II.

MRS. THIRLWELL was not kept awake by any anxious thoughts about her lost bracelet-she was satisfied to leave Tollington at full liberty to take any steps he deemed advisable for its recovery -but slumbered on tranquilly under a pleasing consciousness that she had almost within her grasp a valuable prize, as she thought, in the lottery of marriage, which she deterinined that Charlotte, by means of the very forcible lecture she proposed to read to her early next morning, should be made to see, and feel the importance of securing without delay. She knew that more than one wily and attractive woman was dexterously spreading her net with the hope of making a capture; while her object was to seize the prey before it strayed into their meshes. She meant to rise with the lark to prepare her daughter to go well through her part. But it had been one of the rules in the late doctor's household that Mrs. Thirlwell should never be roused from her slumbers. She was to have her nap out, however long it might last; and this rule, the chief reason for which no longer existed-liability to have her rest broken by the frequent urgent nocturnal summonses for the doctor-was still in force; and the consequence was, Mrs. Thirlwell dozed quietly on until mid-day, and was obliged to receive Mr. Tollington in a plain morning dress, hurriedly put on while she scolded her daughter and maid, instead of the elegant and carefully studied negligée she had arranged in her fancy as she mused on her pillow.

Mrs. Thirlwell was what some men call "a fine showy woman;" and being aware of that fact thought it a duty to make the most of her charms. She did this, as she was accustomed to say she did all things, for Charlotte's sake. For she argued that when a man with marrying intentions looked from a daughter to her mother, he looked, as it were, into the future; and if he beheld in that mother the beautiful girl developed into the handsome matron, why he had a gratifying prospect before him, which was, naturally, a great advantage to any girl. While, on the contrary, a prematurely faded, dowdy mother, not unfrequently, ruined her daughter's chances.

Mrs. Thirlwell was, however, in some measure consoled for her own short-comings on that occasion by her approval of Charlotte's toilette. The white morning dress and violet sash she was pleased to pronounce "simple, pretty, and becoming."

The maternal teachings commenced with, "Now do, Charlotte, behave like a sensible young woman, and not like a shy, silly

child, for" happily here they were brought to a sudden close. Mr. Arthur Tollington was announced.

A beaming smile overspread Mrs. Thirlwell's lately ruffled countenance, and, taking her daughter by the hand, she entered the drawing-room with a gracefully gracious air, and cordially welcomed her visitor. Mr. Tollington had brought a bouquet of very choice flowers from Frankfort, which he presented to Charlotte. He had been, it appeared, very matinal and active; but neither at the jewellers and money-changers of Homburgwho frequently oblige hard-up lady and gentlemen gamblers with loans on their jewels and watches-nor at Frankfort, where some benevolent Jews, as he had been told, privately transact business of a similar kind, had his quest been successful.

There was, however, a gleam of hope. He had been informed at one house he had called at, that a valuable emerald and diamond bracelet had been offered there for sale late on the previous evening. When questioned about it, the man said it was his own property, and refused the sum the dealer was willing to give for it. But it was thought likely that he would bring it again in the morning. If he did, it would be detained until Mrs. Thirlwell had had an opportunity of seeing it.

"What did she suppose was the value of her bracelet ?" he inquired.

Mrs. Thirlwell could scarcely say. "Perhaps one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds. But should the bracelet Mr. Tollington spoke of prove to be hers, she was willing to give a reward of twenty pounds for it; if the man acknowledged that he had found it, and she had no further trouble in the matter."

After a moment's reflection, Tollington suggested that Mrs. Thirlwell should go over to Frankfort and see the jeweller herself.

"The morning," he said, "is bright and sunny; the air soft and warm. I will send for my carriage, and if Miss Thirlwell has not been to Frankfort by road, I am sure she will be pleased with the drive."

Miss Thirlwell had not been by road. For what with sipping the waters at the matinées musicales round the Elizabeth Brünnen; the afternoon promenades in the gardens, and the concerts at the Kursaal; the table-d'hôte, and the tables" in the evening, with the several necessary changes of toilette, Mrs. Thirlwell really had no leisure, she said, for running about the country with Charlotte. Charlotte, therefore, had seen little or nothing of the places she had visited, except Spa, where they had met with an old family friend-who, by the way, was a young lieutenant in a line regiment, making a short stay at Spa with an

invalid sister-and with him she had made all the usual equestrian excursions, to the fountains, the cascades, the Vallée de la Hoëgue, &c. She had enjoyed these pleasant expeditions so much that when they came to an end, with the expiration of Edward Weston's leave of absence, she had felt sadder, and more dull than before. Any change from their ordinary routine she hailed with delight, and was glad that her mother acceded so readily to Tollington's proposal.

