and womanly a sigh, that if any body had thought about them at all, it could only have been to deprecate the hard-hearted levity of the young woman, who could find amusement in her feeble mother's sufferings. Fortunately, however, the two or three persons who were scattered through the long-room, were too much occupied by their own concerns to pay any attention to the group, and they made their way to the top of the stairs just as the first rush of the persons intending to land at Cleveland, was elbowing and shouldering its way across the plank. Either from the fear that a too close juxta-position with those who were jostling one another as they crossed, might betray him, or else from the wish to be perfectly consistent in the representation of his assumed character, the major held back for a moment, till a dozen or so of the most eager had passed the plank; then, still preserving with admirable steadiness of demeanour, the timid face of a suffering woman, he too crossed it, Tornorino very carefully stepping backwards as he preceded him, and the penitent Patty following, looking as grave as a judge.

In this manner they very safely reached the bank; but just as the delighted major felt his feet firmly planted on the sod, and while he was thinking that he might now venture to recover himself a little, and take, under shadow of the darkness, a tolerably vigorous step forward, he felt a somewhat heavy arm upon his shoulder, and fully expected in the next moment to see the long visage of Mr. Gabriel Monkton peering at him.

"Can I be of any use to you, ladies ?" said a voice at his ear, which even at that moment of agitation he felt certain was not the voice of the dreaded Gabriel. "You seem a little bewildered, I think, and if I can be of any service, you may command me."

These very obliging words, added by the same voice, which though certainly not that of Mr. Gabriel Monkton, did not appear to the major to be perfectly unknown, caused him to turn his head towards the speaker, and even to hazard the danger of rendering visible the" peard under his muffler," by raising his veil for the purpose of obtaining as good a view, as the waning light would permit, of the features of this courteous stranger.

On turning his eyes in the direction from whence the voice came, he perceived a stout-looking country-wife sort of a body, with a shabby old bonnet pulled low over her face, a very worn-out shawl, a common cotton-gown pulled up through the pocket-holes, and a pair of fat, naked arms, with sleeves pushed up considerably above the elbow.

The woman stepped back as soon as the major's eye fell upon her, and addressing Patty, who followed close behind, said,

"You are a very pretty young lady, upon my word. Would you like to have your fortune told, miss?"

"Miss! indeed!" cried the indignant married woman, who even in that moment of peril could not permit such a blunder to pass unnoticed. "What a fool of a woman you must be, to fancy I am an unmarried girl! We don't want any of your help, you may depend upon that, so you may get away, and let us walk on by ourselves in peace and quiet."

"Walk on in peace, my pretty dear, by all means," said the woman; "but don't be so fond of quiet as to send off good company."

Major Allen Barnaby, notwithstanding the very good reasons he had for wishing to advance beyond the reach of a recall from the steamboat, nevertheless lingered on his way for the purpose of hearing the above dialogue, and when it had reached this point, he suddenly stopped, and having looked round him on all sides without perceiving any one pursuing, or appearing particularly to notice them, he cautiously pronounced the word "Wife!" at no great distance from the ear of the female who had thus beset Patty.

"It is not every wise child that knows its own mother," said the voice of Mrs. Allen Barnaby, from beneath the humble weeds of the seeming stranger; "nevertheless, a runaway gentleman, it seems, may know his own wife."

"How could you be so stupid, Patty? However, this is no time to stand mumming and making fun," continued my heroine, for she indeed it was who had thus unceremoniously addressed the party. "Look along the road, major," she added, applying herself to the ear of the tall lady who still rested on the arm of Don Tornorino. "Look along the road, and you will see in what direction the danger lies. You and I must not go that way. Stop one minute, all of you, and I will tell you what must be done. You and I, Madame Feathers-andlace, must just betake ourselves to the shelter of that particularly darklooking corner yonder, between that barn-looking building and the trees, and there, I flatter myself, we may contrive both to hide ourselves till the steamboat is off again; and then, by the help of this basket and bundle, make ourselves, both of us, more fit to be seen. You, Tornorino and Patty, must immediately run back and look after the luggage. Here is some silver for you to pay one of those porters there that are gallopping with their trucks down to the landing-place to look after a job. When you have got every thing on shore, five trunks, two portmanteaus, three hampers, and four carpet-bags, REMEMBER, when you have got it all together, take it to the first handsome-looking hotel you come to; there, look, Tornorino, it must be that house where, dark as it is getting, you can distinguish so many people before the door. Take all the things there, and as soon as we have heard the bell ring, and seen the boat fairly off, the major and I will come strolling up, as if we had but just that minute stepped on shore, and you and Patty had better be on the look out for us."

