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crept wearily home. The well-ground dust lay in confused heel-marks on the side-walk, a little dampened by the night-dew; the atmosphere in the street was clear, as it never is after the stir of day commences; a dandy, stealing out from Crockford's, crossed Piccadilly, lifting up his head to draw in long breaths of the cool air, after the closeness of over-lighted rooms and excitement; and Tremlet, marking none of these things, was making his way through a line of carriages slowly drawing up to take off their wearied masters from a prolonged fête at Devonshire-house, when a rude hand clapped him on the shoulder. "Monsieur Tremlet ?"

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Ah, Baron! bien bon jour !” "Bien rencontré Monsieur ! You have insulted a lady to-night, who has confided her cause to my hands. Madame St. Leger, sir, is without a natural protector, and you have taken advantage of her position to insult her -grossly, Mr. Tremlet! grossly!"

Tremlet looked at the Russian during this extraordinary address, and saw that he was evidently highly excited with wine. He drew him aside into Berkeley street, and in the calmest manner attempted to explain what was not very clear to himself. He had totally forgotten Mrs. St. Leger. The diplomate, through quite beyond himself with his excitement, had sufficient perception left to see the weak point of his statement, and infuriated with the placid manner in which he attempted to excuse himself, suddenly struck his glove into his face, and turned upon his heel. They had been observed by a policeman, and at the moment that Tremlet, recovering from his astonishment, sprang forward to resent the blow, the grey-coated guardian of the place laid his hand upon his collar and detained him till the baron had disappeared.

More than once on his way to the Albany, Tremlet surprised himself forgetting both the baron and his insult, and feeding his heart in delicious abandonment with the dreams of his new happiness. He reached his rooms and threw himself on the bed, forcing from his mind, with a strong effort, the presence of Lady Imogen, and trying to look calmly on the unpleasant cir

A quarrel

cumstance before him. which, the day before, he would have looked upon merely as an inconvenience, or which, under the insult of a blow, he would have eagerly sought, became now an almost insupportable evil. When he reflected on the subject of the dispute-a contention about a woman of doubtful reputation taking place in the same hour with a first avowal from the delicate and pure Lady Imogen-when he remembered the change in his fortunes, which he had as yet scarcely found time to realiseon the consequences to her who was so newly dear to him, and on all he might lose, now that life had become invaluable, his thoughts were almost too painful to bear. How seldom do men play with an equal stake in the game of taking life, and how strange it is that equality of weapons is the only comparison made necessary by the laws of honour!

Tremlet was not a man to be long undecided. He rose after an hour's reflection and wrote as follows:

"BARON,-Before taking the usual notice of the occurrence of this morning, I wish to rectify one or two points in which our position is false. I find myself, since last night, the accepted lover of Lady Imogen Ravengold, and the master of estates and title as a count of the Russian empire. Under the étourdissement of such sudden changes in feelings and fortune, perhaps my forgetfulness of the lady in whose cause you are so interested, admits of indulgence. At any rate, I am so newly in love with life, that I am willing to suppose for an hour that had you known these circumstances, you would have taken a different view of the offence in question. I shall remain at home till two, and it is in your power till then to make me the reparation necessary to my honour. Yours, &c.

TREMLET."

There was a bridal on the following Monday at St. George's Church, and the Russian secretary stood behind the bridegroom. Lady Ravelgold had never been seen so pale, but her face was clear of all painful feeling; and it was observed by one who knew her well, that her beauty had acquired, during the brief engagement of her daughter, a singular and undefinable

elevation. As the carriages with their white favours turned into Bond street, on their way back to Belgrave square, the cortège was checked by the press of vehicles, and the Russian, who accompanied Lady Ravelgold in her chariot, found himself opposite the open britschka of a lady, who fixed her glass full upon him without recognising a feature of his face.

"I am afraid you have affronted Mrs. St. Leger, baron!" said Lady Ravelgold.

"Or I should not have been here!" said the Russian; and as they drove up Piccadilly, he had just time between Bond street and Milton Crescent to tell her ladyship the foregone chapter of this story.

The trulian, on that day, was fed with wedding-cake, and the wound on Mr. Tremlet's lip was not cured by letting alone.

THE HAUNTED INN.

BY C. F. HOFFMAN.

