than either Puseyite or Papist. This morning I was surprised to see Doctor Smiler coming up my garden walk, as he used to do in the days of our friendship. He looked rather downcast as he drew near the window, where I was busy getting my fishing-flies in order, and coughed once or twice, as if to announce his approach. I pretended not to hear him, and continued absorbed in my lines and feathers; and, instead of coming in at the open door as he has done for the last twenty years, he actually rang the bell, and old Thomas had to bustle on his coat, and come out of the back-yard to see who was there,--and I thought the old man's tone was a little sharp when he announced Dr Smiler. "How do you do, Doctor Smiler?" I said very courteously; "have the kindness to be seated." The Doctor sat down. "Are you going to the brook to-day?" he inquired. "Yes; if the wind holds, I shall try it for an hour or two this evening. I hope Mrs Smiler is well." "She is not well," he said. "And Christina--Miss Christina?" I added, correcting myself. "Dying," said the Doctor. "Christina dying!" I exclaimed, starting up and taking the Doctor's hand; "my dear Smiler, why didn't you tell us?--why didn't you send for us?" "I was ashamed, and that's the truth," said the Doctor. "Ah! Buddle, you were wiser than I." "How?--what? Is it that rascal Mount Huxtable?" I inquired. "No doubt of it," replied Smiler. "He has ruined the happiness of my daughter, turned away the hearts of my parishioners, and made me a laughing-stock to the whole county." "Is he not going to marry her, then?--did he not call on you after the pic-nic?" "No, he didn't call on me; but he consulted Christina's taste in all things--got her to superintend the alterations in the church--the candlesticks and flowers; he even asked her what style of paper she liked for drawing rooms, and the poor girl expected every moment that he would make a formal demand." "It may come yet," I said, endeavouring to cheer him. "It can't, my dear friend. I find he is married already." "The villain!" "He was an intimate friend of Charles Fustian," continued the Rector, "and by his advice answered my advertisement for an anti-Tractarian curate; by his advice also he concealed the fact of his marriage, and, in the course of less than a month, see what he has done." "He denied that he knew Charles Fustian." "I accused him of the duplicity this morning, but he says it was for the good of the flock; and as he is their shepherd for two years, he has a greater interest in them than I." "And how did he explain his speeches to Christina?" "General observations," he says; "he wished her opinion on drawing-room papers, and required her assistance in the interior arrangement of his church." "His church! the puppy! We shall petition the bishop."