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Monlhlij Review of Literature, 



[^JulV, 



arrival of a French governess, who is to oc- 

 cupy the family mansion, and take charge 

 of liis dauglitcrs, and bring them up in tlie 

 love of jacobini>-ai. This, of cour.sc, occa- 

 sions great consternation ; but resistance is 

 impracticable ; and the governess, to their 

 sur]jrise and comfort at first, proves tlie very 

 personification of all that is charming, ele- 

 gant, and conciliating ; but she is accom- 

 panied by a very mysterious sort of an abi- 

 gail, who creates a great deal of wonder- 

 ment and speculation among principals and 

 servants. Rybrent rides over every dr.y, and 

 keeps a sharp look-out, and receives the re- 

 ports of the young ladies on the daily occiu-- 

 rences. Madame loses no time in her at- 

 tempts to establish a " corresponding so- 

 ciety" among the countiy gentlemen, but 

 meets with little success. Her charms are 

 more attractive than her principles ; and ba- 

 dinage, more than politics, forms the staple 

 of conversation among the few neighliours 

 who venture to visit. Soon circumstances 

 of a suspicious cast occur — strange persons 

 are seen about the grounds — odd sorts of 

 gipsies appear in the neigh.bourhocd — and 

 the governess, and Jaqueline, her queer- 

 looking attendant, are eternally together — 

 &c. By-and-by, a young man of fortune in 

 the neiglibourhood, some years older than 

 Rybrent, becomes very assiduous in his at- 

 tendance, ostensibly, on the young ladies, 

 particularly the elder ; but soon, also, a 

 more than common understanding appears 

 to exist between him and iMadame, and even 

 Jaqueline. R3brent he affects to treat as a 

 boy ; but, taunting him with riding a pony, 

 as being saf;r, he is challenged by that ma- 

 ture and fiery youth to ride against him, 

 on any horse he pleases. Claveiham ac- 

 cepts the cliallengc, and treacherously fur- 

 nishes Rybrent with a rearing horse ; but 

 Rybrent subdues tlie restive animal, and 

 rides the race ; and Claverham, in a despe- 

 rate effort to recover lost groiuid, is flung, 

 and seriously injured. The accident esta- 

 blisiies him in the house ; .and if he had 

 stratagems in view upon one or both the 

 young ladies, this gives him a decided ad- 

 vnntagc. Rybrent, the )'Oung ladies them- 

 selves, the servants, r.re all full of unde- 

 fined fears ; and, just at this moment, 

 Rybrent is summoned to India, by the 

 news of his mother's illness, and obhged to 

 leave his young friends in their apparently 

 perilous and certainly unprotected condition. 

 Rybrent's aunt, too, dies at this time, and 

 the tutor is the only person who takes an 

 interest in their concerns — he engages to 

 watch over their secmity — but proves very 

 inefficient. 



Claverham, according to the reports of 

 the senants, is constantly attended in his 

 chamber by Madame and .Jaqueline ; and 

 the young ladies, from a sense of the utter 

 impropriety of such proceedings, urge his 

 immediate dismissal, on the supposition also 

 of his being sufficiently recovered to bear 

 removing. He refuses to go without being 



allowed personally to take leave of them ; 

 and on presenting himself, su])ported by the 

 governess and Jaqueline, he is, to all ap- 

 pearances, niucli too feeble to leave the 

 house. Agatha had before seemed to be 

 the main object of attraction, but noiv all 

 his discourse and attcntionis are diverted to 

 Clarina, the younger ; and all his blackest 

 villainy begins to peep forth. Though 

 wealthy, he has an eye to the property, to 

 which the girls apparently will succeed, in 

 equal shares. He resolves to have the 

 whole ; and as he cannot marry both, to 

 get rid of one. Admiring the elder, and 

 not disliked by her, he yet chooses th.e 

 younger, mainly because he sliaU thus sup. 

 plant Master Rybrent, whom he detests, 

 and whose attachment to her was well 

 known. Agents for mischief are always at 

 hand, and he had prime ones at command. 

 The father of the young ladies had sent 

 over two or three sans-cidotles, to aid INIa- 

 dame in planting the tree of liberty ; and 

 these delectable persons had of course as 

 greedy an appetite for blood and money, as 

 for revolutionizing. Th.ey enter at once, 

 con amove, into his views, and Jaqueline is 

 constituted chief manager of the arrange- 

 ments. All is now ready, Jaqueline pre- 

 sents herself to Agatha, and mysteriously 

 soliciting an interview on a matter of litis 

 and death, conducts her to the remoter 

 parts of the grounds, and insensibly draw- 

 ing her farther and farther from the house, 

 suddenly betrays her into the hands of a 

 ferocious-looking Frenchman, and a woman 

 of the genuine poissurde cut, who hurry her 

 forthwith into a wattled hut. Jlore sur- 

 prising still, in a few minutes appears, on 

 her knees, and with the accents of love, 

 Jaqueline herself in male attire. She is, in 

 truth, of the masculine gender, and had ac- 

 companied Madame as her cher ami, and 

 had quickly fallen de;perately in love witli 

 Agatha, and was resolved to save her from 

 Claverham 's clutches. M'hile he was thus 

 en his knees, in the act of explaining, comes 

 Claverham himself, and takes a speedy op- 

 portmiity of sending a bullet through Ja- 

 quehne's brains. Claverhr.m had known of 

 the disguise, and suspecting her, or rather 

 his fidelity, chose to see personally to the 

 execution of his own plot. Agatha, ac- 

 cording to his original design, was now car- 

 ried off to a smuggling vessel, which lay at 

 anchor within a mile or two of the spot, to 

 be conveyed to France, or drov.ned in the 

 voyage. Claverham thus, for the moment, 

 triumphs — no one suspects hum. But in 

 vain are ail his effor'.s to withdraw Clarina's 

 attachment from Rybrent, and Rybrent 

 himself was now returning to claim her 

 hand. On the very eve of the marriage, 

 whiile roaming about with his gun, on the 

 alann of his dog, Rybrent came suddenly 

 upon the wattled h.ut, and, to his amaze- 

 ment, found the long lost Agatha, lying on 

 the ground, on the point of expiring. She 

 had just been landed, after an absence of 