My horse had cast a shoe, and stopping about sunset at a blacksmith's cabin, in one of the most savage passes of the Alleghanies, a smutty-faced, leathern-aproned fellow was soon engaged in putting his feet in order, to encounter the flinty roads of the mountains, when the operation was interrupted in the manner here related:

"Pardon me, sir," cried a middleaged traveller, riding up to the smithy and throwing himself from his horse, just as the shaggy-headed vulcan, having taken the heels of my nag in his lap, was proceeding to pare off the hoof, preparatory to fitting the shoe, which he had hammered into shape and thrown upon the black soil beside him: "Pardon me"-repeated the stranger, raising his broad-brimmed beaver from a head remarkable for what the phrenologists would call the uncommon development of "ideality," revealed by the short locks which parted over a pair of melancholy grey eyes-" matters of moment make it important for me to be a dozen miles hence before nightfall, and you will

place me, sir, under singular obligations, by allowing this good fellow to attend to my lame beast instantly."

The confident, and not ungraceful manner, in which the stranger threw himself upon my courtesy, sufficiently marked him as a man of breeding, and I, of course, complied at once with his request, by giving the necessary order to the blacksmith. His horse was soon put in travelling trim, and leaping actively into the saddle, he regained the highway at a bound; checking his course then a moment, he turned in his stirrups to thank me for the slight service I had rendered him, and giving an address, which I have now forgotten, he added that if ever I should enter -'s valley, I might

be sure of a cordial welcome from the proprietor.

An hour afterward, I was pursuing the same road, rapidly approaching the end of my day's journey. The immediate district through which I was travelling, had been settled by Germans, in the early days of Pennsylvania-a scattered community that had been thrown somewhat in advance of the more slowly-extended settlements. In populousness and fertility it did not compare with the regions on the eastern side of the mountains ; but the immense stone barns, which, though few and far between, occasionally met the eye, not less than the language spoken around me, indicated that the inhabitants were of the same origin with the ignorant but industrious denizens of the lower country. One of these stone buildings, an enormous and ungainly edifice, stood upon a hill immediately back of the Wolfswald hotel-a miserable wooden hovel where I was to pass the night— and while descending the hill in the rear of the village, I had leisure to observe that it presented a somewhat different appearance from the other agricultural establishments of the kind which I had met with during the day. The massive walls were pierced here and there with narrow windows, which looked like loopholes, and a clumsy chimney had been fitted up by some unskilful mechanic, against one of the gables, with a prodigality of materials which made its jagged top show like some old turret, in the growing twi

light. The history of this grotesque mansion, as I subsequently learned it, was that of a hundred others scattered over our country, and known generally in the neighbourhood as " Smith's,"

Or "

Thompson's Folly." It had been commenced upon an ambitious scale, by a person whose means were inadequate to its completion, and had been sacrificed at a public sale when half finished, in order to liquidate the claim of the mechanics employed upon it, After that, it had been used as a granary for awhile, and subsequently, being rudely completed without any reference to the original plan, it had been occupied as a hotel for a few years. The ruinous inn had, however, for a long period been abandoned, and now enjoyed the general reputation in the neighbourhood of being haunted; for ghosts and goblins are always sure to take a big house off a landlord's hands, when he can get no other tenant.

"We havt no room pfor mynheer," said mine host, Peter Semidtson, laying his hand on my bridle, as I rode up to the door of a cabaret near this old building; while three or four waggoners, smoking their pipes upon a bench in front of the house, gave a grunt of confirmation to the frank avowal of Peter. I was too old a stager, however, to be so summarily turned away from an inn at such an hour; and throwing myself from my horse without further parley, I told the landlord to get me some supper, and we would talk about lodging afterward.

It matters not how I got through the evening until the hour of bed-time arrived. I had soon ascertained that every bed in the hostelrie was really taken up, and that unless I chose to share his straw with one of the waggoners, who are accustomed to sleep in their lumbering vehicles, there was no resource for me, except to occupy the lonely building, which had first caught my eye upon entering the hamlet. Upon inquiring as to the accommodation it afforded, I learned that, though long deserted by any permanent occupants, it was still occasionally, notwithstanding its evil reputation, resorted to by the passing traveller, and that one or two of the rooms were yet

in good repair and partially furnished. The good woman of the house, however, looked very portentous, when I expressed my determination to take up my abode for the night, in the haunted ruin-though she tried, ineffectually, to rouse her sleeping husband to guide me thither. Mine host had been luxuriating too freely in some old Monongahela, brought by a return waggon from Wheeling, to heed the jogging of his spouse, and I was obliged to act as my own gentlemanusher.

