t town of Revolutionary notoriety. The river, very wide at that point, was shaded by willow-trees to some extent along

air was fine and elastic, the water unexceptionable, and bathing and boating were among our privileged amusements. Among other less useful accomplis

me less than my solitary lessons, to which I gave such undivided attention, and notwithstanding Evelyn's professions of regret at the necessity of parting with me, and Mrs. Austin's belief t

to make of it. Mr. Bainrothe alone let in a little light

Gaston's education on your shoulders was worthy of diplomatic brains, and something I should scarcely have suspected that calm, quiet little woman to have been capable of conceiving. There is

d or wicked enough to entertain such an idea. I,

and confiding where your feelings are engaged. What

. I should not believe you, that would be all. You understand me now, Mr. Bainrothe; t

hem, I suppose?" with a snee

, Mr. Bainrothe; it hurts and offends me to hear them lightly discussed. If I am sent away from ho

yn was improved by her two years at school; besides, how would you ever increase your circl

e for my début into society? Very well, I shall not forget that; but pray

ining a wife for my son, I should educate her there. What higher eulogium co

re not training a wife for your prince in disguise." But I was annoyed and irritated by his patronizing manner, and the suspi

, but I saw triumph in his variegated

eat his affection, his confidence, misplaced as they surely are. I cannot do this if I would; something stronger than myself binds me to silence.

heart I turned from the lovely child I had made perhaps too much an idol; "and George, let

lady principals of the academy ready to take charge of me on our brief voyage. It was not in my nature to cherish depression or to make complaints and sudden confidences, and we chatted very cheerfully all the way up

whole, and I earned the esteem of my teachers, by my zeal and diligence in my studies, and

ear George Gaston, where was there another like him? I have known no one so gifted, so spiritual, so simply affectionate, as this child

n of hearing Dr. Pemberton, our good and skillful family physician, pronounce him out of danger a week later, but he would suffer me to go from him no more. The voice of Nature asserted her claim at last, and, feeling within himself that

hat I am willing to devote every moment of my time to you if needful;" or that Mrs. Austin added: "Miriam is so well, and growing so fast, that I am afraid to see her take on care again, for fear of a check; and now that Mabel is partly weaned from her they are both happy t

. and Miss Stanbury, or bluff old Mr. Gerald, at the

I will surrender every thing I possess, save a stipend, into her hands, and Evelyn and Mabel and I

u, a superb-looking man yet, younger than I am, no doubt; young enou

't you know, Bainrothe, I am a fatal upas-tree to t

s the Widow Stanbury, willing and wa

ng eye upon him t

at subject rest hereafter, unless, indeed, your object is feud with me. You shall not sland

ited for no reply. I understood hi

ne. "I would cut off my right hand before I would give it to a Bainrothe,

the sake of cheerfulness than warmth. Mabel was playing on the hearth of her nursery preparatory to going to bed, and I was in the adjoining

already in a blaze. I caught Mrs. Austin's heavy shawl from the bed, and promptly extinguished the flames, but not without receiving serious injury myself. The child, with t

se lethargic attacks from which I had been entirely free for the last two years. It is true they were brief in duration compa

health, and no trace remained, except those carefully

rom abroad, and the other the rather mysterious visit of a gentleman, young and handsome, but poorly clad, who had inquired for my step-mother, Mrs. Constance Monfor

to the carriage, dressed for visiting, and had said to her, me

e Constance Glen-now, as you tell me,

y, however, since she was severely burned a few days since, a

he could not possibly receive you,' pausing on the steps for a reply. This was of course all that was required of me, but he merely lifted his hat with a cool 'Thank you, Miss Monfort,' and went his way silently.

