the smiles of his wife, and the endearments of his infant boy, were daggers to his heart. Yet but a few months were passed, since he was the happiest of the happy; possessed of wealth; with an unspotted reputation and untainted principles; a disposition noble and benevolent, and a temper uniformly cheerful. Sorrow never reached him, but in the contemplation of his fellow-creatures' sufferings, which he ever relieved to the full extent of his power. Could it be supposed there existed a wretch so vile, as to destroy, with cool and deliberate villany, the domestic peace of a character so worthy? Yet such a villain did exist, and was the remorseless agent of Beverley's destruction.

Mr. Stukely, a man of fortune and family, had loved Mrs. Beverley before her marriage; but being reserved and distant, he spoke not of his regard: while Beverley, open and manly, avowed his love, and obtained her hand; an offence which Stukely secretly swore never to forgive. Envy and jealousy took possession of his soul, and were followed by fiercer and more deadly passions. Hatred spurred him on to vengeance; but he concealed all these feelings beneath a mask of hypocrisy. He professed the most ardent friendship for the unsuspecting Beverley; who too easily fell a victim to his arts. The vengeance he meditated was of great extent; nothing less could appease his resentment than the destruction of Beverley, and the seduction of his lovely and amiable wife.

For this purpose he associated himself with a band of unprincipled men, who, by various arts, lured his victim to the gaming table; where night after night he lost considerable sums. Already was he on the brink of ruin his house, furniture, and equipage had been brought to the hammer; and, immured in private lodgings, his uncomplaining wife used her utmost efforts to reconcile his sister to this

sad change of fortune. But Charlotte beheld her brother's imprudence with indignation; and could scarcely be prevailed upon to restrain her resentment. She was engaged to an amiable young man named Lewson; but their intended marriage had been postponed from time to time, on account of Beverley's embarrassments. The kind and affectionate Charlotte could not endure the idea of a selfish attention to her own happiness, while her beloved sister was miserable: besides, she wished to retain her fortune in her own power, in order to preserve her sister and infant nephew from poverty, should her brother's infatuation rush onwards to irretrievable ruin; an event, there was too much reason to dread.

Lewson, in the meantime, was urgent with her to accept his hand; so that he might have a brother's right to interfere in Mr. Beverley's affairs, and rescue him from the power of a villain: for his suspicions of Stukely were deep, and well founded. He easily succeeded in impressing upon the mind of Charlotte his own convictions of Stukely's treachery; but with Mr. and Mrs. Beverley, the task was difficult. As the serpent coils round the unresisting form of his victim, so had this insidious monster wound round the heart of Beverley; and such was his unbounded confidence, that he thought it would be sinning against Heaven, to admit even a doubt of his friend's truth. Mrs. Beverley, whose pure heart scarcely admitted the possibility of human depravity, was little likely to differ in opinion from the beloved of her soul. She blamed Stukely as the cause of Beverley's love of play, it is true; but then she only blamed him for that delusion which, while it had drawn misery upon his friend, had been equally fatal, as she supposed, to his own fortune and happiness.

Charlotte took an opportunity, in the absence of

her sister, and angrily demanded from her brother the fortune which had been placed in his hands, He resented her suspicions and evaded her demand, telling her that when their tempers were milder, they would speak further on the subject. She reproached him with bitterness for his folly, and cruelty to his wife and child; but Beverley, whose own heart was galled with a full sense of his hateful conduct, entreated her to spare him. Charlotte, how

ever, hoping to rouse his pride by the keenness of her taunts, would not desist-" If (she exclaimed), if the misery were all your own, it would matter little; but innocence must suffer-unthinking rioter! whose home was heaven to him! an angel dwelt there, and a little cherub, that crowned his days with blessings!-How has he lost this heaven, to league with devils!"

Forbear, I say (replied he, impetuously), if you are my sister, spare the remembrance; it wounds too deeply. Reproaches come too late; they search, but cure not."

The entrance of Mrs. Beverley with Lewson, put an end to this painful altercation. She welcomed

her truant husband with her accustomed sweetness; and soothed the growing anger between him and Lewson, who spoke his sentiments of Stukely with unrestrained freedom. He had known him at school and, as a boy, he was cunning, plodding, sordid, cruel, and artful. Was it then likely, a boy o wicked, should prove a virtuous man? Impossible? He therefore entreated his friend to be warned in time; but Beverley, mistaking the good intentions of Lewson for impertinent interference in his affairs, disdained all his caution, listened to his assertions with fretful impatience, and, but for the mild interference of Mrs. Beverley, in a moment of impetuosity, he might have forgot, both what was due to his own character as a gentleman, and to Lewson as a friend.

Stukely's plans, though deeply laid, yet could not have imposed upon a' mind less open and generous than Beverley's. Ever on the alarm, the villain had already seen much danger in the suspicions of Lewson, which the latter had declared both to Beverley and himself, in a manner too unequivocal to be misunderstood: it was necessary then that he should be silenced; and for this purpose he resolved to irritate Beverley's mind, by informing him that Lewson made free with his reputation, and talked loudly of his having embezzled Charlotte's fortune; hoping by this means to engage them in a duel, which might perhaps rid him of them both at once, and leave Mrs. Beverley free to his future advances. His frequent hints, respecting the faith of her husband, had produced some effect upon her mind already; and, if he could succeed in arousing her to absolute jealousy, there was hope, that she, in revenge for the imagined perfidy of her husband, might fly into his arms for protection.

In order to give a colour to his accusations, he had previously prevailed upon Beverley to obtain

nis wife's jewels, on the plea of enabling him to quit England for ever: artfully impressing upon Beverley's mind, that the various sums he had lent him, together with what he had lost at play, had so impoverished his means, that he had no hope of safety but in flight. On the representation of Stukely's distress, Mrs. Beverley had given up her jewels, which were soon lost; and Beverley, in indignation at repeated instances of evil fortune, and urged on by a sort of madness and despair, had, when the jewels were gone, continued to play upon credit; but how to redeem his lost honour, by discharging the debts thus rashly contracted, bewildered his heated imagination.

Inflamed with rage he seized Stukely by the col lar, swearing that "if he did not point out some

means of saving him from the shame which sur rounded him, he would commit a murder, first on him, and next upon himself." To which Stukely coolly replied, "Why, do it then, and rid me of ingratitude." Poor Beverley, shocked at his ow violence, entreated pardon; told him he knew not what he said; and that rage and despair were in his