employ for his private benefit, I shall now dedicate to that of
the public at large. My narrative is not exciting, and above
all, not marvellous; but it may interest some individuals, who,
having toiled in the same vocation as myself, will find in my
experience frequent reflections of their own. The above letter
will serve as an introduction. I now proceed.




CHAPTER II.

A FINE October morning succeeded to the foggy evening that had
witnessed my first introduction to Crimsworth Hall. I was early
up and walking in the large park-like meadow surrounding the
house. The autumn sun, rising over the ----shire hills,
disclosed a pleasant country; woods brown and mellow varied the
fields from which the harvest had been lately carried; a river,
gliding between the woods, caught on its surface the somewhat
cold gleam of the October sun and sky; at frequent intervals
along the banks of the river, tall, cylindrical chimneys, almost
like slender round towers, indicated the factories which the
trees half concealed; here and there mansions, similar to
Crimsworth Hall, occupied agreeable sites on the hill-side; the
country wore, on the whole, a cheerful, active, fertile look.
Steam, trade, machinery had long banished from it all romance and
seclusion. At a distance of five miles, a valley, opening
between the low hills, held in its cups the great town of X----.
A dense, permanent vapour brooded over this locality--there lay
Edward's "Concern."