In the month of August, 1757, a gentleman
living in the neighbourhood of Lincoln's Inn
Fields named Bliss, advertised for a clerk.
There were, as was usual even at that time,
many applicants; but the successful one
was a young man of twenty-six, named
Richard William Vaughan. His manners
were so winning and his demeanour so much
that of a gentleman (he belonged indeed to a
good county family in Staffordshire, and had
been a student at Pembroke Hall, Oxford),
that Mr. Bliss at once engaged him. Nor had
he occasion, during the time the new clerk
served him, to repent the step. Vaughan was so
diligent, intelligent, and steady, that not even
when it transpired that he was, commercially
speaking, "under a cloud," did his master
lessen confidence in him. Some enquiry into
his antecedents showed that he had, while at
College, been extravagant; that his friends
had removed him thence; set him up in
Stafford as a wholesale linen draper, with a
branch establishment in Aldersgate Street,
London; that he had failed, and that there
was some difficulty about his certificate.
But so well did he excuse his early failings
and account for his misfortunes, that his
employer did not check the regard he felt
growing towards him. Their intercourse was
not merely that of master and servant.
Vaughan was a frequent guest at Bliss's
table; by-and-by a daily visitor to his wife,
and—to his ward.

Miss Bliss was a young lady of some attractions,
not the smallest of which was a handsome
fortune. Young Vaughan made the most
of his opportunities. He was well-looking, well-
informed, dressed well, and evidently made
love well, for he won the young lady's heart.
The guardian was not flinty hearted, and
acted like a sensible man of the world. " It
was not," he said on a subsequent and painful
occasion, " till I learned from the servants
and observed by the girl's behaviour that she
greatly approved Kichard Vaughan, that I
consented; but on condition that he should
make it appear that he could maintain her.
I had no doubt of his character as a servant,
and I knew his family were respectable. His
brother is an eminent attorney." Vaughan
boasted that his mother (his father was dead),
was willing to re-instate him in business with
a thousand pounds; five hundred of which
was to be settled upon Miss Bliss for her
separate use.

So far all went on prosperously. Providing
Richard Vaughan could attain a position
satisfactory to the Blisses, the marriage was
to take place on the Easter Monday following,
which the Calendar tells us happened early
in April, 1758. With this understanding, he
left Mr. Bliss's service, to push his fortune.

Months passed on, and Vaughan appears to
have made no way in the world. He had not
even obtained his bankrupt's certificate. His
visits to his afianced were frequent, and his
protestations passionate; but he had effected
nothing substantial towards a happy union.
Miss Bliss's guardian grew impatient; and,
although there is no evidence to prove that
the young lady's affection for Vaughan was
otherwise than deep and sincere, yet even she
began to lose confidence in him. His excuses
were evidently evasive, and not always true.
The time fixed for the wedding was fast
approaching; and Vaughan saw that something
must be done to restore the young lady's
confidence.

About three weeks before the appointed
Easter Tuesday, Vaughan went to his mistress
in high spirits. All was right: his certificate
was to be granted in a day or two; his family
had come forward with the money, and he
was to continue the Aldersgate business he
had previously carried on as a branch of the
Stafford trade. The capital he had waited so
long for, was at length forthcoming. In fact,
here were two hundred and forty pounds of
the five hundred he was to settle on his
beloved. Vaughan then produced twelve
twenty-pound notes; Miss Bliss could scarcely
believe her eyes. She examined them. The
paper she remarked seemed rather thicker
than usual. " Oh," said Bliss, " all Bank bills
are not alike." The girl was naturally much
pleased. She would hasten to apprise Mistress
Bliss of the good news.

Not for the world! So far from letting any
living soul know he had placed so much
money in her hands, Vaughan exacted an
oath of secresy from her, and sealed the notes
up in a parcel with his own seal; making her
swear that she would on no account open it
till after their marriage.

Some days after, that is, " on the twenty-
second of March," (1758) we are describing
the scene in Mr. Bliss's own words—" I was
sitting with my wife by the fireside. The
prisoner and the girl were sitting in the same
room which was a small one and although
they whispered, I could distinguish that
Vaughan was very urgent to have something
returned which he had previously given to
her. She refused, and Vaughan went away
in an angry mood. I then studied the girl's
face, and saw that it expressed much dissatisfaction.
Presently a tear broke out. I then
spoke, and insisted on knowing the dispute.
She refused to tell, and I told her that until
she did, I would not see her. The next day
I asked the same question of Vaughan; he
hesitated. ' Oh! ' I said, ' I dare say it is
some ten or twelve pound matter—something
to buy a wedding bauble with.' He answered
that it was much more than that, it was near
three hundred pounds! ' But why all this
secresy,' I said; and he answered it was not
proper for people to know he had so much
money till his certificate was signed. I then
asked him to what intent he had left the
notes with the young lady? He said, as I
had of late suspected him, he designed to give
her a proof of his affection and truth. I said,
' You have demanded them in such a way that