y evening. Faithful visions of the unappeasable
wrath of the proud Lord Railton flickered before her eyes, and pierced
her very soul.

The next advowson was no advowson at all, as far as she was concerned,
and her hope and offspring were alike cut off by the terrible and
irrevocable act of the morning. I found the lady in tears.

"This is a shocking business, madam!" I began.

It was the signal for a flood.

"When did you arrive?" she sobbed.

"An hour since."

"And you have heard of it?"

"Of the elope"----

"Oh, don't, don't, don't speak of it!" shrieked the lady. "It turns me
sick. He has married a beggar--the daughter of an impostor and a
swindler."

"Can it be true?"

"Oh, you have been very dilatory and foolish, Mr Wilson," suddenly
exclaimed Mrs Twisleton in a clear sharp tone, which had nothing of the
softness of tears about it. "Had I been a man, I would have saved my
friend from certain infamy. Mr Wilson, I gave you full warning--ample
time. You cannot deny it."

I sighed.

"And now you have come to Bath again, what do you mean to do?"

I thought for a second or two, and then sighed again.

"Take my advice, sir; it's a woman's, but not the worse for that. If you
stay here till doomsday, you can't alter what is unalterable. The fool's
married by this time. The general has broken up his establishment and
has decamped!"

"Impossible!"

"That may be, but what I tell you is the truth, nevertheless. The mail
leaves Bath at eleven o'clock. Return by it to London. See Lord Railton
as soon as you arrive. Make the best you can of this wretched business,
and prepare him to meet his son without a curse. You need not tell him
all you know about the general. He will find that out quickly enough;
nor need you mention my insignificant name at all. The old man has
feeling left in him; and the mother doats upon her namby-pamby boy.
Obtain their pardon for your friend, and you will do that friend a
service which he will never forget, and can never sufficiently repay."

I reflected for a moment; the advice seemed sound. I determined to adopt
it. Bewildered and vexed, I quitted the lady's house, and walked
mechanically about the town, from street to street. An hour or two were
yet at my disposal--heavy, irritating hours, converted into ages by my
impatience and anxiety. Chance or fate conducted me to the abode of
General Travis. I stopped before the door, as purposeless as I had just
approached it. To curse