["How good that is!" said Jack Stuart, as I came to the end of the chapter, and laid down the volume. "How good that is! Did you perceive where the joining took place?" "No--I saw no joining." "Why, you stupid fellow, didn't you see that the first part was from a novel of the present day, and the other from a story of the rebellion--who the deuce do you think talks of _thees_ and _thous_ except the Quaker?" "I didn't notice it, I confess." "Glad to hear it; nobody else will; and in the next chapter, which is the seventeenth of the second volume of this romance, you will see how closely the story fits. Recollect to change the names as I have marked them in pencil, and go on.] CHAPTER II. "Hope springs eternal in the human mind, I would be cruel only to be kind; 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, Survey mankind from Indus to Peru; How long by sinners shall thy courts be trod? An honest man's the noblest work of God." _MS. Poem_--(original.) Night, thick, heavy, deep night!--No star visible amid the sulphureous blackness of the overcharged clouds; and silence, dreadful as if distilled from the voicelessness of the graves of a buried world! Night and silence, the twins that keep watch over the destinies of the slumbering earth, which booms round in ceaseless revolution, grand, mystic, sublime, but yearns in the dim vastness of its sunless course, for the bright morning-hour which shall again invest it with a radiance fresh from heaven! Darkness, and night, and silence! and suddenly rushing down, on whirlwind wings, the storm burst fearfully upon their domain--wind and rain, and the hollow sound of the swaying branches! And Lawleigh pressed onward. His horse, which for several miles had shown symptoms of fatigue now yielded to the difficulties it could no longer encounter; and after a few heavy struggles, fell forward, and did not attempt to rise. Thirteen hours had elapsed from the time the chase on that day commenced, and unless for a short minute, he had seen nothing of the fugitive. Yet he had dashed onward, feeling occasionally his holsters, and satisfied that his pistols were in serviceable condition. He was now nearly as much exhausted as his horse; but determining to yield to no obstruction, he seized the pistols, and proceeded through the wood, leaving his gallant charger to its fate. Lawleigh was strong and active beyond most men of his day; and, when excited, more vigorous and determined than could have been supposed from the ordinary equanimity of his character. But here a great murder had been committed!--before his very eyes!--accusations had been hazarded!--and one soft voice dwelt for ever on his ear--"Find out the murderer, or see me no more." Had Lady Alice, indeed,