Catharines Peril, or The Little Russian Girl Lost in a Forest | Page 8

of this equipage made the dandies spring to their feet. 'What beautiful greys!' cried the one; 'I wonder who they can belong to?' 'He is a happy fellow, anyhow,' replied the other; 'I would give half Yorkshire to call them mine.' The stage-coach and travelling-carriage stopped at the Buck's Head at the same moment; and a footman in laced livery, springing down from behind the latter, looked first inside and then at the top of the former, when he lifted his hat with a smile of respectful recognition.
'Are all well at the castle, Robert?' inquired the young gentleman in the surtout.
'All well, my lord,' replied the footman.
At the sound of that monosyllable the faces of the exquisites became visibly elongated; but without taking the smallest notice of them or their confusion, the nobleman politely wished me good morning, and, descending from the coach, caused the footman to place his cloak and despised portmanteau in the carriage. He then stepped into it himself, and the footman getting up behind, the coachman touched the leaders very slightly with his whip, and the equipage and its noble owner were soon out of sight.
'Pray, what nobleman is that?' said one of the dandies to the landlord, as we entered the inn.
'The Earl of Hyndford, sir,' replied the landlord; 'one of the best men, as well as one of the richest, in Scotland.'
'The Earl of Hyndford!' repeated the dandy, turning to his companion. 'What asses we have been! There's an end to all chance of being allowed to shoot on his estate.'
'Oh, yes, we may burn our letters of introduction when we please!' rejoined his companion; and, silent and crestfallen, both walked upstairs to their apartments.
'The Earl of Hyndford!' repeated I, with somewhat less painful feelings. 'Does he often travel unattended?'
'Very often, sir,' replied the landlord, 'especially when he has any public or charitable object in view; he thinks he gets at the truth more easily as a private gentleman than as a wealthy nobleman.'
'I have no doubt of it,' said I; and having given orders for dinner, I sat down to muse on the occurrences of the day.
This, however, was not the last time that I was destined to hear of that amiable young nobleman, too early lost to his country and mankind. I had scarcely returned home from my tour in the Highlands, when I was waited upon by a friend, a teacher of languages in Edinburgh, who told me that he had been appointed Rector of the Academy at Bothwell.
'Indeed!' said I; 'how have you been so fortunate?'
'I cannot tell,' replied he, 'unless it be connected with the circumstance which I am going to relate.'
He then stated that, about a month before, he was teaching his classes as usual, when a young gentleman, dressed in a surtout that was not over new, came into his school, and politely asked leave to see his method of instruction. Imagining his visitor to be a schoolmaster from the country, who wished to learn something of the Edinburgh modes of tuition, my friend acceded to his request. The stranger remained two hours, and paid particular attention to every department. When my friend was about to dismiss the school, the stranger inquired whether he was not in the habit of commending his pupils to God in prayer before they parted for the day. My friend replied that he was; upon which the stranger begged that he would not depart from his usual practice on his account. My friend accordingly prayed with the boys, and dismissed them; after which the stranger thanked him for his politeness, and also withdrew. Nothing more occurred; but, four or five days afterwards, my friend received a letter from the Earl of Hyndford, in which that nobleman, after stating that he had satisfied himself as to his piety and ability as a teacher, made him an offer of the Rectorship of the Academy at Bothwell.
'Was your visitor fair-haired,' said I, 'and his surtout of a claret colour?'
'They were,' replied my friend; 'but what of that?'
'It was the Earl of Hyndford himself,' said I; 'there can be no doubt of it.' And I gave him the history of my journey to Glasgow.
'Well, he took the best method, certainly, to test my qualifications,' rejoined my friend. 'I wish all patrons would do the same; we should have better teachers in our schools, and better ministers in our churches.'
'All patrons, perhaps, are not equally qualified to judge,' said I; 'at all events, let us rejoice that, though "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called," still we see one here and one there distinguished by divine grace, to the praise and the glory of God the Saviour.'

JANE HILL.
[ILLUSTRATION]

JANE HILL.
'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
Some years since