s became more firmly united. Dr.
Beaumont, assured that his sister knew the circumstances of her lover,
though neither chose to intrust them, to him, confided implicitly in her
discretion and his honour. As a man, there was little to blame and much
to revere in the character of Evellin. He was open, impetuous, brave,
generous, and placable, with a noble simplicity of soul, untainted by
the mean alloy of selfishness. He was a Christian too. In Dr. Beaumont's
eye, that was an indispensable requisite. Yet more, he steadily adhered
to the established church with enlightened affection; and in an age when
the Puritans grew more open and confident in their attempts to overthrow
it, love for the most venerable support of the protestant cause was a
sacred bond of union. Sometimes a deep feeling of his wrongs induced
Evellin to inveigh against courts and kings with great animosity; but
this was the ebullition of a warm temper, not the cold enmity of a
corroded heart. Immovable to harsh reproof, he was pliant as the bending
ozier to persuasive kindness. Looking at the qualities of the man,
rather than the accidents of his situation, Dr. Beaumont felt proud in
thinking that his Isabel deserved the conquest she had gained.

Evellin deferred his marriage till some event should happen which must
hasten the crisis of his fate. The same dispatch which brought
intelligence of the death of his elder brother, announced the fall of
his adversary by the hand of Felton. Concealment could now no longer be
deemed wisdom; he determined to burst from obscurity, lay claim to his
honours, and require to be relieved from a long pending accusation
contrived by malice and believed by credulity. But could he quit the
banks of the Ribble, leaving his Isabel to suffer the pangs of suspense,
and to pine under those limes and alders that had sheltered him from
persecution? Her behaviour told him she would conduct herself with
propriety in every situation. Her society had been his chief consolation
in sorrow, and he saw that her fortitude would support him in the hour
of trial, her wisdom guide him in difficulty, and her participation give
the fairest colouring to success. Whether he sat in the senate as a
peer, or stood at the bar as a criminal, Isabel should be his wedded
associate. What pleasure would he feel in presenting to his vain and
beautiful sister, the lily he had gathered and placed in his bosom,
while he lay concealed in the woodlands! Or, when