Part 2 (1/2)

Very different was his appearance now to that which it presented on his issuing from the mansion His coat torn to ribbons, his hat without a crown, his majestic frill rule button left ith to restrain the exuberance of his linen

All his doer in their inquiries and offers of service; and Fox was so overpowering in his expressions of regret, that all suspicion vanished from Bruin's brain at once; and he attributed his informant's tale to some malicious calumny, invented to save his life and conceal the true cause of the attack upon hiallantry were filled with so much unpleasantness, resolved, like a prudent animal, to avoid them carefully in future; but as his desire for an introduction to society continued, he availed himself of the offer of his steward, who promised to procure him introductions to youth of the best fa him into connexion was the s, who had a singular knack of reversing the order of nature, and going to bed when other ani when the discreet part of the world deemed it time to retire to rest They had formed themselves into a sort of club, which they called the ”Hard and Fast;” and, indeed, no teramed hard, drank hard, and talked hard, and lived so uncoh quite young, they should have e To these worthies Bruin was an acquisition; for he was rich, ignorant, and gullible, whilst they were poor, grasping, and unscrupulous At the very first interview, all parties were equally delighted with each other; the ease of his new co to Bruin, who considered it as a proof of their breeding, and every following day strengthened the connexion Riotous parties of pleasure were constantly projected, for which their friend Von Bruin paid; banquets of the most expensive kind were always spread upon his table, at which his ”dear fellows of the club”

assisted--themselves; and, indeed, so closely were the bonds of union drawn, that after some time many of them could not bear to separate from their esteemed Count; and, therefore, took up their residence with hi such a race in company with the chief of the establishment, it may be conjectured that but little prudence or econoance of every kind ran riot ast them as wildly as with their , where there were none to censure or restrain Fox, it is true, had the right, and possessed the influence requisite to do so; but, for son of his own, possibly that his private peccadilloes ht escape unnoticed, he sees, and in soed it And what could be the only result of such a life of dissipation, unchecked by a single effort of discretion? Why, nothing but the most irretrievable ruin; and ruined the bear was after threea banquet of several days' duration, the clouded intellects of the beast were made sensible of the fact; when he found his table cleared for the last tiuests; when he traversed the various apartments of hisonly to the sounds of his own footsteps; when, in fine, he discovered that he was again alone in the world, without any portion of that wealth which he had so sadly abused, and with er the ratify; bitter, indeed, were his laer These over, and they lasted long, long days, he seriously examined the state of his affairs With the exception of the clothes upon his back, and a little change in his pocket, he possessed absolutely nothing, so effectually had his kind friends and faithful servants stripped his he left the house, his house no longer, to seek a shelter for his head, and a crust to appease his hunger

He carefully avoided all his former resorts, and directed his steps to those parts of the tohere poverty and vice were accusto in their nuriefs and acquire consolation; but, alas, it was at the cost of every hope of virtue which ht yet lurk in his nature!

Characters like Bruin's, that are ever ood which is around them, can only acquire some fresh stain from every contact with the wicked; and thus our bear sunk lower and lower in the scale of beasts, till many even of his new associates at last shrunk fro turned out of his splendid horeat fair held, just without the town of Caneville; and, as is usual in such cases, the lowest orders of the population assembled there The Hon Miss Greyhound, who had been a prey to feelings of a very mixed nature since her interrupted intervieith Bruin, had joined a party of fashi+onables in an unusually long walk, and on their return to the city by a different route they caround at soroup with a tall ungainly figure in the centre, a little to the right, they drew nearer to observe the proceedings The great beast in the centre had his back to them, so they could not observe his features; but they saw that his clothes were ragged, his whole appearance very dirty, and his hat a particularly bad one A dozen of heavy sticks were at his feet, and a couple were under his arm; whilst at some twenty paces distant tands, with an ornaht in a straw bag, ready to be thrown at by any adventurous puss or puppy who had a coin at his disposal A couple of cats were lovingly walking at so the place, and a fourth was lazily seated high above; whilst, in the neighbourhood of the anis and a cat or taiting for their turn The tall beast now altered his position, and the strongly-marked features of a bear becaht sight of the fashi+onable group, and, with a fierce expression in his eye, surlily invited the well-dressed males to take their chance at ”Three throws a-penny!”

[Illustration: THREE THROWS A-PENNY]

A gentle howl from Miss G was the only reply, as the party hastily retreated; for she recognized in the dirty, degraded beast, as presiding over this vulgar sport, the object she had once looked on with affection, the once wealthy Count von Bruin

PROGRESS

The fair of Caneville was like fairs in most other parts of the world, and contained the usual elements of fun and wickedness, toys and dirt, sweets and other ht, when the broad sun ithdrawn and an artificial light very feebly supplied its place, it was towards evening that the fair began to fill, and doubtful characters to ply their various vocations It wasand ill-humour in the fair this particular year, than there had been for several previous periods; and it was also observed that a tall and powerful bear--no other than our hero Bruin--was ever in the ator or a principal This circumstance made the authorities more than usually alert, and caused Master Bruin to be closely watched

