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day a racking headache made him glad to lie in bed till noon. He stayed at that place another night, and unhappily for him repeated the folly of the previous one. It was not till the fourth day from his leaving B, that he reached the end of his journey, and stepping out of a postchaise found himself at the foot of the well-remembered Cumberland mountains.

He sauntered to the shore of the lake, and began to hurrah! with irrepressible exultation. He thought himself alone, but a dry cough behind him, and a finger laid on his shoulder undeceived him. He turned round hastily, and beheld two policemen.

"What's your business, fellows?" he exclaimed, half angry, half afraid.

"You're our business," was the reply-" There's been a theft, you must come back with us to B."

“It's a lie, a base lie, it's a cruel lie," cried Richard, frantically; "there was no theft in the matter, the coin was my own." "Indeed!-Well young man you needn't criminate yourself: how do you know we came after you about a coin-it's no use stamping, nor crying either, you must come."

The mountains and the lake swam before Richard's eye, as the two policemen took him between them, and walked him off to the railway station; he was frightened but bewildered, and throughout the long journey he preserved a dogged silence, till at last the train arrived at B. and there stood his master and the old gentleman waiting for him.

"This is the young fellow, Sir, isn't it ?" enquired the policeman confidently.

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Yes," said his master in a tone of deep regret, "I grieve to say it is."

The next morning he was examined before a magistrate, but alas! during the night he had reflected that no one could prove his having stolen the coins (for on their account he never doubted that he had been arrested,) he had also reflected that to tell the honest truth about them was most certainly to lose all; moreover he had made up his mind that nothing worse than a month's imprisonment was at all likely to befall him, even if a case could be made out against him, he therefore resolved to run all risks, and declare that he had found the coins and the jewel in

his father's potatoe garden-he had turned them up with a hoe. How the time passed with Richard till his trial came on, I do not know, but his kind old master visited him frequently, and told him it would be his duty to give evidence against him.

Richard however persisted in his tale, though he became quieter and more fearful as the assizes drew nearer.

At length the eventful day of trial came on, his turn came, he felt guilty, though not of the crime imputed to him; and his anxiety increased as he listened to the evidence brought against him. The counsel for the prosecution stated the case against him thus :—

The prisoner on the 22nd of August arrived with his master at the house of the prosecutor; he had often been there before, and was known to have acquaintances there. On the 24th he was present while certain valuable coins were displayed by the prosecutor; he was observed to regard them with particular attention; that same evening he gave warning to his master, giving as a reason that his brother's wife had written to him, declaring that her husband was at death's door. He requested to be paid his wages at once, alleging that he had but five shillings in his pocket; he took his leave, and in the evening of the following day, his brother, whose employer was travelling that way, called in to see him, in perfect health; and on being told of the letter supposed to have been received from his wife, replied that his wife, being a Frenchwoman, lady's-maid in the family where he lived, could neither read nor write English, and that Richard knew it quite well.

The day after this, the prosecutor happened to observe a certain scratched appearance about the keyholes of two of his cabinets; he opened them hastily, and found every tray gone with all its contents, in short the whole case gutted. Enquiries were instantly set on foot, and plate to a considerable amount was also found to be missing; thereupon the servants being examined, Richard's name was mentioned by all with suspicion. The cook deposed that during dinner, the day he left, Richard had enquired concerning the word "unique." "Unique,” said the servants, "means that no one has got such a coin except master;" to which he replied, "If that's unique, they are no more unique than I am, and that I could prove to

the present company, if I chose." The servants further deposed, that looking upon this as an idle boast, they had laughed at him, and dared him to produce one, and at last he had said that perhaps he might before he took his leave of them.

This evidence being important, the police had been set to work, and had discovered a fac-simile of the coin of which only two specimens were supposed to be extant, exposed for sale in a shop window, they had also discovered that he had entered several shops, and spent money to an amount greatly exceeding his wages. The recovered coin being shown to the prosecutor, he challenged it, and produced a written description wherein it was set forth, that these ancient Spanish coins were supposed to be fresh from the Mint, and never to have passed into circulation.

