on, we trust that a few words concerning them, and the peculiar circumstances in which they are now placed, will not prove alto

time past the head of the family had been the very worst specimen of it that could be procured. While the junior branches were frequently amiable and most intelligent, and such in mind and manner a

-that, what with their vices and what with their extravagances, the successive heads of the Bannerworth family had succeeded in so far diminishing the famil

s many of his ancestors, that gratifying circumstance was to be accounted for by the supposition that he was not quite so bold, and that the chang

ight crimes, had recourse to the gaming-table, and, after raising whatever sums he could upon t

cket-book, on one leaf of which, it was the impression of the family, he had endeavour

aking some communication to his family which pressed heavily upon his mind, he had

n intention of leaving England for ever-of selling the house and grounds for whatever they would fet

was found lying dead, made the f

Be assured that, if it is but for the first time in my life, I have good and substantial reasons now for

nnerworth had some of the German princes in his eye, no one knew but h

t-book, but they were of by far too indistinct and amb

oney i

the pencil, which seemed to have b

he family lawyer said, rather more facetiously than a man of law usually speaks, for if h

his children, who chose rather to remember him i

eman, in every sense of the word. Brave, generous, highly educated, and full of many excellent and noble

ace a change, and that the Bannerworths would have to take to some course of honourable industry for a

acts of his father had been to encumber the property with overwhelming claims, so that when Henry ad

the young man to hold possession of it as long as he could, despite

and a most unexpected offer came to him from a solicitor in London, of whom he knew nothing, to purchase

m since his father's decease, advised him by all means to take it; but after a consultation with his mother and sister,

d not do: so the negotiation went off altogether, leaving only, in the minds of the family, much surpris

aided in producing a strong feeling on the minds of th

in the habit, for the last half dozen years of his life, of sending a hundred pounds to Henry, for the express purpose of en

t be found; and, with the quiet, prudent habits of all three of them, they contrived t

untains of Italy, an adventure occurred which

ain path, and, her horse slipping, sh

travelling in the vicinity, rushed to the spot, and by his knowledg

and at immense risk to himself, he reached the ledge of rock on which she lay, and then he supported her until the

t but for him who was with her she must have been hurled from the rock, a

dity, done so much towards saving her, was loaded with the most sincer

nd; that he was travelling for amusement and

under the circumstances, that an attachment of the tenderest nature should spri

arranged that when he returned to England, he should come at once

two brothers, who had taken a strange attachment to the young Charles Holland, who

him that when he came he would find a welcome from all, except p

o years, from certain family arrangements he had entered into, and tha

m with the means of making such delightful trips was no more; and, likewise, the death of the father had occurred in the manner we have related, so that there was no c

e house, where he would be sure to come to look for her, and her happiness w

e retained at all events until after Charles Holland had made his appearance, and his advice (for he was,

te of affairs at the hall, and that

steady reflection of a young girl, as she then was, had, as is generally the case among several admirers, chosen the very worst: that is, the man

t for the love she bore her children, who were certainly all that a mother's heart could wish, she would often

worth, there came one to the hall, who desire

m she had known intimately in early life, but, be that as it may, she certainly gave him a kindly welcome; and he, after consenting

count all he had seen, so that not only was Mr. Marchdale a man o

meanour, such as is rarely to be met with, combined to make him esteemed by the Bannerworths. He had a small independence of his own, and bein

e no losers by having him as an inmate, a matter which he could easily arrange by little presents of one kind and another, all of which he managed

s seen through, it could not lower him in their esteem, for it was probably just what they themselves would have felt a pleasure

tate of affairs among the Bannerworths-a state which was pregnant with

e altered by the appearance at it of so fearful a visitor as a vampyre, we will no

rvice from the three servants he with difficulty had contrived to keep at the hall. The reason why he received such notice he knew well enough, and therefore he did not trouble himself to argue about a supers

ocured, who, however, came evidently with fear and trembling, and probably only took the place, on account of not being able, to procure any other. T