After some conversation with Mr. Herbert, with reference to the change which the banking arrangement promised to his ostensible circumstances, I urged him seriously to renew his acquaintance with Mrs. Cockspur.

“No,” said he; “I mastered my passion when young, respected, and amidst the assurances of good fortune;—can I now, an old man, bent beneath the burden of many disappointments, with a withered heart and a shaking hand, claim more than pity even from affection?”

Seeing him in this mood (I wonder what it is that makes men of superiority so inaccessible to judicious counsel?) I said nothing, but I formed a plan of my own, and, as delays are dangerous, I lost no time in carrying it into effect. Accordingly, on the morning after the departure of the bankers, I went to Judiville, partly to see how the buildings for the house and store were coming on, but chiefly to have a few rational words in a corner with Mrs. Cockspur.

It may be thought, that in taking up this business, I was too much, like John Waft, troubling myself with matters that did not appertain to me; but I could not help it. I was much taken with the appeased character of Mr. Herbert: he was so evidently by nature an heir to a rich inheritance of fortune and honour, that I could not but regret so noble a spirit should be so far out of its proper sphere. It was this charity that prompted me; an up-looking charity that finds its best reward in self-approval. But I must not forget a resolution made in early life never to praise myself; so, without more ado, I shall now rehearse what I did at Judiville with the worthy old lady.

I have already mentioned how I was obliged to Mr. Bradshaw Cockspur for the plan of the house and store, and how the business concerning the same led to an intimacy with the family. This intimacy allowed me the freedom of paying my respects at all times to Mrs. Cockspur; and accordingly, at a period of the day when the young gentlemen, I knew, were abroad, I went to her.