degrees refined upon, was a source to him of continual and still greater dejection, even made manifest in his conduct. Often withdrawing to give way to his secret cogitations, his services were not performed with such alacrity and punctuality as formerly, which, though without losing him the confidence of the De Brookes, they could not fail to remark, and they were pained to think that perhaps whilst devoting an unwilling attendance he wished to quit them; the thought of his doing so, and that without adequate compensation, being still more grating to them, and certainly a circumstance, as they imagined, in itself calculated to cancel all sense of obligation on his side.
Hopeless as seemed the term of their miseries, ever struggling with mortifications and trials, nothing remained but to live within the bounds of the most rigid self-denial and œconomy. De Brooke felt for Robert the truest affection, but under the circumstances above stated, he came to the decision of parting with him, and of paying off his wages from time to time as they could best afford the means. It was a decision which cost him dear, to lose him who, in his opinion, possessed a soul worthy the breast of a king; him who had ever shown himself above all selfish interests, whose heart glowed with every generous sympathy, whose
