Having

Louis, even at this dawn of youth' possessed a character for promptness and decision superior in some respects to that of men treble his age. formed his resolution, he directly went to his room, and selected a few articles of dress, which he compressed into a knapsack he had by him. He then entered the nursery to take a farewell kiss of Charles and the infant Julia; and, placing his small packet of clothes under his arm, he issued forth from the house. He congratulated himself that no one had perceived his departure, nor was he long under any apprehension on this score, for he knew himself to be out of reach when he attained the hill fronting the house, and here it was that he first stopped in order to gaze once more upon the mansion of his forefathers, and his place of birth.

"Farewell, sweet home!" exclaimed he, again nearly driven to tears: "I may never see thee more! yet why should I

desire it, if my parent spurns me from his arms? Let me seek a resting place elsewhere: if cruel fate has driven me from all I love, it may yet conduct me to honor and fame."

Having thus taken leave of the house, and indulged himself with a parting glance at several well known scenes, he manfully shouldered his knapsack, and with a stride ten times increased in firmness, was soon pursuing his journey through the village; but wither-he had not exactly decided: "the world is wide," thought he, "and I am young and strong, -allons ala guerre !"

Sir Andrew's astonishment exceeded all bounds when he learnt the news of his son's disappearance from the house. He at first concluded that Louis, having taken umbrage at the command to quit his home, had gone into the village to relate his griefs to those of its inhabitants who shared his confidence. The servant dispatched after him, to obtain

tidings of his proceedings, returned back, and reported that Louis was seen to pass through the place, apparently in some agitation of mind, and that he had taken a bundle with him. His room was accordingly searched, and several articles of dress were found missing. No doubt could be longer opposed to the fact of his having quitted the house with a full determination of not returning.

The Baronet now felt disposed to repent of his own conduct in expelling the boy from his love and confidence. He was somewhat touched by the consciousness that Louis had never once given him an offence "But then," thought Sir Andrew, "that accursed prediction : 'twould have made another parent act differently to myself. Whatever were the nature of his precise feelings in this instance, Sir Andrew felt it was imperiously necessary to make some enquiries respecting the unhappy boy. He accordingly offered rewards, and circulated

descriptions of the runaway; but for several days no satisfactory intelligence could be procured. At last, the waiter at an inn at Falmouth furnished a statement, certifying that a youth, answering to Louis' size and appearance, had stopped at the place for a night, but was taken away to London by a tall elderly gentleman, whose name he could not recollect.

This news satisfied Sir Andrew, who resolved to give himself no further trouble about the matter. He was satisfied that Louis had met with a protector, but who this friendly person might be, lied beyond his power of divination.

The

Baronet however determined to dismiss the affair from his mind, and attend to the welfare of his two remaining children.

Charles therefore was permitted his own way in every thing. He did what he liked, and uncontrolled master of his ctio ns, he evinced the usual want of

wisdom distinguishing those persons who are not obliged to exercise the faculty of thought. In fact, he was permitted to canter at his own pace upon the high road which the fondness of his misguided parent had cut out unintentionally for his ruin. But Charles however was not to be so easily misled. His heart was excellent; but his natural flow of animal spirits disposed him too much to the participation of the gaities of life; and he accordingly induced Sir Andrew to allow him a splendid income to fix his residence in London, where he constantly resided after, what he termed his happy release from scholastic studies. He never paid his father's mansion a visit, unless in the shooting season, for at all other times, he considered it a bore to reside in a house in company with two female relations, and an old moralizing governess. He preferred the pleasures of the Metropolis-'a drive by day, and a ball at night' was his motto, and he