years. No lady had courage enough to open a school in a house which bore so bad a character, and had such accommodating drawingroom windows. The blinds were closely down for nearly seven seasons; at the end of that period they were drawn up-the house was converted into "Riverhead Grammar-school."

The squire, in his will, had left a noble sum of money to endow a school for the benefit of the town and neighbourhood; not only was a liberal salary assigned to the master, but a fund was provided in aid of the maintenance of four scholars at the University.

To this school little Posthumus was sent at eight years of age, and from nine in the morning until five in the evening, kept his kind friend, Miss Straightback, in a state of violent agitation. She passed the tedious hours until school was over, in imagining all sorts of naughtiness that she feared would be instilled into the mind of her innocent charge, by the rude, unfeeling little wretches, who thought nothing of rumpling his neatly plaited frill, and inking his immaculate nankeens. She saw treason in tops, rebellion in hoops, and the worst of vices, in her opinion, uncleanness in football and cricket. She feared that her reign was over, her despotism at a discount.

Her fears, however, were groundless. Posthumus, young as he was was yet old enough to understand the views which his father entertained for him. They had been explained to him too frequently not to have made a deep impression on his mind; without being dull and miserable, the boy was sedate and studious.

The hours that his schoolfellows devoted to play or idleness, he employed in reviewing the lessons of the morning, or in walking and talking with his father or his governess. He was laughed at, and called by all manner of funny names, but he merely smiled when he was called a 66 spooney" or a "muff," and put up with kicks and cuffs most stoically. All thought him a little coward, and told him so; but he convinced a big bully to the contrary, by knocking out a few of his front teeth, and leaving him a discoloured eye for having spoken disrespectfully of his father. This had the effect of freeing him from open taunts and practical jokes for the future.

His career as a scholar was so successful, that he was elected first exhibitioner, and sent to college with testimonials so very favourable that the tutors were predisposed to show him that attention and regard which his conduct in the University secured to him in after years.

When he had taken his degree-a creditable one, both in classics and mathematics-the master of Riverhead Grammar-school offered him the situation of assistant to himself.

The offer was gladly accepted, as it would not only afford him sufficient support without further taxing his father's scantily filled purse, but enable him to enjoy the society of that kind and much-loved parent.

When of age to be ordained, he obtained the curacy of an adjoining village, the duties of which he could easily perform without interference with his pursuits in the school. His conduct was so satisfactory that when the principal retired from his mastership, the trustees of the school offered the situation to Posthumus. He gladly accepted it, and by his father's assistance was enabled to purchase the furniture and other necessaries for carrying on the business of the school.

Mr. Lauderly, as if the end of his existence had been attained in the establishment of his son for life, as he thought, died shortly afterwards. He bequeathed what little money he had managed to scrape together in his ill-paid arduous profession, to his son, excepting a legacy to his friend, Miss Straightback, who, although now far advanced in years, was still active and capable of superintending the domestic affairs of her nurseling, whom she loved with almost a mother's fondness. With what pride would she speak of "her boy, the head-master of Riverhead Grammar-school!"

She was not selfish in her love. She intimated to her charge the propriety of placing a lady at the head of the establishment as his wife. Mammas, she said, and truly said, would never believe that small-tooth-combing and such other necessary but unpleasant duties, were properly performed unless there was a Mrs. Head-master to inspect those operations, and preside over the physicings at "spring and fall," which were then deemed indispensable.

Posthumus yielded a ready assent to this proposition, and married the sister of a friend with whom he had been very intimate at college. She was poor; that mattered not. He was comparatively rich. She was very amiable-rather interesting than beautiful-but too meek, too retiring for the duties that devolved on her; that mattered not, her husband thought, as she had a most efficient deputy in his former

nurse.

For twelvemonths all was happiness and prosperity at the school. Posthumus was much liked by the boys, who gave him but little trouble and annoyance. They vented their fun and spite on the ushers. His fatherly care and judicious management of his pupils were so well known and appreciated, that his house was full; and so it would have been had it been twice as large as it was. His wife did the duties of the reception-room so well, that the parents were satisfied that she was a most efficient person in her situation; and as she was over-indulgent to their sons, furnishing them with little delicacies, and shielding them from punishment when she could do so conscientiously, the boys did not fail to confirm their parents in their belief of her efficiency.

