$200 PRIZE ARTICLE. penitent, that you offer to mediate between me and my

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ble. It was lavished without stint on every thing about || my canaries were fluttering in affright from my sudden me, from the parents who took me nightly to their bosoms approach, I fixed my eyes with a deeper feeling than that with kisses and blessings, to the gentle flowers that clung of mere curiosity on my father and his companion. The around my nursery window, and the sweet birds that latter was a slight, aristocratic youth, with an air of fashhaunted them with melody. I was passionately fond of ion and manliness beyond his years, not the manliness to my mother, and when she would steal to my bed and be acquired in society alone; but a dignity orignating in lull me to sleep with her soft kisses and pleasant voice, deep and correct habits of thought, seemed natural to I would promise in my innermost heart never to grieve him. He was very handsome, almost too much so for her again; and yet the next day I would feel a kind of a man. The symmetry and calm repose of his features pleasure in bringing the tears to her gentle eyes, by some were not sufficiently marked for changeful expression; wayward expression of obstinacy or dislike. It is strange yet their usual tone was singularly blended with sweetthat we often take pleasure in teasing and tormentingness and dignity. I have never seen a face so strongly those whom we most love. There is a feeling of selfish || characterized by intellect and benevolence. power in it by no means confined to the thoughtlessness speaking as he advanced up the sepentine walk which of childhood, and often acted upon by those who would led to the balcony, and seemed to be making some ob despise the feeling could they trace it to its unworthy servation on the wild beauty of the garden. Once he source. At ten years of age I was absolute in my stooped to put back a tuft of carnations which fell over father's house, and tyrannized over the hearts of both the path, and again he paused to admire a large whitemy parents with an innate thirst for ascendency: yet I rose tree, which half concealed the flight of steps leadloved them very, very dearly! ing to the balcony on which I stood. There was something in the tones of his rich voice, a quiet dignity in his manner that awed me. I shrunk back into the room where my mother was sitting, and placed myself by her side. My cheek burned and my heart beat rapidly when he entered. But my confusion passed unnoticed, or if remarked, was attributed to the bashfulness of extreme youth. Varnham was my senior by four years, and he evidently considered me as a child, for after a courtly bow on my introduction, he turned to my mother and began to speak of the village and its remarkable quietude. He even seemed surprised when I joined familiarly in conversation during the evening; and more than once he looked in my face with an air of concern and disapproval when I answered either of my parents in the careless and abrupt manner which their excessive indulgence had made habitual to me. I returned to my room out of humor with myself, and somewhat in awe of our guest. I had evidently rendered myself an object of dislike to him whom I had been most anxious to please. The consciousness originated a feeling of self-distrust, and I was both hurt and offended that he did not look on me with the blind partiality of my parents. For the first time in my life I went to the mirror anxious about my personal appearance. I had been taught to believe myself beautiful; but it rather displeased me than otherwise. There was something in my heart of contempt for mere personal loveliness, which rendered its possession a matter of slight importance. I had an innate longing to be loved for something more lofty than mere symmetry of person or features—an ambition to be distinguished for the qualities and accomplishments which I could myself acquire, rather than by those bestowed by nature. But this evening I loosened the blue ribbon which bound my hair, and shook the mass of long silken ringlets over my shoulders with a feeling of anxiety which