yn," I remarked, as mildly as I could. "Mamma's brother! Oh, what would I

ed nor spoke. You could not have seen him in your condition, at any rate, Miriam, so you need not look so vexed; and I had no idea of having papa annoyed so soon after his severe attack. Besides, I wa

conquering a qualm of feeling at these words

ual age of all such bores. You know mamma was seven or eight and twenty whe

mamma, Evelyn? Was he tall or short, fair or da

emember; with fine eyes, however. Not as good-looking as Claude Bainrothe, by any means. Commonplace, very, with a seedy coat. By-the-way, Mi

fear. "Nay, it is you rather, Evelyn, who have captivated this piece of perfectio

have brought to you in your solitude. They are very observing, truly," she pursued. "Creatures that ne

'No' if you dare," and I grasped her slender wrists playfully. She

aned forward and kissed my cheek tenderly, disengaging her hands as she did so. Her manner had so chan

ransparent that every one understood them perfectly, motive and all, and which my father winked at evidently,

tions and prospects. I have fathomed his depth pretty successfully, and I find him full of shoals and s

perfectly willing to pass him over to me a

the world. Old Bainrothe would never forgive me; and, as I once bef

He is like a lion in that alone. I wish, though, he would give me a little of his elixir of life, for dear papa; he has never looked himself since t

a little; then they rally again and look almost as well as ever in a few years, up to sixty or seventy.

y-his very step has changed recently. Oh, I hope, I hope I may be deceived!" And I covered my face with my hands, praying aloud, as I

d Evelyn Er

s popularity, with Mrs. Stanbury, Laura, and George Gaston-Norman had been recently placed in the navy and he was absent now, and M

p to set their words to music, and roar and howl in each other's ears, the world will be mad, and the

g attended during the winter about twenty representations of this great musical spectacle

India shawl, that had been my mother's, caught by a cameo clasp across the bosom. Suddenly I felt the pin wrenched away and the shawl torn from my shoulders. In another moment there was a cry-a scuffl

ly, throwing the shawl about my shoulders as he spoke, and laying

for trepidation on my part. My own party, pressing steadily on, had not yet missed me, so that, ev

"I hope you are not

Mrs. Stanbury's white plume as observingly as did the followers of Henry of Navarre, without turning again until I reached the box she had entered. I was shocked

late my adventure, which brought the blood hot

s of little account. I might as well be a woman;" and the tears flowed down his quivering cheeks. "It was shameful, disgraceful

or there I was lagging away behind, through my own fault, and how could you, in front, between your aunt and Laura, possibly know what danger was in store for

oman, I suppose-a heroine!" with bitter sarcasm in his voice and eye, for t

s. Stanbury. "What has Miriam done to deserve such a taunt?

tanbury, sharply. "Don't you know you are attract

n-up lady, the heroine, the heiress, who lingers behind in the lobby, in order to get up little melo

word I shall go home alone, or burst into tears on the spot, and disgrace myself and

"Lend me your handkerchief, Laura, mine has mysteriously disappeared. There-Richard's himself

of human enjoyment is to pursue one's own tastes independently of Mrs. Grundy, whether musical, or literary, or artistic, according to my mode of thinking. In all the pauses of the opera, however, I saw that handsome and agitated face, that had last caught my eye

ore less often used (there, you have our whole first-floor arrangement now, my reader, I believe, and I must begin over again, to catch the clew of my long sentence). We were sitting, then, around the cheerful fire in the parlor in question, when Morton, my father's "own man," announced "Mr. Bainrothe and son," and a moment afterward the two gentlem

ll-shaped head, nobly placed on his straight, square shoulders-wide for a man so slight-dark eyed, dark haired, with a mouth somewhat concealed by a long silken mustache

expressly to introduce him to you, M

, then tossed his curled

eye rose to meet mine. "You were good enough to restore me my shawl

"Forgive me, if in the confusion of the moment I failed to remark your appearanc

the idea. "Miriam related her adventure, but was sorely puzzl

tially, "but I merely obeyed an impulse strong with me. I should have bee

sing the apartment, she applied herself to the entertainment of the elder Mr. Bainrothe, "Mr. Basil," as we called him after his son came, by wa

accompaniment of age or experience, the son seemed the elder man of the two. I had yet to learn that there is an experie

ke the school-boy who has proved his sums, it wipes the slate clean again and

he," I hazarded, "from the expression of your face as I caugh

little blood to my lips, and for the time I suffered. Had it not been for the faintness under which I was labori

faces at a glance that is rather uncommon, I believe. I never forget any one I ha

once drinks in a face" (and he looked steadily at mine while he spoke those words slowly, as if wrapped in contempl

