eyelid suddenly contract, perhaps before
finally settling into rest, and reveal for a
moment a twinkle of the bluest and merriest
of eyes! Vincent let go the hand of the
deceased, and stood up. Pink-ribbons and
Blue-ribbons looked on him with compassion
in their beautiful faces.

"Is there any hope, sir?" they inquired.
"O, how dreadful!"

Vincent took upon himself the part of
comforter.

"I trust he may be restored to consciousness,"
he said, "as he was for so short a time
under the water. The gratitude we shall
both feel for your kindness will never be
effaced. I think he breathes already."

There was certainly a motion perceptible
in the fat person of the defunct; a short
cough relieved the oppression of his chest,
and his sides heaved as if with difficulty
repressing some internal emotion. A tremulous
movement of the lips became also visible;
and the young ladies, delighted with these
symptoms, hurried up the lawn to assist the
gardener and his men, who were coming
down with a large hurdle laid on a couple of
poles and carefully covered over with a
feather bed. For an instant the left eye of
the late Mr. Blanders opened once more, and
a faint voice, without the slightest motion of
the lips, sighed forth the words:—"All right,
my boy, you shall dine as per agreement,
and you'll give me that thousand pounds."

When the mournful cavalcade arrived at
the front door, they were met by the rigid grey
mantle—with the frightfully sharp-visaged
maiden aunt in it—who came down the steps
and gazed compassionately on the sufferer.
She then ordered the girls to be off and let
the men carry him up to his bedroom. She
then, though in a suspicious uneasy way,
invited Vincent to come in and wait till her
brother and the doctor arrived.

"Your friend," she said, " is merely chilled
by the shock; but he is young and strong,
and by careful watching may yet get over the
danger."

Vincent said a few words of thanks, and
felt ashamed of the false pretences under
which he was forcing his way into the house.
However, the imposition was begun and
must now be gone on with to the end. He
then accompanied the bearers to the
bedroom; and, in a few minutes Samuel Blanders,
Esquire, was sitting up in a comfortable
armchair, drest in the clothes of the master of
the mansion, and discoursing confidentially
with his nephew on the next steps to be
pursued. To bed he positively refused to go;
but expressed great confidence of being
able to pass the medical examination of the
village surgeon, and impress him with the
perfect assurance that he had been really
drowned.

"How is it, my boy?" he said. "Does
Blue-ribbons stand close inspection? I could
only catch a glimpse of lovely faces in my
late departed state, but saw nothing
distinctly."

"She is the most beautiful girl I ever saw,
and the romance of her story adds an
undefinable charm to her faultless features and
shape."

"What do you know about her story? " said
Uncle Sam, sitting forward with curiosity.
"Did you ever hear of her before?"

"No; I know nothing about her; but there
is a mysterious incident—"

"Hush! here's Galen," exclaimed Sam,
"and I'm off in a faint."

Galen now entered the room, accompanied
by the old gentleman of the house, and
took hold of Sam's wrist. He looked at his
watch, and counted the ticks.

"Hm, Hm, more excitement," he said,
"than asphyxia from immersion. The
collapse has set in; and he must have brandy-
and-water, hot and strong, or I will not
answer for the consequences."

A nervous twitch again made its appearance
about the corners of the patient's mouth,
and I need not say how successful the treatment
was, and with what docility the
prescription was received. The effect was more
rapid than the most sanguine practitioner
could have expected; and, before the
end of the tumbler, the sufferer was restored
to the full use of his faculties, though still
very weak. He returned his thanks for the
efforts of the whole family in his behalf with
a grace peculiar to himself.

Vincent was more subdued in his expressions
of gratitude; for conscience pricked him
at every word; and having thus established
an acquaintance which he determined to
cultivate in a more legitimate manner at some
future time, he explained to his host the
circumstances of the case, and how he had been
induced to accompany his uncle, Mr. Blanders
of the Statistical Office, on a fishing excursion,
and had left his baggage at the Waggoner.

"But you shall send for it," interrupted
the hospitable gentleman; "and you and Mr.
Blanders, if he is able, and our excellent
neighbour, Mr. Smith, will dine with me to-day.
Mr. Blanders can't possibly be moved
to-night, I should say, Mr. Smith? " (Mr.
Smith nodded his head affirmatively) "and
there are bedrooms enough for all. I have
a niece here on a visit to my daughter, and
two cavaliers from the great city will be an
immense acquisition."

Vincent really was so good-looking, and so
perfectly gentlemanlike in all his ways, that
there was very little rashness in this extempore
invitation. Mr. Blanders, however, might have
given pause to a more cautious Amphitryon;
for the apparel in which he at present
appeared was by no means becoming, consisting
of a coat and waistcoat which were a mile
too wide even for his capacious figure; and a
pair of nether habiliments so immense in
their amplitude, that they looked like the