheld the angry angel brandishing the flaming sword above the

A A

gates of that Eden, which she now sighed for in vain. Many a one, like Maria, has coveted the forbidden fruit, plucked it, and found the taste bitter as ashes.

It so chanced, that, the day following the one on which Godfrey received the letter from his wife, Gregory Gruff and Maria extended their walk to within a short distance of Blackfriars-bridge. The morning which broke upon the dreary night, which we have attempted to describe, was one of those mornings,

'Which laugh the clouds away, with playful scorn ;'

and was, indeed, so fine, that it had tempted Mrs. Gruff to walk abroad, accompanied by Mary and the babby.' They met!-'twas in a crowd;' Gruff, with Maria on his arm, and his 'dear wife,' with Mary and the child close at her heels; for both parties had been compelled to wait while a long train of vehicles passed down an adjacent street. They met in the centre of a crossing.

"Gracious goodness, missus !" exclaimed Mary; "master's got another lady! Do but look at her! Sha'n't we soon have another 'babby?' Won't it be a pretty one, this time, if it takes after the mother? Oh my!-what a man he is!"

Mrs. Gruff stood speechless with astonishment !-Gregory, with consternation! She would have fainted, had not a great deal of rain fallen in the early part of the morning, and left the roads in such a state as threatened to spoil her dress; so she contented herself with exclaiming, "Oh, you old villain! had I not happened to meet you, you would have found another child in an omnibus! Mary, Mary! support me! this is the third time he's broken my heart, and ruined my peace of mind!"

Gruff wished, at that moment, the devil had him. Maria turned cold as death; while Mary, with the 'babby' in one arm, and her mistress leaning on the other, kept up a regular fire, to which the child struck up an accompaniment; and thus it ran, with the variations:"Oh, master! how can you be so cruel?-Hush! hush!-daddy's a bad man!-Don't take it so to heart, missus !-You proud, stuck-up, good-for-nothing madam, you!-I'm your betters, in spite of your fine fal-the-rals!-I would tear your hair off, by handfuls, if I were his wife! Poor, dear, patient lamb !—he's a nasty good-for-nothing fellow! -Hush! hush! babby! Mary, take care of him! Oh, master! how ever can you?"

Just then, Mrs. Gruff fainted in downright earnest, for the first time for many years; and had not the man, who swept the crossing, dropped