Brotherly Love.

the immediate cause of the maniac ' s death was produced by the agitation resulting from the interview of the preceding day , and she was gratified to think that the last words she addressed were those of consolation and forgiveness . Mrs . St . Claire , whose curiosity respecting the young man was roused , wearied her brain and her hearers with her suppositions as to

who he could be , or what could be the history of him and the deceased , as she had too little in the account of Jeunegrace to satisfy her . That the unfortunate deceased had been a man of wealth and rank was evident from what the young man had stated , as well as that the latter had only heard recently of his parentage . It was a mysterious and romantic affair . Having exhausted her own conjectures she resolved to avail

herself of those of her neighbours , and accordingly left Ida and Jeunegrace alone in order to carry out her intention . When her mother had departed , Ida told the young clergyman all that the deceased had related the preceding day , and her reasons for concealing it from Mrs . St . Claire . He approved highly of her descretion and was enthusiastic in his praises of her humane and Christian conduct towards the unfortunate man whose sufferings had expiated his offence , and to whom no benevolent mind could entertain resentment .

CHAPTER XIII . —VARIETIES . MKS . St . Claire was not the only person with whom the new-comer and the death of the maniac were subjects of speculation . On the contary , the whole town was on the qui vive relative to the stranger , who , from his retinue was evidently a person of wealih , and the most absurd rumours

prevailed as to what had taken place on the Mount , a knowledge of which had filtered out by some unknown process . The most popular version of the affair was , that the maniac was really a homicide and had been traced out by the son of the man whom he had killed , who murdered him . Amongst those who seemed fully satisfied with this narrative was Andre Buffon , with whom indeed it originated . This worthy had been

permitted to retire from the army , as he stated , in consequence of his wounds , but in reality from his cowardice , and the general incapacity for military service which he displayed . However , he had been engaged in a bond fide battle and had received wounds , so that he returned to his native-place with some eclat which he did not fail to improve by

marvellous accounts of the prodigies of valour which he performed and of the sanguinary scenes in which he had been an actor . Indeed Andre possessed the facidty of prolificacy of fiction in a considerable degree . If there is truth in what has been asserted , namely , that one of the first requisites of genius is invention , Andre was a person of no small intellect . He resolved to turn what had taken place on the Mount to his own

purposes of vanity , and on the evening when Mrs . St . Claire left her house for the purpose we have stated , he was relating an incident to a number of his townsmen , who had assembled in the market-place . This was , in -effect , that , having resolved to visit the scene of the recent tragedy , he had armed himself , and went in the direction of the Mount , which he had