During their drive, Mrs. Thirlwell came to the conclusion. that the reserved and taciturn disposition she had attributed to Tollington, was nothing more than the usual ice of English aristocratic manners. That ice had thawed. Her own tact, she was convinced, had been as potent a dissolvent as Charlotte's beauty; and it pleased her to believe that it had worked so thoroughly on "the most agreeable man she had ever known." It was evident that he had not only seen a great deal of the world, but was also a man of much culture and refinement. Most talented also, no doubt, and possessing tact, as she saw, almost equalling her own; for he had so successfully contrived to dispel Charlotte's mauvaise honte, that long before they reached Frankfort she was engaged in an animated conversation with him.

"And he will find she is really no simpleton," said Mrs. Thirlwell, mentally, as she glanced with maternal pride at Charlotte's brightly smiling face. "In that self-possession and confidence of manner which-from diving deeper into arts and sciences, I suppose, than was usual in my day-distinguishes the young ladies of the period, she is certainly wanting. But she will probably acquire it as she acquires more worldly knowledge."

As Mrs. Thirlwell was making these sage reflections-thrown back in a corner of the carriage, that she might not interrupt the pleasant chat of her companions, who, indeed, seemed to be quite content to leave her to her meditations-they entered Frankfort, and drove up to the door of a large house of business on the Zeil. Tollington, only, alighted. Presently he returned with the information that the man had again brought the bracelet, and, without any hesitation, had left it with the head of the firm. He, just now, was out, but was expected back very shortly.

"It will be as well, I think," he said, inquiringly, to Mrs. Thirlwell, "to put up the horses, and employ the interval in taking some refreshment ?"

She assented. The coachman was ordered to drive to the Victoria. The ladies were conducted to one of the elegant

private salons in that magnificent hotel; the servant in attendance seemed to be expecting them, and a table was already arranged for three.

Mrs. Thirlwell remarked this, and Tollington carelessly said: "That he had looked in there, when in Frankfort, in the early part of the morning, and mentioned that he might, possibly, be over again in the course of the day."

A very recherché light repast was served up immediately, and was especially gratifying in every sense to Mrs. Thirlwell. When due justice had been done to it, and as they were on the point of leaving the hotel, the jeweller was announced.

"He had brought the bracelet, to save the lady the trouble of calling again," he said.

And he then produced a magnificent one, which he valued at not less than six hundred pounds.

Mrs. Thirlwell regretted to say that it was not the lost jewel she was in search of; but the description of her bracelet was given, as it was possible, the jeweller said, that it might come in his way, if it had fallen into the hands of any needy and unscrupulous gambler.

During the drive home Mrs. Thirlwell took the opportunity of speaking of her intention to leave Homburg in a day or two for Baden Baden, and to make there only a very short stay, just to allow Charlotte to have a glimpse of the beauty of the scenery in that neighbourhood. Thence she proposed to pass on to Switzerland, and ultimately to Florence, where they would, probably, winter. By a singular coincidence Tollington had traced out for himself, only on the preceding day, the very same route. "Their acquaintance would not end in Homburg, he was thus delighted to learn. And with this consolation for the loss of her bracelet-which she never expected to see againMrs. Thirlwell and Charlotte took leave of Arthur Tollington at the door of their hotel.

THE MEMOIRS OF MRS. LETITIA BOOTHBY.*

WE shall be paying the author of this book a high compliment when we affirm that it is only from the form in which the narrative is cast, and not from any other internal evidence, that we conclude the story to be a contemporary production. The keynote struck in the opening sentences is sustained with singular skill and effect throughout the whole volume. The costumes, the diction, the manners, the habits, the diversions of a hundred years ago are described with an accuracy and naturalness that make us pause, pen in hand, before positively committing to paper our conviction that Miss Boothby was born, not as she declares, in 1750, but in 1872. We are to consider these Memoirs, then, as a work of art. If the highest achievement of art be the concealment of art, Mr. Clark Russell is entitled to the praise of having done good work. It is simply impossible to read these Memoirs without losing all consciousness of present identity-of feeling your personality absorbed, so to speak, by the influence and interest of scenes which nothing but the minute and dexterous touches of a true artist could save from becoming as unreal to modern sympathies as a piece of stage scenery. We write fresh from the second perusal of this book: if our readers think our praise too strong, we can only refer them for our justification to the pages of the book itself. The story as compared with the manipulation has but a secondary value; yet it is deeply interesting. It is the confession of a piece of villany as cool and systematic, as naked and not ashamed, as any perpetrated by Barry Lyndon, or by that sublimer rascal of Smollett's wonderful novel. But it takes a larger significance as the vehicle of a series of pictures wherein our grandfathers and grandmothers are reflected with a sharpness of outline, with a truthfulness of colouring, of which it needed a good deal more, we will venture to say, than the study of the old novelists to inspire the execution. Lady Ringwood and Dolly Aston, that excellent rascal Mr. Boothby and his precious daughter Lætitia, the elegant, faithless libertine, Mr. Bracebridge, are all living, breathing beings. We see Dr. Aston in his bag-wig, his laced ruffles, his coat of paduasoy and black solitaire; Lady Ringwood (to our taste the best character in

*Memoirs of Mrs. Lætitia Boothby. Written by Herself. Edited by Clark Russell. London: Henry S. King and Co., 65, Cornhill, 1872.