At the same time he felt it impossible to prevent himself from experiencing a strong sense of anxiety, or perhaps we should say, a feeling of involuntary pain, which lay like a dead weight upon his heart and spirits.

In truth, do what he might and reason as he would, he could not expel from his mind the new and painful principle which disturbed it.

And thus he went on, sometimes triumphantly defending Mary from all ungenerous suspicion, and again writhing under the vague and shapeless surmises which the singular events of the evening sent crowding to his imagination.

His dreams on retiring to seek repose were frightful--several times in the night he saw graceful Phil squinting at him with a nondescript leer of vengeance and derision in his yellow goggle eyes, and bearing Mary off, like some misshapen ogre of old, mounted upon Handsome Harry, who appeared to be gifted with the speed of Hark-away or flying Childers, whilst he himself could do nothing but stand helplessly by, and contemplate the triumph of his hated rival.
In the mean time the respected father and grandfather of that worthy young gentleman were laboring as assiduously for his advancement in life as if he had been gifted with a catalogue of all human virtues.
Old Deaker, true to his word, addressed the very next day the following characteristic epistle-- "To the Right Hon.

Lord Cumber.
"My Lord--It is unnecessary to tell you that I was, during my life, a plain blunt fellow in all my transactions.