the various causes to which he attributed his stay, that kept him so long in town, after the original motive that had carried him there had ceased to operate. He heard nothing of the widow or her niece; and he forbore to make inquiry. The letters which came occasionally from his agent, referred solely to matters of business. At last, in one of them he read the following paragraph:

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"By the way, the girl whom you used to notice here Sir, has fallen sick. I understand that she was for some time engaged to a certain young man of this neighborhood, by name Robert Emerson, a handsome fellow, and a great vanquisher of women's hearts. He is well to do; but he is too prudent, if I know him rightly, to choose a wife without money. It is not difficult to forsee the termination of this romance."

""Soh!" said Baliol, when he had finished reading this bitter news; "and this is the cause of her silence ! Want of fortune, however, shall not mar her if she loves this man."

prospects,

'If she loves him, a brilliant doubt! First, he would satisfy himself on this point, and then let Fate have her way. Should she intrust he management of this delicate inquiry to his agent, Snare? No; he would once more venture within the witch's circle, and force the secret from herself.

V.

With four horses harnessed to his chariot, Baliol was soon at H. During his journey, indeed, he had leisure to start and run down a hundred speculations.

Doubt after doubt arose, and would not disappear before the most strenuous efforts of his reason. Alas, for reason! That great faculty which our wise ones tell us is the all in all here, before which imagination itself is to pale and finally dissolve,-what can it do, when the state of man is troubled? when fever is within him, or a tempest of accidents around? Does it not almost seem, that in times when it is most wanted, the great faculty of the philosophers is useless?

'In the mean time, the carriage flew rapidly along, and Baliol arrived eventually at the manor-house. He was not expected. His own rooms were shut up, half disfurnished, and redolent of damp. His housekeeper and her colleagues were absent at a village party; his gardener was chirping, cricket-like, at the merry hearth of the Checquers. No one remained, save a dull coun try girl, hired or borrowed for the occasion, to "take "of the property, and defend it from the incursions of strangers.

care

'The evening was delightful; for it had been one of those balmy days of April, in which the sun, and the glistening showers, contending for mastery, seem to strive which shall do most for their beautiful charge, the earth. Yet, to Baliol's eyes all looked solitary, lowering, disconsolate. His spirit sank within him; and he felt as men afflicted by hypochondriasis often do gloomy and prostrate, before the charming and tranquillizing influence of the setting sun.

'After intimating that he should sleep at the manorhouse that night, he walked forward to the widow's home; entered it unannounced, as he was wont to do;

and found himself at once in the presence of her he sought.

up a tress of her

Upon seeing him, opened, seemed as

'She was alone, and was tying glossy hair, which had fallen down. she started up Her mouth, half though she was about to speak · but she forebore ; and, pressing her temples with her hands (which manifestly trembled), she sat down again, in silence. As Baliol gazed upon her, an irresistible feeling of admiration for a thing so fair, stole into his mind, and softened the sternness of his countenance. And, indeed, with her form bent forward so modestly towards him; with her eyes (those "large dark" and once more "melancholy eyes") cast sadly down; and her cheeks flushed by some powerful emotion; she deserved to have had a painter, equal to the task, to rescue so beautiful a picture from oblivion.

'Gradually, the blood faded from her face; and then Baliol had leisure to remark that she must have suffered greatly from illness. She was pale, and thin; far beyond what he had imagined. In his ordinary mood, he would have cursed himself for assailing with a syllable of reproach, a creature so touched by sorrow; but now - his own wild disappointed passions intervened, and marred the gentleness of his nature. It was necessary to account for his visit; and therefore - scarcely knowing what he said - he burst at once into the middle of the subject:

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Soh, - you are in love, Miss Sumner ?” "Sir?" said she, startled, yet somewhat statelily. ""I mean," resumed Baliol, "that you are admired - beloved, by a person of this place; and that your

marriage is postponed - abandoned, for want of for

tune, Be at ease! I am here,

come hither for that sole purpose.

to aid you. I have

You shall not go to

the arms of your husband, a beggar. Your dowry is in my hands; and I am ready to pay it."

The face of the poor villager betrayed wonder; but, after a little pause, she answered,

slowly but tremulously, "Whenever I go if I ever go (an unlikely thing) to the the home of any man, I shall go as you say, Sir, just the beggar that I now am."

""Do not use such terms, Mary," said he, reproachfully.

"“I follow your words, Sir," replied she.

"But this young man," persisted her interrogator, "what is his name? - Robert

'She smiled, when he arrived at the name, almost bitterly. Baliol, who did not notice the quality of the smile, felt irritated at her fancied exultation, and with his breath pent up,-like one bound on a desperate question, implicating life and death, he retorted on her quickly-"You love him, then?"

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"He has

““I — hate him," said she, with energy. intruded himself upon me; he has insulted me; and now, as it seems, he has belied me."

'So young and so untender?'

said Baliol: yet his eye brightened as he spoke; his hands, which had been clenched and contracted, relaxed; and he breathed once more freely. After a few moments' pause, he rose, opened the window of the cottage, and gazed for a time on the quiet scene before him. "It is a lovely evening," said he but the tone

of his voice was uneven. He was evidently in great agitation forming rapidly and as rapidly abandoning a variety of plans of conduct. It seemed, however, as if none had satisfied him; for he returned to his seat fuller of embarrassment than before.

"Mary," said he, to him, gently, timidly.

and paused.

-and paused. She looked up "Mary, there is some person

whom you love; and—I must know him. Do not deny it," continued he, seeing that she was about to speak, "but hear me. I have a right to be heard; for I have given you, Mary,

give."

as much as a man can

"I am most grateful, Sir," she was proceeding; but he checked her.

"I do not

""Peace!" said he, with a faint smile. refer to the poor trifles which you have so kindly accepted a part, after all, of my superfluities; but of a thing of more value of value, at least, to me. I have given you more than you can ever repay, Mary for the only thing that could have requited me (and it would have done so a thousandfold) you have lavished on another."

"You perplex me, Mr. Baliol," said she; but he took no notice of her observation, and continued

"You have strewn ashes in my path, Mary. I came here, happy - tranquil at least; and I departa melancholy man."

"What is it that you mean, Sir?" inquired she. Her eyes expanded; and she spoke anxiouslyeagerly.

"I mean," said he, in a voice soft and deep from exceeding tenderness "I mean that I love you,