argument;" you know not of what you talk; these are not matters for a woman's handling, least of all for one who is still among the unregenerate; nor did I come here to moot points of divinity. It has been my pleasure heretofore to find in Catherine, Countess of Dorchester, a witty and vivacious friend, whose cheerful converse might gladden me when I sought relaxation from the heavy cares of royalty; but if she is to be occasionally metamorphosed into a bold and irreverent monitress, a disaffected politician, and a contentious polemic, it were better I should withdraw from her company, and not return to her till she is restored to herself."

"I am myself now, Sire; now when I throw off my folly and my levity, and have the courage to give you this solemn and unceremonious warning. Nero might play the fiddle when Rome was burning, but Catherine Sedley cannot and will not play the fool when King James is about to throw his country into convulsion, and to peril his own crown. God knows that I have paid dearly for the honour of being your

mistress; I have found poor solace in the title with which you graced me, and which only alienated me from my father, while it could not hush the whispers of my conscience; but oh! if your Majesty would indeed allow me to become your friend, if I might persuade you to listen to the wishes of the nation, to discard your evil counsellors, to pause in your perilous

"Silence, Madam! What ! am I to be schooled and catechised by a woman? You have forgotten both yourself and me, and I should commit the same error were I to listen any more to this audacious railing. night to you, Madam."

Good

Exasperated as he was, the King did not omit his habitual courtesy, making a low bow as he quitted the apartment; while the Countess ejaculated, with a concluding touch of satire "There is no help for him, there is no hope for hin, unless we confide in the 116th Psalm, which tells us that- The Lord preserveth the simple.""

CHAPTER VII.

O Heavens !

Why does my blood thus muster to my heart,
Making both it unable for itself,

And dispossessing all my other parts

Of necessary fitness?

SHAKSPEARE.

WHILE these events were occurring in London, the inmates of Hales Court were unremitting in their attentions to the stranger, who, in consequence of his accident in Goathurst-wood, had been so unexpectedly thrown upon their hospitality and protection. The result of Mr. Shelton's consultation with Father Bartholomew was a determination not to call in another professional man to supply the place of the surgeon whose fears had made him decline a continuance

of his visits. If there were ground for these misgivings, and every fresh observation seemed to confirm their justice, it would be perilous for all parties to extend the circle of their confidents; it might endanger the liberty, perhaps the life of the patient, without adequately advantaging his health; for the priest, with the instructions he had received, flattered himself that he was competent to effect his cure, notwithstanding the surgeon's sinister prediction, that the fever which had manifested itself was likely to fall upon the brain. Appearances at first did not seem to warrant this apprehension, all immediate danger having been obviated by the excessive bleeding to which the invalid had been subjected, but which, while it had probably been the means of preserving his mental faculties, had so completely exhausted and enervated his body, that some time threatened to elapse before he would be in a condition to leave the house. Although he could not deny his debility, and his utter inaptitude for travelling, he testified the utmost impatience to be

gone, endeavouring to conceal the prostration of his strength, and earnestly imploring that he might be sent away in any easy vehicle that could be procured, or even in a litter, if he were deemed unable to support the motion of a carriage. He intimated that money was no object to him whatever; that he should wish to be moved at night to avoid observation, and conveyed towards the coast, requesting at the same time that the domestics of Hales Court, and the peasants who were instrumental in bringing him thither, a service for which they should be well rewarded, might be enjoined to observe a strict secrecy upon the subject.

"Whatever may be your motives for this concealment," said Mr. Shelton, "I believe them to be honourable ones; I shall exact no confidence that you may not feel spontaneously disposed to offer, and which indeed it may be better for all parties that you should withhold ; but in common humanity I cannot suffer you to depart while you are thus deplorably helpless, and afflicted moreover with a fever which