"When I was fifteen, an old college associate died and left my father guardian to his son and heir. The young gentleman's arrival at the parsonage was an epoch in my life. A timid and feminine anxiety to please took possession of my heart. I gave up my own little sitting room, opening upon a wilderness of roses and tangled honeysuckles which had once been a garden, but which I had delighted to see run wild in unchecked luxuriance, till it had become as fragrant and rife with blossoms as an East India jungle. It was the first act of self-denial I had ever submitted to, and I found a pleasure in it which more than compensated for the pain I felt in removing my music and books, with the easel which I had taken such pains to place in its proper light, to a small chamber above. It was not in my nature to do things by halves. With my favorite room I resigned, to our expected guest, all the ornaments that had become most endeared to me. The drawings, over which I had lingered day after day, were left upon the wall. My pet canary was allowed to remain among the passion-flowers which draped the balcony. The most treasured of my Italian poets still encumbered the little rose-wood table; and I ransacked the garden and little green-house again and again for choice flowers to fill the vases of antique china, which had been handed down an heir-loom in my mother's family. My father went to meet his ward at the last stage, and I shall never forget the girl. ish impatience with which I waited his return; but it was not till after the canaries had nestled down on their perches in the evening twilight, and the little room, which I had prepared for his guest, was misty with the perfume shed from the numerous vases and wafted in from the flowering thickets beneath the windows, that we saw them slowly picking their way through the tangled luxuriance of my garden. Heedless of my mother's entreaty, that I would remain quiet and receive our guest in due form, I||I had never before experienced. I contrasted the rich sprang out upon the balcony, and winding my arm around one of its rude pillars, pushed back the clustering passionflowers, and bent eagerly over to obtain a perfect view of our visitor. Heedless that my arm was crushing the delicate flowers which clung around the pillar, and that

bloom on my cheek with the pale and graceful loveliness of my mother, and I felt how infinitely I fell beneath her in that exquisite refinement of look and manner which characterized her above all women I had ever seen. I was disgusted with the richness and exuberance of my

own healthful beauty, and felt almost jealous of the gen- || gorgeous coffins of his lordly ancestors. But in three days tle attractions of my sweet parent.

"The disapproving look with which young Varnham had regarded me, haunted my slumbers. It was the first token of disapprobation that had reached my heart, and I was filled with strange hesitation and selfdistrust. I could not bring myself to wish our new inmate away, and yet I felt under restraint in my father's house.

after, I was alone in the wide world; for she was dead also. Two lone, sad nights, I sat beside that beautiful corpse, still and tearless as one in a waking dream. I remember that kind voices were around me, and that more than once pitying faces bent over me, and strove to persuade me from my melancholy vigils. But I neither answered nor moved; they sighed as they spoke, and passed in and out, like the actors of a tragedy in which I had no part. I was stupified by the first great trouble of my life! The third night, came strange men into the

glittering with silver. My heart had been very cold, but
it lay within me like marble when those large men reve-
rently lifted the body of my beautiful mother, and laid
it upon the pillow which had been placed for her last
rest. Had they spoken a word I think my heart would
have broken; but they passed out with a slow, solemn
tread, bearing the coffin between them.
I arose and
followed to the little room in which I had first seen
Varnham. A thrill of pain, like the quick rush of an
arrow, shot through my heart as I entered. It was the
first keen anguish I had felt since the burial of my father.
The men set down the coffin, and again I was alone with
my dead-alone in the dear sanctuary of our domestic
affections.

"The history of the next two years would be one of the heart alone-a narrative of unfolding genius and refining feelings. It was impossible that two persons, how-room, bearing a coffin covered with crimson velvet and ever dissimilar in taste and disposition, should be long domesticated in the same dwelling without gradually assimilating in some degree. Perhaps two beings more decidedly unlike never met than Varnham and myself, but after the first restraint which followed our introduction wore off, he became to me a preceptor and a most valuable friend. Hitherto my reading had been desultory, and my studies interrupted. I had become accomplished almost without effort, deeply read without method, and conversant even with many of the obstruse sciences by constant intercourse with my father. I had little application, and yet accomplished much by mere force of character. My whole energies were flung into the occupation of the moment, and almost instinctively I had accumulated a rich store of mental wealth; but my mind lacked method. I had extensive general, but little minute knowledge. Except in the common run of feminine accomplishments, I had submitted to but imperfect discipline. Among these, painting and music were my peculiar delight; a travelling artist had given me lessons in the first, and my own sweet mother taught me the last-to her gentle heart, music was almost as necessary as the air she breathed. I inherited all her love and all her talent for it; but with her it was a sweet necessity; with me a passion. I revelled in the luxury of sound; she only delighted in it. Not even Varnham-and his power with me was great-could induce me to undertake a course of regular study; but after his residence with us my mind gradually yielded to the influence of his teaching-became stronger, more methodical, and far more capable of reasoning. But, as I more nearly approached the standard of his intellect, my reverence for him decreased. The awe in which he first held me gradually died away, and that feeling which had been almost love, settled down to strong sisterly affection-deeper and more lasting, perhaps, than a more passionate attachment might have been. I could no longer look up to him as a being of superior strength and energy to myself; but next to my parents he was the dearest object to me in existence.

