between her two admirers, very remarkably | He was going to write to you to say everything

to the disadvantage of the one who now enjoyed the pleasure of her society.

CHAPTER XII.

For ever fortune dost thou prove
An unrelenting foe to love:
And when we meet a mutual heart
Step in between, and bid us part;
Bid us sigh on from day to day,
And wish and wish the soul away -
Till youth and genial years are flown,
And all the life of life is gone.

THOMPSON.

THAT fate does sometimes appear to set its face against the best intentions is a very melancholy truth. The next morning at breakfast, while some of the party were reading their letters, and Anne was eagerly trying to make out something that Ellis was telling Jane Anderson, about Frank having done all he could to make Mr. Hardwicke laugh in church, by pelting him with berries off the sprigs of holly, and Mr. Hardwicke shaking them off his book without ever raising his eyes to see where they came from, Frank himself dashed into the room, holding out a long, streaming play-bill, printed in large red

letters.

"Look here, mamma!" he said, inflicting his usual salute on the side of Mrs. Morton's pretty Mechlin cap; 66 see what that rascal Adams ought to have sent us a week ago. A performance at M-, for this very evening! I have written to order a box, and we must settle who shall go. You, of course, Miss Scawen, because you said the other day how much you would like to see one of Shakespeare's plays acted, and this is beline."

proper about not being able to come to you on Thursday. He has a good many things to look after, but I told him I would give his message instead. He means to drop in at the Armstrongs' for an hour, and that is as much as he

There was just one moment in this speech when Anne felt her eyes grow dim, and a strong disposition to sink from her chair; but she struggled against the weakness, and her cheek flushed; and breathing only a little more quickly, she looked up as if to read in the faces around her, what they thought or felt at the tidings.

Mrs. Morton was looking at her uneasily. Agnes Moray with a little dash of triumph in her expression.

"I am sure we shall miss him very much,"

said James.

"Very much, indeed," said Agnes, with a glance at Master Clavering.

A dissenting noise from Master Clavering. "Shall we not?" said Mrs. Morton, venturing to appeal to Anne.

This was too much-her lips trembled she broke into a faltering laugh, and left the room.

All that day she kept expecting that he would come. Every horse, every carriage, that passed near the house, gave her a sickening hope that died away as the sounds faded in the distance.

One of the strongest features of her sudden attachment was the entire trust with which her lover inspired her. None of that racking doubt and cloudy suspicion, which the poet has declared to be inextricably woven into the texture of love, ever disturbed her mind for an instant. From the first moment of her meetCym-ing him, he had singled her out alone; he had bestowed no notice upon any other person. She placed him beside Hugh in her thoughts as of one who could do no wrong. That he could forget her was as impossible as that she could cease to remember him. She had no perplexities, only the dread of separation on her mind, and she longed wearily for the moment of their meeting, that they might speak on the subject, and arrange if possible some means of communication during the long years that they must be parted.

Mrs. Morton murmured something that sounded as if she wondered whether it would be too cold for Anne at the theatre; but Frank exclaimed at the idea:

"Good heaven! my dear mother, when it is perfectly stifling; horrible, always at the M- theatre, - a wretched little den of a place, that can't be cold, and always crammed from floor to ceiling. Besides, Miss Jarman plays to-night, and I think Miss Scawen would like her Imogen."

He was waiting for them at the theatre. "Oh, how much I should like it!" said Mrs. Morton offered him a seat next herself, Anne. but, with that quiet manner which seldom deMrs. Morton had no more to say. Frank serted him, he said he could not think of ruled everything at Parkindale.

"And do you know," continued Frank, "that Hardwicke leaves on Friday morning.

crowding her, and that he had secured a seat in the adjoining box; by which means he contrived to place himself next to Anne, who

was seated close to the compartment, and could converse with her without being overheard.

"Or Hotspur," said Frank.

"I am sure we would not have Shakespeare," said Agnes, pertly. "We would get up a

"You did not come to-day," said Anne, a vaudeville." little reproachfully.

"No. I could not have seen you alone; and I have been thinking over what is to be done."

"How pretty Miss Jarman looks, Miss Scawen," said Frank Morton, leaning across the box, "with her fair hair and blue eyes! She is no bad representative of the matchless Imogen."

Anne, trembling with impatience, waited till they again turned to the stage.

"But I don't understand you," she said; "you cannot wish you cannot mean that I should elope with you?”

"No, Heaven forbid!" said Mr. Hardwicke, gravely. "Besides, that could not be, for many reasons. People cannot run off to India without some preparation- and I am too

Anne smiled faintly, glanced at the stage, poor. I would not expose you to hardships;

but, more than that, I would not expose you to the censure that always attaches itself to such a step."

"I thought so. I felt I could trust you better than myself," said Anne, fervently.

"Yet if, before I left, the ceremony were to pass between us," said Mr. Hardwicke, in a hurried manner,-"putting me out of the question, though I confess it would be to me an inexpressible comfort, - ask yourself whether you would not feel more tranquil during these silent years, knowing that nothing could ultimately separate us. Think it over, and let me know on Thursday. It will then be time."