The night was dark and gusty, as with my saddle-bags in one hand, and a stable-lantern in the other, I sallied from the door of the cabaret, and struggled up the broken hill in its rear, to gain my uninviting place of rest. A rude porch, which seemed to have been long unconscious of a door, admitted me into the building, and tracking my way with some difficulty through a long corridor, of which the floor appeared to have been ripped open here and there, in order to apply the boards to some other purpose, I came to a steep and narrow staircase without any balusters. Cautiously ascending, I found myself in a large hall, which opened on the hill-side, against which the house was built. It appeared to be lighted by a couple of windows only, which were partially glazed in some places, and closed up in others by rough boards, nailed across in lieu of shutters. It had evidently, however, judging from two or three ruinous pieces of furniture, been inhabited. A heavy door, whose oaken latch and hinges, being incapable of rust, were still in good repair, admitted me into an adjoining chamber. This had evidently been the dormitory of the establishment, where the guests, after the gregarious and most disagreeable fashion of our country, were wont to be huddled together in one large room. The waning moon, whose bright autumnal crescent was just beginning to cast above the hills, shone through a high circular window, full into this apartment, and indicated a comfortable looking truckle bed at the further end, before the rays of my miserable lantern had shot beyond the threshold.

Upon approaching the pallet, I

observed some indications of that end of the apartment being still, occasionally, occupied. The heavy beams which traversed the ceiling, appeared to have been recently white-washed. There was a small piece of carpet on the floor beside the bed, and a decrepit table, and an arm-chair whose burly body was precariously supported upon three legs, were holding an innocent tête-à-tête in the corner adjacent.

I've had a rougher roosting-place than this, thought I, as I placed my lantern upon the table, and depositing my saddle-bags beneath it, began to prepare myself for rest.

My light having now burnt low, I was compelled to expedite the operation of undressing, which prevented me from examining the rest of the apartment; and indeed, although I had, when first welcoming with some pleasure the idea of sleeping in a haunted house, determined fully to explore it for my own satisfaction, before retiring for the night, yet fatigue or caprice made me now readily abandon the intention, just when my means for carrying it into execution were being withdrawn; for the candle expired while I was opening the door of the lantern, to throw its light more fully upon a mass of drapery, which seemed to be suspended across the further end of the chamber. The complete darkness that momentarily ensued, blinded me completely; but in the course of a few moments the shadows became more distinct, and gradually, by the light of the moon, I was able to make out that the object opposite to me, was only a large oldfashioned bedstead, prodigally hung with tattered curtains. I gave no farther thought to the subject, but turning over, composed myself to rest.

Sleep, however, whom Shakspeare alone has had the sense to personify as a woman, was coy in coming to my couch. The old mansion wheezed and groaned, like a broken-winded buffalo hard pressed by the hunter. The wind, which had been high, became soon more boisterous than ever, and the clouds huddled so rapidly over the face of the moon, that her beams were as broken as the crevices of the ruined building through which they fell. A sudden gust would every now and

then sweep through the long corridor below, and make the ricketty staircase crack, as if it yielded to the feet of some portly passenger-again, the blast would die away in a sullen moan, as if baffled on some wild night-errand, while anon, it would swell in monotonous surges, which came booming upon the ear like the roar of a distant

ocean.

I am not easily discomposed, and perhaps none of these uncouth sounds would have given annoyance, if the clanging of a window shutter had not been added to the general chorus, and effectually kept me from sleeping. My nerves were at last becoming sensibly affectedby its ceaseless din, and wishing to cut short the fit of restlessness which I found stealing upon me, I determined to rise and descend the stairs at the risk of my neck, to try and secure the shutter so as to put an end to the nuisance.