"As I looked around the apartment, gentle associations crowded on my heart, and partially aroused it to a sense of its bereavement. The scent of withered flowers was shed from the neglected vases, and a soft night wind came through the sash doors, wafting in a cloud of perfume from the garden. The balmy air came refreshingly to my temples, and aroused my heart from the torpid lethargy which had bound it down in the gloomy and suffocating chamber above; but even yet, I could not fully comprehend the extent of my desolation. Around me were a thousand dear and cherished things, connected with my mother; and before me lay the gorgeous coffin in which she was sleeping her last, long death sleep. There was something horrible in a sense of the stifling closeness of that silken lined coffin. I raised the lid, and it was a relief to me when the cool air stole over the beautiful face beneath; it seemed as if my mother must bless me that I had released her once more from the terrible closeness of the grave-that I had given her back to life and the pure air of heaven. A silver lamp stood on the mantle-piece, shedding a sad, funereal light through the room and revealing the sweet, pale face of the dead with the shadowy indistinctness of moonlight. But though she lay there so still and cold, I could not, even yet, feel that she was truly and for ever departed. The fountains of my heart were still locked, and as one in a dream I turned away and stepped out upon the balcony. The passion-flower was in bloom, and hung in festoons of starry blossoms from the balustrades. That

"Two years brought Varnham to his majority. His fortune, though limited, was equal to his wants; and he resolved to travel, and then make choice of a profession. It was a sorrowful day to us when he left the parsonage.solitary white-rose tree was standing by the steps as it The loneliness which followed his departure, never gave place to cheerfulness again. In four weeks from that day, my father was laid in the vault of his own loved church. My gentle mother neither wept nor moaned when she saw the beloved of her youth laid beside the

had two years before; but its branches had spread and shot upwards over the front of the balcony in profuse leafiness. A host of pearly blossoms intermingled with the passion-flowers, and hung in clustering beauty around the pillars and rude stone work. The steps were white

and hastened home to find me an orphan doubly bereaved, to become my nurse and my counsellor-my all. Most tenderly did he watch over me during my hours of convalescence. And I returned his love with a gratitude as fervent as ever warmed the heart of woman. I knew nothing of business, scarcely that money was necessary to secure the elegancies I enjoyed. I had not even dream

with a shower of leaves which the breeze had shaken from the over-ripe roses, and their breath was shed around with a soft steady sweetness. The holy moonlight was around me, bathing the flower beds at my feet and trembling over the dewy thickets-beyond, lay the grave yard, half veiled by the shadow of the little church. Where the light fell upon it, a few marble slabs gleamed up from the rank grass, and the yew trees swayed gently ined of a change of residence, and when information reachthe wind with a soft dirge-like melody. The agonizing conviction of my loss struck upon my heart like the toll of a bell-I felt it all! My father was dead-buriedthat humble church shut him out from my sight for ever! My mother was there-I did not weep nor moan; my heart seemed silently breaking. While the pang was keenest, I gathered a handful of roses from the tree which my mother had planted; carefully selecting the half-blown and most delicate flowers, such as she had most loved, and scattered them, heavy with dew as they were, over the pillow and the velvet of my mother's coffin. There was one bud but half unfolded, and with a soft blush slumbering within its core-such as she had always worn in her bosom on my father's birth-day. That germ brought the date of the month to my mind. That should have been an annual day of rejoicing, and they were both gone forth to keep it in another world; I was alone-alone! I took the bud, carefully that the dew might not fall away from its heart, and removing the grave-clothes, laid it on the marble bosom of my mother. I was about to draw the shroud over it, that it might go down to the grave with the sweet memorial blooming within her bosom, when the leaves trembled beneath my gaze as if stirred by the pulsation of the heart beneath. A cry, half of joy, half of fear, burst from my lips: I pressed my shivering hand down upon her heart-it was still-oh, how still! The night winds had mocked me. Then, the passion of grief burst over me, I fell to the floor, and my very life seemed ebbing away in tears and lamentations. Hour after hour passed by, and I remained as I had fallen in an agony of sorrow. I know not how it was, but towards morning I sunk into a heavy slumber.

