his fathers
did before him--the lord of Lexley Hall!"

"I don't wonder!" said I, with the dawning sentiments of a landed
proprietor--"'Tis a splendid old house, even in its present state of
degradation; and, by Jove! I honour his pertinacity."

Thus put upon the scent, I sometimes fancied I could detect wistful
looks on the part of my prosperous neighbour of the Park, when, in the
course of Dr Whittingham's somewhat lengthy sermons, he directed his
eyes towards the carved old Gothic tribune, containing the family-pew
of the Althams, in the parish church; and, whenever I happened to
encounter him in the neighbourhood of the Hall, his face was so
pointedly averted from the house, as if the mere object were an
offence. I could not but wonder at his vexation; being satisfied in my
own mind, that sooner or later the remaining heritage of the
spendthrift must fall to his share.

Judge, therefore, of my surprise, when one fine morning, as I
sauntered into the village, I found the whole population gathered in
groups on the little market-place, and discovered from the incoherent
exclamations of the crowd, that "the new proprietor of the Hall had
just driven through in a chaise-and-four!"

Yes--"the new proprietor!" The place was sold! The good doctor's
prediction was verified. Sir Laurence was never more to return to
Lexley Hall!

The satisfaction of the villagers almost equalled their surprise on
finding that General Stanley was their new landlord. It suited them
much better that there should be two families settled on the property
than one; and as it was pretty generally reported, that, in the event
of Sparks becoming the purchaser, he intended to demolish the old
house, and reconsolidate the estate around his own more commodious
mansion, they were right glad to find it rescued from such a
sentence--General Stanley, who was the father of a family, would
probably settle the hall on one of his daughters, after placing it in
the state of repair so much needed.

When the chaise-and-four returned, therefore, a few hours afterwards,
through the village, the General was loudly cheered by his subjects.
His partiality for the place was so well known at Lexley, that already
these people seemed to behold in him the guardian of a monument so
long the object of their pride.

For my own part, nothing surprised me so much in the business as that
Sparks should have allowed the purchase to slip through his fingers.
It was worth thric