mself into the chair which he proposed as his place of repose for the
night.

"If, in reality," such were the calmer thoughts that followed the first
tempest of his passion--"if, in reality, this man desires no more than
the law allows him--if he is willing to adjust even his acknowledged
rights upon an equitable footing, what could be my father's cause of
complaint?--what is mine? Those from who we won our ancient possessions
fell under the sword of my ancestors, and left lands and livings to the
conquerors; we sink under the force of the law, now too powerful for the
Scottish cavalry. Let us parley with the victors of the day, as if we
had been besieged in our fortress, and without hope of relief. This
man may be other than I have thought him; and his daughter--but I have
resolved not to think of her."

He wrapt his cloak around him, fell asleep, and dreamed of Lucy Ashton
till daylight gleamed through the lattices.

CHAPTER XV.

We worldly men, when we see friends and kinsmen
Past hope sunk in their fortunes, lend no hand
To lift them up, but rather set our feet
Upon their heads to press them to the bottom,
As I must yield with you I practised it;
But now I see you in a way to rise,
I can and will assist you.

New Way to Pay Old Debts.

THE Lord Keeper carried with him, to a couch harder than he was
accustomed to stretch himself upon, the same ambitious thoughts and
political perplexities which drive sleep from the softest down that ever
spread a bed of state. He had sailed long enough amid the contending
tides and currents of the time to be sensible of their peril, and of
the necessity of trimming his vessel to the prevailing wind, if he would
have her escape shipwreck in the storm. The nature of his talents, and
the timorousness of disposition connected with them, had made him assume
the pliability of the versatile old Earl of Northampton, who explained
the art by which he kept his ground during all the changes of state,
from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of Elizabeth, by the frank avowal,
that he was born of the willow, not of the oak. It had accordingly been
Sir William Ashton's policy, on all occasions, to watch the changes
in the political horizon, and, ere yet the conflict was decided, to
negotiate some interest for himself with the party most likely to prove
victorious. His time-serving disposition was well-known, and excited the
contempt of the more d