The first interruption which Posthumus experienced to his prosperity and happiness, arose from the loss of his friend Miss Straightback. In her zeal for the cleanliness of her pupils, she over-scrubbed herself and them on a damp, cheerless day. The result was a violent cold. Fever ensued. The medical successor of Mr. Lauderly was called in; but he could not prevail on his patient to submit to his orders. "She would not lie in bed-she could not, when she was wanted in twenty places at once; besides, it was small-tooth-combing day, and that was a day above all others marked with chalk in her weekly calendar. The following day was rice-pudding day, and she always made them herself." Every day, in short, brought its peculiar duties with it, and to those duties Miss Straightback was resolved to attend as long as she was able.

She did so; and when she crawled to bed on the fifth night from her first attack, she felt that she should not rise from it again. She sent a message to "her boy," and when Posthumus obeyed her summons, she begged the servant to leave the room, and requested him to give her a small box from beneath the bed. She opened it, and took

out a small yellow-canvass bag, and placed it in his hands, telling him that it contained the savings of a long life of servitude, which she had put by for him. She then clasped his hand, begged of him to give her one kiss, and, praying to her maker to bless him, turned on her side, and never spoke again. The bag held about seventy golden guineas.

Scarcely had the severe grief of Mr. and Mrs. Lauderly, for the loss of so valuable a person, subsided, when another and far more serious evil befel them.

Her

Mrs. Lauderly was daily expecting to become a mother. health, naturally delicate, had suffered greatly for some weeks, and poor Posthumus was alarmed on her account, although the medical attendant had assured him that his alarm was groundless; and that after the birth of the infant, she would be quite well again. Filled with these fears and anxieties, his duties became burthensome to him, and, for the first time in his life, he wished he were any thing but a schoolmaster. Irksome as they were, however, his duties must be attended to. He went into school, and had scarcely taken his seat, and summoned the sixth form to their lessons, when the head usher reported to him that one of the boarders complained of being unwell. He hinted at the same time that, in his opinion, the illness was put on in consequence of an inability or unwillingness, on the part of the invalid, to say his morning's task,-that he was shamming, in short, or pretending to be ill, and wishing to commute a flogging for a black dose, or some equally nauseous draught.

Posthumus summoned the boy before him. He examined his tongue and his pulse; and finding that the former was a little furred, and the latter rather rapid, he, in spite of the insinuations of his usher, ordered him to the sick room, and sent for the doctor to examine bim.

The apothecary's report went far to confirm the views of the usher; he said,

"The boy's stomach was slightly deranged, but that he believed if the lesson had been learnt, no complaint would have been heard. An emetic and a little subsequent physicing, would set all to rights again."

Of course Posthumus felt no further anxiety on the subject, and as the stairs which led to the sick-room-the hospital as the boys called it —were steep and rather dangerous to mount, he would not permit his wife, circumstanced as she was, to climb them merely to see a boy who was shamming ill to shirk his lessons. Mrs. Lauderly contented herself, therefore, with making him a little nice arrowroot or sago, or some other equally innocent, but enticing food, and sent it up to him.

The usher visited the boy when the others retired for the night, and reported that he was very much better, and wished for some supper. The dose of arrowroot was again administered, and one of the ushers was ordered to sleep in his room.

In the morning the boy came into school and said his lessons. After breakfast he again complained, and was again ordered to the sickroom, and visited by the apothecary, who again reported that nothing serious was the matter with him. To the question of the master, "Should he send for his friends?" the doctor replied with a smile, and

something more than a smile, "That such a proceeding would be absurd."

Of course, Posthumus was satisfied, and did not send for the friends. The result proved that both the doctor and he were wrong. In the course of the afternoon a servant told Mrs. Lauderly, that she really believed that the poor boy was more seriously ill than the doctor gave him credit for. He was hot and restless-fell into frequent short slumbers, in which he talked of his home, his pony, and his rabbits; he woke frightened, and seemed unconscious of his whereabouts. He spoke to her as if to his brothers and sisters, and frightened the poor woman by calling her by several very rude names that he had acquired from the boys of the town.

Mrs. Lauderly would have gone up to his room, but the maid would not allow her until she had summoned her husband from the schoolroom. He obeyed her summons, and went to visit the patient, who talked as rationally as ever to him, and said he was better. Posthumus thought that his servant was blessed with strong inventive faculties, and had been indulging in the result of them on this occasion. Nevertheless, to "make assurance doubly sure," he sent for the boy's brother, who was staying with a family in the neighbourhood, and bade him see the little sufferer in the presence of the apothecary. He did so, and left him satisfied that nothing serious was the matter.

