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186 conceal that I have done so! Why am I here?" Then recollecting himself, and ashamed of the incoherence of his expressions, by a violent effort to command himself, he relapsed into silence.

After a distressing pause, his friend, though not naturally of a temper easily betrayed into sympathetic emotions, yet having learnt not to be insensible to scenes like the present, endeavoured to divert his inquietude by calling his attention to the consideration of the means best adapted to render his present situation less uncomfortable, and of the possibility of procuring bail.

De Brooke replied but by a silent shake of the head; his debts were of too large an amount, he was well assured, to admit of his indulging in hopes of such a nature. "My dear Philimore," said he, detaining him, "make this affair of mine but secondary, and lend your kind assistance to my wife, relative to the present emergency in which she is plunged; try to relieve her solicitude on my behalf; and by all means, persuade her not to visit me in this prison; tell her, my dear Sir, that nothing will inflict upon me greater pain than her taking that step; that I absolutely forbid it: tell her that I have no other sorrow than the necessity enjoined by the execution, of her quitting her present comforts, and that