Even Patty seemed at this moment to feel that it was a master-spirit who thus rapidly dictated what was to be done, and with a greater degree of passive obedience than was at all usual to her, she quietly placed herself by her husband's side, took hold of his offered arm, and without another word being spoken by any of the party, they divided, and marched off exactly as my ready-witted heroine had commanded.

The most intimate knowledge of the locality could not have enabled this admirable woman more judiciously to select a spot for arranging the attire of herself and her husband, than the one which she had thus instinctively chosen; no eye, no sound, no even imagined danger, occurred to scare or interrupt them, and several minutes before the parting bell of the steamboat was heard, they were both of them attired in all respects exactly as they had been when they first stepped on board her.

The interval of waiting which followed was gratefully employed by the major in expressing to his charming wife a part, at least, of the admiration and tenderness which her admirable conduct had inspired. Nothing, in fact, could be more amiable than the manner in which these sentiments were uttered and received; Major and Mrs. Allen Barnaby were indeed a perfect pattern couple.

The signal for which they had waited having been at length heard, and sufficient time allowed for the little wharf near which they had to pass, to have recovered its usual tranquillity, the excellently-matched pair walked forth from the shelter of the lofty catalpa trees, beneath which they had repaired their toilets, and one taking the bag, and the other the basket, with the careless air with which active-minded travellers do take bags and baskets on quitting steamboats, they sauntered, arm-in-arm, first to the wharf, and then from the wharf, with the aspect and manner of intelligent and curious strangers, desirous of looking about them, and seeing every thing that was to be seen.

In this manner they approached the Washington's Head hotel, at the door of which they found the grinning Patty, and her more sober-minded spouse, who both greeted them at the same moment; the former by clapping her hands, and exclaiming, "Well done, ma and pa! If you ain't too good ones!"

The latter, by gently observing that, "All de tings were com, and rooms bespeak."

Never had Mrs. Allen Barnaby walked up a room with more dignity than she now did that of the table d'hôte of the Washington's Head. It was nearly impossible at any time that she could pass unnoticed, so peculiarly striking were her person and demeanour, but it now was less possible than ever. The triumph of success, the pride of genius, and the consciousness of noble daring, brightened her eye, and rendered firm her step. Every eye in the room was fixed upon her. The observed major saw this, and trembled. But the same benignant destiny which had bestowed my heroine upon him as a wife, seemed to guard him at this happy moment from any accident which might render this blessing abortive; for not one of the passengers who had accompanied them from Buffalo was in the room, or even in the house. Of those who had landed, by far the greater number had returned on board, and of the rest, some had gone at once to their homes in the town of Cleveland, and the rest to some of the other hotels.

It was not immediately, however, that even our bold major ventured to look about him sufficiently to ascertain this important and very agreeable fact; but at length, as his modest glances reached further and further round the room, he felt delightedly convinced that so it was. Any thing more genial, more domestically sociable, more liberally cheering than this supper at the Washington's Head, Cleveland, can scarcely be imagined. The major ordered champagne, the ladies declared it first-rate, and the Don, whose happy temperament never required any thing for the enjoyment of perfect felicity but the absence of want of all kinds, and the presence of such good things as his taste particularly approved, was perfectly touching in his manner of partaking this repast; and when he said, as the last drop was drained from the second bottle into the glass of his august mother-in-law,

"Ah, ma! one ittle drop more for my Patti!" it would have required a much harder heart than that of the major to have withstood the hint. A third bottle of champagne was accordingly ordered, and when it had vanished, and not till then, my heroine and her fair daughter retreated for the night, leaving the major and his son-in-law to talk over the adventures of the last few days.

CHAP. XLI.

