constantly on foot, hurrying from place to place, with bills, letters, &c., and on other errands; and especially on foreign post nights, he was detained slaving sometimes till nine or ten at night, copying letters, and assisting in making entries and balancing accounts, till his pen almost dropped from his wearied fingers. He was allowed an hour in the middle of the day for dinner; and even this little interval was often broken in upon to such an extent as proved seriously prejudicial to his health. After all the labours of the day, he had to trudge from Mincing Lane, along the odious City Road up to almost the extremity of Islington, where was situated his lodging, that is, a little back bedrcom, on the third floor, serving at once for his sitting and sleeping room, and for the use of which he paid at the rate of seven shillings a week, exclusive of extras. Still he conformed to his cheerless lot, calmly and resolutely, with a true practical stoicism that did him honour. His regular and frugal habits enabled him to subsist upon his scanty salary with decency, if not comfort, and without running into debt-that infallible destructive of all peace of mind and all self-respect! His sole enjoyment was an occasional hour in the evening, spent in reading, and retracing some of his faded acquisitions in mathematics. Though a few of his associates were piqued at what they considered his sullen and inhospitable disposition, yet his obliging manners, his easy but melancholy deportment, his punctuality and exactitude in all his engagements, soon gained him the goodwill of his brethren in the office, and occasionally an indication of satisfaction on the part of some one of his august employers. Thus, at length, Elliott overcame the numerous disagremens of his altered situation, seeking in constant employment to forget both the gloom and gayeties of the past. Two or three years passed over, Elliott continuing thus steadily in his course; and his salary, as a proof of the approbation of his employers, had been annually increased by 107. till he was placed in com parative affluence by the receipt of a salary of 90%. His severe exertions, however, insensibly impaired a constitution, never very vigorous, and he bore with many a fit of indisposition, rather than incur the expense of medical attendance. It may be added, that Elliott was a man of gentlemanly exterior and engaging deportment--and then let us pass to a very different person. Mr. Hillary, the head of the firm, a man of very great wealth, had risen from being a mere errand boy, to his present eminence in the mercantile world, through a rare combination of good fortune and personal merit -merit, as far as concerns a talent for business, joined with prudence and enterprise. If ever there came a man within the terms of Burke's famous philipic, it was Mr. Hillary. His only object was money-making; he knew nothing, cared for nothing beyond it; till the constant contemplation of his splendid gains led his desires into the train of personal aggrandizement. With the instinctive propensities of a mean and coarse mind, he became as tyrannical and insolent in success as in adversity he had been supple and cringing. No spark of generous or worthy feeling had ever been struck from the flinty heart of Jacob Hillary, of the firm of Hillary, Hungate, and Company. He was the idol of a constant throng of wealth-worshippers; to everybody else, he was an object either of contempt or terror. He had married the widow of a deceased partner, by whom he had had several children, of whom one only lived beyond infancy-a generous, high-spirited, enthusiastic girl, whom her purse-proud father had destined, in his own weak and vain ambition, to become the wearer of a coronet. On this dazzling object were Mr. Hillary's eyes fixed with unwavering earnestness; he desired and longed to pour the tide of his gold through the channel of a peerage. In person, Mr. Hillary was of the middle height, but gross and corpulent. There was no intellect in his shining bald head, fringed with bristling white hair-nor was there any expression in his harsh and coarse features but such as faithfully adumbrated his character as above described. This was the individual, who, in stepping one morning rather hastily from his carriage, at his counting house door in Mincing Lane, fell from the carriage step, most severely injuring his right ankle and shoulder. The injuries he received upon this occasion kept him confined for a long period to his bed, and for a still longer one to an easy chair in the back drawing room of his spacious mansion near Highbury. As soon as he was able to attend to business, he issued orders that as Elliott was the clerk whose residence was nearest to Bullion House, he should attend him every morning for an hour or two on matters of business, carrying Mr Hillary's orders to the city, and especially bringing him, day by day, in a sealed envelope, his banker's book! A harassing post this proved