Mary, the maid, was very indignant that her word should be doubted. She said she hoped the boy would die, and then they would know that she had spoken the truth. Her hopes were confirmed, for when the doctor came to see him before he retired for the night, he found him in such a state as to alarm him, accustomed as he was to such scenes. He communicated his fears to Posthumus, who immediately sent for the child's brother, and begged him to take a chaise and bring over his parents, who dwelt a few miles off, as speedily as he could.

The young man complied with his wishes, but returned without his father and mother, who had that very afternoon set off on a visit to see some relatives at a distance.

Not long after the chaise had returned, the poor boy died in his brother's arms. Poor Mrs. Lauderly, when she heard of his death, which was judiciously announced to her by the triumphing Mary, was greatly shocked. The thought of what the sufferings of the poor little fellow's mother would be when she heard of the loss of him-her youngest, her darling child, brought on a violent fit of crying, which ended in hysterics. When Posthumus returned to the parlour after seeing that all was properly done to the corpse, he found his wife struggling violently in the arms of Mary, who, strong as she was, could scarcely hold her on the sofa, and prevent her falling to the ground.

Posthumus was frightened at the sight, and his grief for the loss of his little pupil was superseded by fears for his wife's life. He thrust Mary aside, and bid her fetch the doctor, while he held the struggling sufferer. Mary soon returned with him, for he had not left the house. He applied the usual remedies, and relieved the hysterics, but ordered her to be put into bed immediately. In about an hour's time Posthumus was told that his hopes of being a father were destroyed, and that his wife was seriously ill.

In the midst of his grief for the disappointment he had met with, and for his wife's illness, Posthumus had to arrange matters for his

pupil's funeral, and the removal of the body to his parents, who were not yet returned to their home, and were still unconscious of their loss. In this he was assisted by the child's brother, who, with tearful eyes, thanked him again and again for his kindness to the deceased, and expressed the regret he felt at the serious illness of Mrs. Lauderly, brought on, as it had been, by his brother's death.

This was consolatory to the master, as he felt assured that all things would be properly explained to the parents as soon as they returned_ a feeling that was confirmed by a letter from the brother, announcing his safe arrival at home with the corpse, and repeating the expressions of his gratitude for the attentions conferred on the child, and his regret for the consequences of his death.

Posthumus was in daily expectation of receiving a letter from the child's parents, to inquire after the health of his wife, and to thank them both for their care and attention in the sudden and fatal illness of their son. After the lapse of a fortnight, the expected letter came. Posthumus opened it, and, to his surprise and dismay, found that it contained charges of the grossest cruelty and neglect, founded on the representation of the child's brother-of him who had expressed himself so gratefully both by word and by letter, for the attentions bestowed on the little sufferer.

He was accused of having turned a deaf ear to the child's complaints, of keeping him in school and to his lessons when he was dying, and of supplying him with improper food during his illness, and of neglecting to call in medical aid until it was too late.

Mrs. Lauderly was also grossly attacked for displaying a want of feeling in not having once visited the sick-room, though she knew the boy was dying, and for having sent him a lot of messes instead of supplying him with food suitable to his situation. The letter ended with an order to him to send in his bill immediately, and a threat that his infamous neglect, which had caused the boy's death, should be published to the world.

Who can describe Lauderly's feelings at the receipt of this unjustifiably cruel letter? He sat brooding over it for some time, wondering by what means his conduct in the business had been so shamefully misrepresented. His grief was great, but it was overcome by his indignation. He knew that the mother of the child was weak in mind and in health, and that she doated on this her youngest, with all a mother's love; but he could not imagine that her husband, who was a sensible, strong-minded man, could be induced to give credit to stories of neglect and cruelty, in one for whom he had professed to entertain a high opinion and a sincere regard.

He suppressed his indignation, however, and wrote a calm, straightforward letter in answer, explaining every circumstance as it occurred, and quoted largely from the brother's letter, to prove that he had, at one time, been fully satisfied with every thing that had been done for the deceased. He inclosed in this a note from the medical gentleman who had attended the child, in which he described the case fully, and the plans that had been pursued in it. He exonerated Mr. and Mrs. Lauderly from all blame whatever; and said, that if any blame attached to any one, it was to himself, for that he had been called in at an early stage of the illness, and in time to save the child, had it been the pleasure of the giver of life to spare the boy to his parents.