MABEL. A NOVEL, BY EMMA WARBURTON. _IN THREE VOLUMES._ VOL. I. LONDON: THOMAS CAUTLEY NEWBY, PUBLISHER, 30, WELBECK STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE. 1854. TO MISS EMMA TYLNEY LONG, THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED AS A SLIGHT BUT SINCERE EXPRESSION OF GRATEFUL ESTEEM. MABEL. CHAPTER I. Oh, timely, happy, timely wise, Hearts that with rising morn arise, Eyes that the beam celestial view, Which evermore makes all things new. New every morning is the love, Our waking and uprising prove, Through sleep and darkness safely brought, Restored to life, and power, and thought. KEEBLE. One morning, early in the month of August, a few years since, the sun rose lazily and luxuriously over the hills that bounded the little village of Aston, which lay in one of the prettiest valleys of Gloucestershire. The golden beams of that glorious luminary falling first upon the ivy-covered tower of the little church, seemed, to the eye of fancy, to linger with pleasure round the sacred edifice, as if glad to recognize the altar of Him, who, from the beginning, had fixed his daily course through the bright circle of the heavens, then pouring a flood of brilliancy on the simple rectory, danced over the hills, and played with the many windows of the old Manor House, which, situated at a short distance from the church, formed one of the most striking objects of the village. Only here and there a thick volume of smoke rose from the cottages scattered over the valley, while the only living object visible was a young man, who thus early walked down the steep and winding path, which led from the rectory, and strolled leisurely forward, as if attracted by the beauties of the early morning. The slow pace with which he moved seemed to betoken either indolence or fatigue, while his dress, which was of the latest fashion, slightly contrasted with the ancient-looking simplicity of the place. Captain Clair, for such was his name, had quitted his regiment, then in India, and returned to England, with the hope of recruiting his health, which had been considerably impaired by his residence abroad. On the preceding evening, he had arrived at the rectory, upon a visit to his uncle, who wished him to try the bracing air of Gloucestershire as a change from town, where he had been lingering for some little time since his return to England.