parochial and public meetings--in every position where his influence
can be used--he is uniformly the friend of the poor, whilst his high
but unassuming sense of honor, his successful industry, and his firm,
unshrinking independence, make him equally appreciated and respected
by the rich and poor. In fact, it is such men as this who are the
most unostentatious but practical benefactors to the lower and middle
classes."

He had proceeded thus far, when a carriage-and-four came dashing up the
street, and stopped at the very shop which belonged to the subject
of Fenton's eulogium. Both went to the window at the same moment, and
looked out.

"Pray, whose carriage is that." asked the stranger, fastening his eyes,
with a look of intense scrutiny, upon Fenton's face.

"That, sir," he replied, "is the carriage of Sir Thomas Gourlay."

As he spoke, the door of it was opened, and a lady of surpassing
elegance and beauty stepped out of it, and entered the shop of the
benevolent James Trimble.

"Pray, who is that charming girl?" asked the stranger again.

To this interrogatory, however, he received no reply. Poor Fenton
tottered over to a chair, became pale as death, and trembled with such
violence that he was incapable, for the time, of uttering a single word.

"Do you know, or have you ever known, this family?" asked the other.