The novels of Charles Brockden Brown, consisting of Wieland;or, The transformation. Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the year 1793. Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a sleep-walker. Jane Talbot. Ormond; or, The secret witness. Clara Howard; or, The enthusiasm of love. With a memoir of the author.

122 JANE TALBOT.
I should continue hostile or indifferent. So tell me who
the lad is, and what are his pretensions."
I endeavoured to draw him off to some other subject,
but he would not be diverted from this. By dint of interrogatories, he at last extorted from me a few hints respecting you. Finding that you were without fortune or
profession, and that my regard for you had forfeited all
favour with my mother, the inquiry was obvious, how we
meant to live. It was impossible to answer this question
in any manner satisfactory to him. He has no notion of
existence unconnected with luxury and splendour.
" Have you made any acquisitions," continued he,
"since I saw you? Has any good old aunt left you
another legacy?" —This was said with the utmost vivacity
and self-possession. A strange being is my brother.
Could he have forgotten by whom I was robbed of my
former legacy?
" Come, come; I know thou art a romantic being,one accustomed tofeed on tkoutglts instead of pudding.
Contentment and a cottage are roast beef and a palace
to thee; but, take my word for it, this inamorata of thine
will need a more substantial diet. By marrying him you
will only saddle him with misery. So drop all thoughts
of so silly a scheme; write him a'good-by;' make up
your little matters, and come along with me. I will take
you to my country, introduce you to a new world, and
bring to your feet hundreds of generous souls, the least
of whom is richer, wiser, handsomer, than this tamespirited, droning animal-what's his name? But no
matter. I suppose I know nothing of him."
I was rash enough to tell him your name and abode, but
I treated his proposal as a jest. I quickly found that he
was serious. He soon became extremely urgent; recounted the advantages of his condition; the charming
qualities of his wife; the security and splendour of his
new rank. HIe endeavoured to seduce my vanity by the
prospect of the conquest I should make in that army
of colonels, philosophers, and commissioners that formed
the circle of his friends.'Any man but a brother," said
he, "must own that you are a charming creature. So
you need only come and see, in order to conquer."