The prisoner on being arrested, had instantly mentioned these coins, and declared he came by them honestly. On being examined before a magistrate, he declared that he had dug them up in his father's potatoe garden. On being searched, another coin was found in his waistcoat pocket.-On being told that the sharp outline of the coins proved that they had not been exposed to friction or damp, he added that he found them sealed up in an earthen pot.

On being asked how long it was since he had found them, he replied, that it was while he lived in his late master's service. On being reminded by that gentleman that he had only visited his parents twice during that period, and that the first time they were paupers in the Union, and had no potatoe garden, he replied, that it was the second time; on being further reminded that during his second visit, the ground was covered with a deep fall of snow, he refused to give any answer.

And now witnesses were called, and then followed the feeble defence of his own counsel. Richard was bewildered, but he perceived that the circumstantial evidence was so strong against him, that nothing but the truth could save him, and the truth no man knew. He was brought in guilty, and sentenced to a seven year's transportation.

Alas! what a casting down of his dream of riches! What a bitter disappointment for his covetous soul! He was sent back to prison, and there, when he had duly reflected on his position,

he concluded to purchase freedom by discovering the whole truth, and thus giving up his monopoly of the Moorish gold.

He sent for his master; he looked miserable, and as he sat on the bench in his prison dress, with his face propped on his hands, he felt plainly that his master pitied him.

The old gentleman heard him to the end, and made no comment, but he remained so long silent when the tale was finished, that Richard looked up surprised. "Sir," he exclaimed, "surely you believe me now?"

Alas, my poor fellow! said his master, you have told so many falsehoods, that it is no longer in my power to believe on the testimony of your lips, but only of my own senses; and this last story, Richard, seems to me the wildest of all. It will not serve you nor delay your sentence one hour.

"Yes it will-indeed it will-O sir, sir, try me this once, go and look behind those broom bushes."

and

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Richard, you have a good father and mother, and good sisters, who are very very poor,-if you had really found such a treasure, you would have contrived to send something to them."

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'I---I forgot them, sir," faltered Richard.

"No, Richard," said his master with a sigh, "you are a bad fellow, I'm afraid; but you're not so bad as that comes to. You have deceived me so often, that I'm not to be taken in any more."

Richard protested, but his master would not believe his tale; he was about to take leave of him, when a bustle was heard outside the door, and his master's old friend appeared in a state of great excitement; he opened both hands, and in the palm of each was seen a coin, the very coins that had been missing. The real thieves had been detected, and with very little delay, Richard was set at liberty.

The old gold coin was returned to him, and he sold it to his master's friend for forty pounds; "and now, sir," said he, come with me to the mountain, and see whether I spoke the truth."

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His master wondered greatly, but he came; they were within ten miles of the mountain, when a tremendous storm came on, the floods of rain and peals of thunder drove them

into an inn for shelter, and there they staid during a long night of storm and tempest.

It was not till high day that that terrible storm subsided, and as soon as it was safe to go abroad, Richard and his master set off on their mission. They went toiling up the same path that they had pursued before; the way was very rugged, for stones and earth had been dislodged by the storm; "Richard," said his master, "we are nearly at the top of the mountain, surely we must have passed the place." They came down again, and the agitated Richard looked from right to left; all was so changed-so torn and disfigured, that he could not tell where he was. The tiny streams were tumbling torrents; the road was blocked with stones and rocks. "Richard," his master said again, we are nearly at the foot of the mountain, surely we have passed the place."

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His master went down to the inn. Richard continued to search for three weary days he wandered up, and down, and about. Whether the force of the storm had driven rocks down, and filled up that little roofless room, or whether a torrent had defaced the place and concealed it, he could not tell, but certain it is he never found it; and from that day to this, no man's eyes have ever been gladdened with the sight of that Moorish gold.

He came to his master-" Sir," said he "the gold is not to be found, but I have had a great deal of time to think, and I have come to think that my own covetousness has brought all this suspicion and misery on me. Here's the forty pounds that I've got of the treasure; let it go to my relations for I'll have none of it, but try to win back my good character, for the loss of that has been worse than the loss of this Moorish gold."

ORRIS.

"IF HAPLY THEY MIGHT FEEL AFTER HIM."

(Acts xvii. 29.)

THERE seem to have been three religious ideas prevalent among mankind from the earliest ages,-that they were sinners; that they had not always been so,-and that their case was still not without hope.

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