, the only sensible one, I believe, by-t

ustice. Have you stud

d to read him, and failed. I think he had a very c

he observed. "When you see the pebbles at the bott

n in the river. Keats wanted a current, it seems to me, to give him vit

ughingly, "ingenious, but at fault; you are begging

im; he has every thing to s

l; and Byron? and Moore? and Mrs. Hema

was a perennial fountain, singing at its source, and nearly all was fragmentary that he wrote, of course, wanting an outlet. The mind finishes out so much for itself, and the

eally, Miss Monfort, and give a woman's reason

I should not enjoy poetry as I do were I a better critic. I love flowers far more than many

ngs; do you

assion

seen so much of it, I like nature far better;" adding, af

being n

little irony in the voice and eye. The te

with wisdom! Did you ever go to Frankfort? Did you see the statue of Goethe there? Can you read 'Faust' in the original? Oh, I should like to so much, but I know nothing of German. I never could learn the character, I am convinced. French and Italian only. There was such a beautiful picture of 'Margaret'

am cloyed with them. And as to German books, I never want to see another. The old 'Deer-Steal

for truth and power. But to leave poetry for its sister art, you mus

on't care for science. Such an adventure as I had last night," he murmured low, "was worth a do

re carrying on a little quiet flirtation, as usual, and have quite turned their backs on me, so I ca

that have bored, rather than proved, Mr. Bainrothe, I fear. Take up the dialogue, dear Evelyn, for a few moments,

proached them, "and you could not have a safer investment. It is as soun

ng. "Excuse me for ten minutes," and I dro

iness meditations while papa is gone,"

days, 'I live on poisons, and they have no power, but are a kind of nutriment.' Now, talking to a prett

you with my society," I s

oolish. You know what I mean, very

cal, though, now and then; intolerant of you

s the Emerald Isle. Just from college, and very young; wha

, very different from his easy, knightly air with me. She wore a cold, imperious expression of face not unbecoming to her haughty style of be

for the star," burst fro

She is much too old for my son, much too artificial; and, beautiful as she is, she wants some nameless charm, without wh

!" I replied, with evident embarrassme

no grace, no perfection wanting. I am sorry to see you thrown so yo

go to parties, and my studies are as dear to me as they ever were. Besides, Mab

s that,

ortimer-you have heard of him-and he is pleased, so f

but what will it amount to, after all? You will never have to earn your bread in that w

ealed from me before; in this way, Shakespeare, Milton, Scott, all acquire new

o? Really, there is no end to his presump

erential-he has the courteous European manner, which, when high-bred, is so pol

his is all I can extort from her; but she is very hard to pleas

r elicited by this sally, and again the downcast head, the clasped hands, the low, entreating voice d

he did so; he glanced impatiently at the door through which my father was to enter, and, when finally his friend came, after a brief conference in a corner with

e alarmed! I have put a quietus on all presumptuous hopes in that quarter forever, and now, Miriam, I hand him over to you sig

, dryly, speaking with

r what he had heard of your appearance-from the Stanburys, I suppose-and observed that there were

d condescending," I repl

iam. Any one could see that. I noticed his i

Evelyn, or do you merely interpret them a

ad he wished to. Poor fellow! I hope you will be kinder to him than I have b

ascinating a man, and making him over to another, unsolicited. Claude Bainrothe would suit you exactly,

er little foot impatiently as my answer was d

e up the deficiency," I said, embracing

wer to please her, unconscious that an invisible barr