But now, as I rose in my bed for this purpose, I found myself subjected to a new source of annoyance. The mocking wind, which had appeared to me more than once to syllable human sounds, came at length upon my ear distinctly charged with tones which could not be mistaken. It was the hard suppressed breathing of a man. I listened, and it ceased with a slight gasp, like that of one labouring under suffocation. I listened still, and it came anew-stronger and more fully upon my ear. It was like the thick suspirations of an apoplectic. Whence it proceeded, I knew not.-But that it was near me, I was certain. A suspicion of robbery-possibly, assassination-flashed upon me; but were instantly discarded, as foreign to the character of the people among whom I was travelling.

The moonlight now fell full upon the curtained bed opposite to me, and I saw the tattered drapery move, as if the frame upon which it was suspended, were agitated. I watched, I confess, with some peculiar feelings of interest. I was not alarmed, but an unaccountable anxiety crept over me. At length the curtain parted, and a naked human leg was protruded through its foldsthe foot came with a numb, dead-like sound to the floor-resting there, it seemed to me at least half a minute

before the body to which it belonged was disclosed to my view. Slowly, then, a pallid and unearthly-looking figure emerged from the couch, and stood with its stark lineaments clearly drawn against the dingy curtain behind it. It appeared to be balancing itself for a moment, and then began to move along from the bed. But there was something horribly unnatural in its motions. Its feet came to the floor with a dull, heavy sound, as if there were no vitality in them.. Its arms hung, apparently, paralised by its side, and the only nerve or rigidity in its frame appeared about its head; the hair, which was thin and scattered, stood out in rigid tufts from its brow, the eyes were dilated and fixed with an expression of ghastly horror, and the petrified lips moved not, as the hideous moaning, which came from the bottom of its chest, escaped them.

capability of moving its feet, and uttering those unearthly expressions of suffering. The spectre, however, if so it may be called, gave me but little opportunity for reflection. Its ghastly limbs were raised anew with the same automaton movement; and placing one of its feet upon the bottom of my bed, while its glassy eyes were fixed steadfastly upon me, it began stalking towards my pillow.

I confess that I was now in an agony of terror.

It

I sprang from the couch and fled the apartment. The keen-sightedness of fear enabled me to discover an open closet upon the other side of the hall. Springing through the threshold, I closed the door quickly after me. had neither lock nor bolt, but the closet was so narrow, that by placing my feet upon the opposite wall, I could brace my back against the door so as to hold it against any human assailant, who had only his arms for a lever.

The perspiration of mortal fear started thick upon my forehead as I heard the supernatural tread of that strange visitant approaching the spot. It seemed an age before his measured steps brought him to the door. He struck it-the blow was sullen and hollow, as if dealt by the hand of a corpse.-It was like the dull sound of his own feet upon the floor. He struck the door again—and the blow was more feeble, and the sound duller than before. Surely, I thought, the hand of no living man could produce such a sound.

It began to move across the floor in the direction of my bed, its knees at every step being drawn up with a sudden jerk nearly to its body, and its feet coming to the ground as if they were moved by some mechanical impulse, and were wholly wanting in the elasticity of living members. It approached my bed—and mingled horror and curiosity kept me still. It came and stood beside it, and child-like I still clung to my couch, moving only to the farther side. Slowly, and with the same unnatural foot-falls it pursued me thither, and again I changed my position. It placed itself then at the foot of my bedstead, and moved by its piteous groans, I tried to look calmly at it-I endeavoured to rally my thoughts-to reason with myself, and even to speculate upon the nature of the object before me. One idea that went through my brain was too extravagant not to remember. I thought, among other things, that the phantom was a corpse, animated for the moment by some galvanic process, in order to terrify me. Then, as I recollected that there was no one in The long, long night had at last an the village to carry such a trick into end, and the cheering sounds of the effect-supposing even the experiment awakening farm-yard, told me that the possible I rejected the supposition. sun was up, and that I might venture How, too, could those awful moans be from my blind retreat. But if it were produced from an inanimate being? still with a slight feeling of trepidation And yet, it seemed as if everything that I opened the door of the closet, about it were dead, except the mere what was my horror when a human

I know not whether it struck again for now its thick breathing became so loud, that even the moanings which were mingled with every suspiration became inaudible. At last, they subsided entirely, becoming at first gradually weaker, and then audible only in harsh sudden sobs, whose duration I could not estimate, from their mingling with the blast which still swept the hill-side.

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