ed us that a curate had been engaged to supply my father's place; that a rector was soon to be appointed, and that Lord Gordon, the elder and brother of my lamented parent, had consented to receive me as an inmate of his own house, I sunk beneath the blow as if a second and terrible misfortune had befallen me. The thought of being dragged from my home-from the sweet haunts which contained the precious remembrances of my parents-and of being conveyed to the cold, lordly halls of my aristocratic uncle, nearly flung me back to a state of delirium. There was but one being on earth to whom I could turn for protection, and to him my heart appealed with the trust and confidence of a sister's love. I pleaded with him to intercede with my uncle that I might be permitted still to reside at the parsonage that I might not be taken from all my love could ever cling to. Varnham spoke kindly and gently to me; he explained the impropriety, if not the impossibility of Lord Gordon's granting my desire, and besought me to be resigned to a fate, which many in my forlorn orphanage might justly covet. He spoke of the gaieties and distinction which my residence with Lord Gordon would open to me, and used every argument to reconcile me to my destiny. But my heart clung tenaciously to its old idols, and refused to be comforted. Had I been flung on the world to earn my bread by daily toil, there was enough of energy in my nature to have met difficulties and to have struggled successfully with them; but to become a hanger-on in the halls of my ancestors-a humble companion to my fashionable and supercilious cousin -the heiress of Lord Gordon's title and wealth-subject to her surveillance, and submissive to her caprices, was a life which my heart revolted at; it spurned the splendid slavery which was to compromise its independence and humble its pride. Had Varnham counselled action instead of patience and submission, had he bade me to go forth in the world, to depend on my own energies, and win for myself a station highest among women, my own spirit would have seconded his council. The ambition, which from my childhood had slumbered an inherent but undeveloped principle in my heart, might have sprung up from the ashes of my affections, and the wild dreams of struggle and distinction, which had haunted my earliest years, might have lured me from the sweet home I had so loved, and from the resting-place of those who had "When I again returned to consciousness, Varnham so loved me. But I was now called upon to give up all was sitting beside my bed; physicians and attendants for a distinction which had nothing in it to satisfy a free were gliding softly about the room, and every thing was heart like mine; I had no desire for mere notoriety— hush as death around me. I was very faint and weak; nothing of the weak contemptible wish to shine as but I remembered that my mother was dead, and that I beauty or a belle-esprit among a crowd of superficial, had fainted; I whispered a request to see her once more heartless creatures of fashion. Ambition was with me --she had been buried three weeks. then but the aspirations of a proud and loving nature— "Varnham had heard of my father's death in Paris, a dream of power indistinct, and as yet, never brought

"When I awoke, the dawn was trembling through the heavy foliage of the balcony, and I observed, without thinking how it had happened, that in my death-like slumber I had been lifted from the carpet and laid upon a sofa. My head was dizzy, and acute pain shot through my temples; but I arose and staggered to the coffin. It was closed, but the roses which I had scattered over it, lay still fresh and dewy upon the glowing velvet. I made a feeble attempt to unclose the lid, but my head reeled, and I fell to the floor. A step was on the balcony, the sash-door was carefully opened, and some one raised me tenderly in his arms and bore me away.