He entered.  I was on one of the highest seats, and saw him walk up the passage to the table of the speaker.  The native modesty of his disposition conquered the joy of his triumph.  He looked round timidly; a mist seemed before his eyes.  Adrian, who was beside me, hastened to him, and jumping down the benches, was at his side in a moment.  His appearance re-animated our friend; and, when he came to speak and act, his hesitation vanished, and he shone out supreme in majesty and victory.  The former Protector tendered him the oaths, and presented him with the insignia of office, performing the ceremonies of installation.  The house then dissolved.  The chief members of the state crowded round the new magistrate, and conducted him to the palace of government.  Adrian suddenly vanished; and, by the time that Raymond’s supporters were reduced to our intimate friends merely, returned leading Idris to congratulate her friend on his success.

But where was Perdita?  In securing solicitously an unobserved retreat in case of failure, Raymond had forgotten to arrange the mode by which she was to hear of his success; and she had been too much agitated to revert to this circumstance.  When Idris entered, so far had Raymond forgotten himself, that he asked for my sister; one word, which told of her mysterious disappearance, recalled him.  Adrian it is true had already gone to seek the fugitive, imagining that her tameless anxiety had led her to the purlieus of the House, and that some sinister event detained her.  But Raymond, without explaining himself, suddenly quitted us, and in another moment we heard him gallop down the street, in spite of the wind and rain that scattered tempest over the earth.  We did not know how far he had to go, and soon separated, supposing that in a short time he would return to the palace with Perdita, and that they would not be sorry to find themselves alone.

Perdita had arrived with her child at Dartford, weeping and inconsolable.  She directed everything to be prepared for the continuance of their journey, and placing her lovely sleeping charge on a bed, passed several hours in acute suffering.  Sometimes she observed the war of elements, thinking that they also declared against her, and listened to the pattering of the rain in gloomy despair.  Sometimes she hung over her child, tracing her resemblance to the father, and fearful lest in after life she should display the same passions and uncontrollable impulses, that rendered him unhappy.  Again, with a gush of pride and delight, she marked in the features of her little girl, the same smile of beauty that often irradiated Raymond’s countenance.  The sight of it soothed her.  She thought of the treasure she possessed in the affections of her lord; of his accomplishments, surpassing those of his contemporaries, his genius, his devotion to her.—­Soon she thought, that all she possessed in the world, except him, might well be spared, nay, given with delight, a propitiatory