It was at the close of the last day, after many scenes of evil which it is not necessary to describe, that a serious disturbance arose in the part of the field where Bruin had his stand Blows soon followed angry words; the contending parties flew at each other with great ferocity; growl followed growl, and bite succeeded bite, so that a good deal of blood was shed--ill blood; so, perhaps, better out than in;--and as Bruin's sticks were conveniently at hand as weapons of offence, they were soon seized upon, and used so indiscriminately, that alround, and one of the ht to be killed This was a serious offence, indeed, and those who knew the penalty attending such a calaht They were as instantly pursued; and when about to be captured, with one voice denounced Bruin as the culprit; though, in fact, it was not he who had struck the blow, and they knew it: but such was his known ferocity and ill-teive up the wrong beast, whom no one loved, and whom every one would have suspected as the author of the calamity So the bear, in spite of his protestations of innocence, and in spite too of a ot e bite froed off to prison

The place used for this purpose was a portion of a ruined castle, standing in the centre of the town, on the banks of the rivulet before spoken of; the ruin itself being of great antiquity, and having been evidently erected by a very different class of beings to that which formed the present population of Caneville Several compartments were adapted for the purpose, all more or less secure; but the square stone chaest of the outwards was closed on him, and secured by a heavy mass of rock, which the united efforts of several of the police rolled against it; and having thus deposited the prisoner in safety, a couple reat strength of the bear should succeed in re Bruin seemed, however, in no humour to make the experiment Sore and worn out, he crawled into a corner and was soon fast asleep, resu in his dreaht, and immediately rose to examine his prison The door he sniffed at, but passed by; the as at so great a height from the floor that he could not reach it upon tiptoe, but he remarked that a very delicious puff of fresh air cainally used as a chimney He moved hastily towards it, and e branch of a tree waving over the aperture Had Messieurs the Police been aware of Bruin's cli propensities, they would scarcely have left this point unguarded; as it was, the bear proceeded iht hold of an opening for his body up to his paw, he stuck his foot into the hole and pressed his broad back against the opposite side; a projecting brick gave him a second hold, and then the difficulty was over, for the chiet up by the simple pressure of his knees and back, and the use of his broad and muscular paws A few seconds sufficed for hi in the air, to enjoy the prospect and take breath, while he deliberated on his farther proceedings

Meanwhile an inquiry had been entered upon by the authorities of Caneville concerning the riot, in which one of the police was alleged to have been killed, but as the object of the inquiry li, it was not considered worth while to hear evidence as to the authors of his death; and as he, moreover, distinctly stated that the beast who struck the bloas not a bear, it was ordered that the bear as in custody on the charge should be liberated forthwith Great was the surprise of his guards, however, on proceeding to his prison, to find that he had anticipated the verdict and had taken the liberty of setting hi up the chimney, they were no less a hi branch of the tree and disappear from their view They ran round into the court to mark the end of Bruin'sof his being again a free bear, and apprehensive of being pursued, he had descended the tree with the ut, not lightly, into the stream, with a few bold strokes reached the opposite shore, where he i till the hue and cry was over

He kept his position very quietly all day, rather surprised that no commotion should be visible in and about the prison, of which he co he resolved to descend, and, recrossing the streae in so this resolution into effect he heard voices beneath the tree, and lay quite still to listen

But as his astonishment, as they drew nearer, to perceive that one of the two foxes from whom the sounds proceeded, was his former steward and factotum! His interest in their movements was of course increased, and he listened, with his ears and eyes bent down, to catch their every syllable and look The stranger fox, it appeared, was about crossing the brook to the city, and the other one had accompanied him thus far, but refused to enter the town On this, the folloords reached Bruin's ear:--

_Stranger_--I have noticed more than once, cousin, that you avoid the town; and yet I have known you to declare that no one but a cow could live in the country

_Fox_--True enough, my dear fellow; but since I left _his_ service, you know, I don't care to run the risk of er_--Ha! ha! I see You are rather apprehensive he should seize you by the throat, and exclaim, ”_My_ money or _your_ life!”

_Fox_--Hush!+ hush!+ who knohat ears h that I have a comfortable co it

_Stranger_--Well, well, cousin, I say no randfather andwith a ed hi been murdered by the very wolf after all Co half so bad, I hope, will coer fox took leave of his cousin, and was soon on the opposite shore

Fox waited till he saw him land, and then slowly turned to retrace his steps

Scarcely, however, had he taken half-a-dozen paces, than a rushi+ng noise smote his ears; and before he could raise his head a heavy body struck him between the shoulders, with a violence which dashed hiround He neither moved nor uttered a cry: his neck was broken

With a savage howl, Bruin--for it is easy to guess that it was he--put his heavy paw upon the other's chest; but finding all still, he examined his clothes, whence he took all the valuables He paused in his work to chide his own precipitancy; for had he followed the Fox he reat part of his property It was too late now; so, giving a savage kick on the face of the unfortunate aniinal intention of regaining the city, and before night was once more beneath the roof of a late associate

He remained for several days perfectly quiet and inactive; but finding no search was instituted for him, he, little by little, resumed his old habits, and, astemper