for poor Elliott. Severe discipline had trained his temper to bear more than most men: on these occasions it was tried to the uttermost. Mr. Hillary's active and energetic mind kept thus in comparative and compulsive seclusion from the only concerns he cared for or that could occupy it always excepting the one great matter already alluded to-his imperious and irritable temper became almost intolerable. Elliott would certainly have thrown up his employment under Mr. Hillary in disgust and despair, had it not been for one circumstance the presence of Miss Hillary-whose sweet appealing looks day after day melted away the resolution with which Elliott every morning came before her choleric and overbearing father, although they could not mitigate that father's evil temper, or prevent its manifestations. He insisted on her spending the greater part of every day in his presence, nor would allow her to quit it even at the periods when Elliott made his appearance. The first casual and hasty glance that he directed towards her, satisfied him that he had, in earlier and happy days, been many times in general society with her-her partner even in the dance. Now, however, he dared not venture to exhibit the slightest indication of recognition; and she, if struck by similar recollections, thought fit to conceal them, and behave precisely as though she then saw and heard of Mr. Elliott for the first time in her life. He could not, of course, find fault with her for this; but he felt it deeply and bitterly. He little knew how much he wronged her! She instantly recollected him -and it was only the dread of her father that restrained her from a friendly greeting. Having once adopted such a line of conduct, it became necessary to adhere to it and she did. But could she prevent her heart going out in sympathy towards the poor, friendless, unoffending clerk whom her father treated more like a mere menial than a respectable and confidential servant-him whom she knew to be "Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen, Every day that she saw him, her woman's heart throbbed with pity towards him; and pity is indeed akin to love. How favourably for him did his temper and demeanour contrast with those of her father! And she saw him placed daily in a situation calculated to exhibit his real character-his disposition, whether for good or evil. The fact was, that he had become an object of deep interest-even of love-to her, long before the thought had ever occurred to him that she viewed him, from day to day, with feelings different from those with which she would look at the servant that stood at her father's sideboard at dinner. His mind was kept constantly occupied by his impetuous employer, and his hundred questions about everything that had or had not happened every day in the city Thus for nearly three months had these unconscious lovers been brought daily for an hour or two into each other's presence. He had little idea of the exquisite pain occasioned Miss Hillary by her father's harsh and unfeeling treatment of him, nor of the many timid at tempts she made, in his absence, to prevent the recurrence of such treatment; and as for the great man, Mr. Hillary, it never crossed his mind as being possible that two young hearts could, by any means, when in different ranks of society, one rich, the other poor, be warmed into a feeling of regard, and even love for one another. One afternoon Elliott was obliged to come a second time that day from the city, bearing important despatches from Mincing Lane to Mr. Hillary, who was sitting in his invalid chair, flanked on one hand by his daughter, and on the other by a little table, on which stood wine and fruit. Poor Elliott looked, as well he might, exhausted with his long and rapid walk through the fervid sunshine. “Well, sir—what now?" said her father, quickly and peremptorily, at the same time eagerly stretching forth his hand to receive a letter which Elliott presented to him. 66 Humph! Sit down there, sir, for a few minutes!" Elliott obeyed. Miss Hillary, who had been reading, touched with Elliott's pale and wearied look, whispered to her father, "Papa-Mr. Elliott looks dreadfully tired-may I offer him a glass of wine?" "Yes, yes," replied Mr. Hillary, hastily, without removing his eyes from the letter he had that instant opened. Miss Hillary instantly poured out a glass of wine; and as Elliott approached to take it from the table, with a respectful bow, his eye encountered hers, which was instantly withdrawn; but not before it had cast a glance upon him that electrified him-that fell suddenly like a spark of fire amid the combustible feelings of a most susceptible but subdued heart. It fixed the fate of their lives. The train so long laid had been at length unexpectedly ignited, and the confounded clerk returned or rather staggered towards his chair, fancying that everything in the room was whirling around him. It was well for both of them that Mr. Hillary was at that |