"'Ruminate indeed!' I sighed, as she closed and locked the door--'for inexplicable are thy proceedings.'--But the packet Blond had given me, he said, would in some measure account for her conduct; to that I resolved to apply, and, seating myself, broke the seal of this, my father's last bequest." Sir Henry drew the packet from his bosom, and, half suppressing a sigh, read as follows: CHAPTER II. "When these lines, my beloved Henry, reach your hands, time will have left only a tender remembrance of the name of father! Yet I trust the affection you evinced for him in life, will make you regard this his last (though secret) request, and advice. "Too oft have you heard the relation of my early misfortunes, to need a repetition here; but prepare, my Harry, for a tale you little expect, and which reached my knowledge a few months after my marriage. "Some years prior to that event, your mother bestowed her affections on Mallet, her father's steward; who, at last, asked her of his master in marriage; but Mr. Holly refused him with the proudest disdain, and threatened to dismiss him, if he ever again renewed the subject. Miss Holly proved more favourable to his addresses, and at the time Sir Horace demanded her as a wife for me, was in a state advancing to become a mother!" "Just Powers!" exclaimed Mr. Talton. "Do I hear aright? or can I credit the assertion?" "My father's veracity, Sir," faltered Sir Henry, "is not to be doubted; even if my mother's subsequent conduct had not confirmed the circumstance as true." "Proceed--proceed, dear Henry!" cried the agitated Louise. Sir Henry resumed the relation of his father. "Alarmed at a circumstance which must inevitably have exposed her shame, she fled for protection to her aunt, and by a well-feigned tale, not only induced that lady to receive her; but to promise secrecy respecting her state, and the place of her retreat: whilst Mallet, dreading a discovery of their illicit connexion, withdrew to France; and four months after Miss Holly was delivered of a daughter, which the aunt undertook to rear; and, at the desire of her niece, who was wearied of solitude and restraint, waited on Mr. Holly, to intercede in her behalf. He admitted their excuses, consented to receive his daughter, and to bury the past in oblivion; but to prevent her again disappointing him, he informed Sir Horace of her expected return, and with him projected the scheme which plunged me into misery!