.

THE EARL'S BARGE.
Shocks of joy, they tell me, seldom kill.

Of my own knowledge I cannot say, for I have had precious little experience of such shocks in my lifetime, Heaven knows; but in the present instance, I can safely aver, they had no such dismal effect on Ormiston.

Nothing earthly could have given that young gentleman a greater shock of joy than the knowledge he was to behold the long hidden face of his idol.

That that face was ugly, he did not for an instant believe, or, at least, it never would be ugly to him.