Ir can surprise nobody to hear that Mrs. Allen Barnaby did not rise very early on the following morning. She really had exerted herself greatly through the eventful day which had been passed on board the steamboat, and even the very act of taking what she felt to be needful refreshment afterwards, contributed to the necessity of lengthened rest on the following morning. It was not, therefore, till past ten o'clock on that morning, that my heroine was seen majestically descending the stairs of the hotel, adorned with very considerable care and elegance, and with an expression of countenance perfectly radiant from the effect of the meditations in which she had indulged during the time she had employed in dressing. Her position was, in truth, at this moment such as could not fail to cheer the spirits of any woman possessed of such a mind as hers. No philosopher, whether ethical, moral, or military, could be more aware of the sinewy species of strength and power given by money, than was my heroine; and never had she felt so delightful an assurance of having money at her command, as at that moment. The very stairs, as they creaked beneath her tread, seemed to do her homage, while the glances of a group of men stationed at the street door, which stood open immediately in front of her as she descended, caused her to remember that, considering her size, she had a very well-formed foot, and thus, as in the case of the charming Musidora

A sense

Of self-approving beauty stole across
Her busy thought,

and completed the happiness of the moment. But, alas, for the short-lived felicity of mortals! Scarcely had the smile, suggested by the thought above alluded to, dimpled on her cheek, than her eye caught the countenance of her husband, which, equally to her surprise and displeasure, was no longer decked in grateful and affectionate jocosity, as she had reasonably hoped to meet it, but wore an aspect of uneasiness and gloom that seemed to speak of any thing rather than difficulties overcome and a heart at ease.

"What's in the wind now?" thought she, as she made the last step of the descent, and swung herself with a graceful sort of impetus round the final banister, in order to follow the direction in which her husband's eye and the movement of his head seemed to marshal her. The moment the major perceived that she understood his signals, he walked rapidly on, and at the distance of some paces disappeared within a door, through which she also passed the minute after, and

then, with equal surprise and alarm, saw him shut and bolt it behind her.

"What on earth is the matter now, Major Allen Barnaby?" said she, knitting her brows and looking at least a dozen years older than she had done a few minutes before. 66 You surely have not found time enough to get into another scrape?"

"You should say, my dear, that I have not found time enough to get out of an old one. How much or how little danger threatens me at this moment, I am really unable to say; but perhaps when I have told you exactly what I have heard, you may be able to give me better advice than I could give myself. You know, my dear, what a confidence I have in your judgment, and upon my honour I never wanted a little help more in my life, for hang me if I know which way to turn, or what to do."

"Let me hear the worst at once," she replied, with some slight movement of impatience; "I dare say I shall find a way out of the scrape just as easily as you found your way into it.'

"Heaven grant you may, my dear, but I shall say you are a witch if you do. The case is this: I got up this morning, while you were still fast asleep, and on coming down stairs I found a whole bevy of gentleman tipplers taking their morning dram at the bar. I threw a pretty sharp look amongst them to find out if any of our late fellowpassengers were of the set, and presently became perfectly certain that there was not one. Whereupon I drew near among the rest, and although, as you know well enough, I am no great dram-drinker, I called for a glass like the others, that I might see and hear a little what was going on. The first words which regaled my ears were these: ‘A pretty considerable queer spec old Gabriel Monkton seems after this go. Did you hear about it, colonel ?' The personage thus addressed was no other than our right worshipful landlord, and he replied with all the dignity of his military rank, and his distinguished office united, 'Hear of it? I expect I did. Gabriel has promised me I don't know how many votes if I will keep a sharp look out after the females. And that I promised, and that I'll do, provided I can be availed of what they are like and where they are lodged. The man himself, him what he suspects, you know, is still snug enough on board, he told me, but the women and another man belonging to them was to land last night, on account of our glorious lake disagreeing with their English stomachs. If it wasn't for Gabriel's telling me the man was still aboard, and that the women had but one man with them, I should be apt to suspect that we had got the very identical set in the house at this moment.' Now, wife, what do you say to that, by way of a pleasant hint? And how, in the d-l's name are we to steer clear through such a confounded set of breakers as it is easy to see ahead?"

"You have not told me all, as yet, major," said my heroine anxiously; "you have not told me if any of the party took particular notice of you?"

"Half-a-dozen of them

"Not the least in the world," he replied. began immediately to talk together, and having paid my fip' for my glass to a young urchin who was acting as deputy to his father at the bar, I suffered three or four fresh stragglers to push on before me to