`That and all,' replied the master; and the things were cleared away.

Mr. Huntingdon then went up stairs. I did not attempt to follow him, but remained seated in the arm- chair, speechless, tearless, and almost motionless, till he returned about half an hour after, and walking up to me, held the candle in my face and peered into my eyes with looks and laughter too insulting to be borne. With a sudden stroke of my hand, I dashed the candle to the floor.

`Hal-lo!' muttered he, starting back.-- `She's the very devil for spite! Did ever any mortal see such eyes?-- They shine in the dark like a cat's. Oh, you're a sweet one!' So saying, he gathered up the candle and the candlestick. The former being broken as well as extinguished, he rang for another.

`Benson, your mistress has broken the candle: bring another.'

`You expose yourself finely,' observed I as the man departed.

`I didn't say I'd broken it, did I?' returned he. He then threw my keys into my lap, saying,-- `There! you'll find nothing gone but your money, and the jewels--and a few little trifles I thought it advisable to take into my own possession, lest your mercantile spirit should be tempted to turn them into gold. I've left you a few sovereigns in your purse, which I expect to last you through the month--at all events, when you want more you will be so good as to give me an account of how that's spent. I shall put you upon a small monthly allowance, in future, for your own private expenses; and you needn't trouble yourself any more about my concerns; I shall look out for a steward, my dear; I won't expose you to the temptation. And as for the household matters, Mrs. Greaves must be very particular in keeping her accounts: we must go upon an entirely new plan--

`What great discovery have you made now, Mr. Huntingdon? Have I attempted to defraud you?'

`Not in money matters, exactly, it seems, but it's best to keep out of the way of temptation.'

Here Benson entered with the candles, and there followed a brief interval of silence--I sitting still in my chair, and he standing with his back to the fire, silently triumphing in my despair.

`And so,' said he at length, `you thought to disgrace me, did you, by running away and turning artist, and supporting yourself by the labour of your hands, forsooth? And you thought to rob me of my son too, and bring him up to be a dirty Yankee tradesman, or a low, beggarly painter?'

`Yes, to obviate his becoming such a gentleman as his father.'

`It's well you couldn't keep your own secret--ha, ha! It's well these women must be blabbing--if they haven't a friend to talk to, they must whisper their secrets to the fishes, or write them on the sand or something; and it's well too I wasn't over full to-night, now I think of it, or I might have snoosed away and never dreamt of looking what my sweet lady was about--or I might have lacked the sense or the power to carry my point like a man, as I have done.'

Leaving him to his self-congratulations, I rose to secure my manuscript, for I now remembered it had been left upon the drawing-room table, and I determined, if possible, to save myself the humiliation of seeing it in his hands again. I could not bear the idea of his amusing himself over my secret thoughts and recollections; though, to be sure, he would find little good of himself therein indited, except in the former part--and oh, I would sooner burn it all than he should read what I had written when I was such a fool as to love him!

`And by the by,' cried he as I was leaving the room, `you'd better tell that d--d old sneak of a nurse to keep out of my way for a day or two--I'd pay her her wages and send her packing to-morrow, but I know she'd do more mischief out of the house than in it.'


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