-

"I wish to do what you think best," said Anne; "I have entire trust in you. I do not know how to act; I seem to have lost all

“I am sure,” said Anne, "I am fifteen; I power of thought." can feel I can see my own mind."

"And so can I, and I am nineteen; but I know what people would say. Now, I have been thinking it over, and I can see but one way to place our fate beyond the reach of accidents."

He hesitated, and seemed unwilling to proceed.

She was trembling violently.

"Think that we can

"I dread the idea of hurrying you into a promise that you might afterwards regret," said Mr. Hardwicke. never exchange a word or sign to say that we are living or dead, until your brother comes to protect you at Datchley; think whether there should not be some very strong bond between us, to make that silence more endurable; picture the future to yourself, and choose what will make you happiest; for me, I shall wish I had never crossed your path, if I cast a shadow on your way. Oh, when we meet again, I will make up to you for all!"

"Do not think you add to my cares," said Anne; "I am happier and prouder than I I think, with you, that I should not feel so lonely if

was.

-

"Think for me," said Anne; "I have told you I cannot, I am so confused. You must judge for me as you would wish a person to act who will one day bear your name."

He could only press her hand; they were all rising to go. Mrs. Morton declared it was beyond her to stay the afterpiece. The charm of the place had vanished with Imogen. The Anderson girls were drying their eyes; Agnes was using her flacon of salts as if she had been Overcome. Frank was pressing Mr. Hardwicke to return and sup with them.

He accepted the invitation, although he was obliged to return the same night to MBut it gave him an opportunity of riding beside Mrs. Morton's carriage, while Anne leaned from the window, as if looking out upon the frosty night.

They hardly spoke to each other, but Anne used to look back on that drive, beneath the brilliant stars, as the happiest hour she had ever passed.

A vague delight which she could not explain to herself, and a sadness which had in it no touch of sorrow, possessed her heart; she looked forward without terror to the future, for then he would have the right to protect her. The thought of her father's anger did not disturb her; he would know nothing until the time came for Arthur to claim her, and then Hugh would be on their side.

Day thoughts feed nightly dreams,
And sorrow tracketh wrong
As echo follows song.

H. MARTINEAU.

WHETHER any presentiment of ill crossed Master Clavering's mind or not, certain it is that he was in a horrible temper on the day of Lady Armstrong's party. He flatly refused to go, declaring that he had a dreadful pain in his chest, and that Anne should stay at home to keep him company.

On hearing this very cool announcement, Anne was frightened, and, like many frightened people, flew into a passion.

"Not go to Lady Armstrong's? That she would! She had set her heart upon it. If he chose to be sulky and stay at home, his servant might make his tea. And as for the pain in his chest, she did not believe in it; it was a very convenient pain; it always came when he was out of humor."

Now Master Clavering could put himself in a stubborn sort of passion, too, and he unfortunately retorted that:

"He supposed she wanted to go there to meet that fellow Hardwicke." Then her eyes flashed fire. some truth in this.

There was

"How dared he call people fellows who were better than himself! He once called Hugh a fellow! Her brother Hugh! She had a great mind never to speak to him again!”

"Ah! Hugh," said he, doggedly. "Much you are thinking about Hugh, now! I knew how long that would last."

"I am thinking of Hugh!" she exclaimed, with a stamp of her foot; "I wonder how you presume to say I forget him. He is the noblest creature that ever lived, and the handsomest, and not filled with jealousy and suspicion, like some other people. But you can only be friends with people who are friends with no one else; you can't see merit in any other person; and if your selfish ways are not humored, you say spiteful things, and insolent

So she surrendered herself to all the intoxication of a first attachment, without the alloy of fear or anticipation; and Mrs. Morton, as she looked at her tranquil face at the supper-things too, sir, which I will not bear." table, whispered to herself:

Her face was glowing, even her neck was

"Thank goodness! the danger is over, and crimson; but his feelings were less rapid. my little Anne is heart-whole."

"I can see little enough merit in myself, if you mean that," he said, with a kind of half melancholy simplicity that was almost touching; "and these fellows must be badly off, indeed, if they are not better off than I am in some respects," and he pressed his hand on his heart; "but it is no pleasure to me to hear them cried up, particularly Hardwicke ; for all you said for Hugh just now, you meant for him."

We do not live in the Palace of Truth, and voice. "I don't mind your being angry, but it is not usual to inform our friends, when they you must not cry. If you don't leave off, I'll are deceiving us, that we see through them. | shoot myself. You must stop, for I can't bear Anne colored still more deeply, and became it." even still more angry.

"You grudge everybody every bit of praise,” she cried, speaking still faster. You grudged Frank Morton praise for his dancing, and said he looked like a fool, hopping up and down like a sparrow. And you envied Mr. Anderson when he quoted those lines of Ben Jonson, and all the people admired them. You said they did not make sense. You are a dog in the manger."

"And what do I grudge Hardwicke?" he asked, sullenly.

"She shall stop presently, Mr. Clavering," said Mrs. Morton, smiling; "when next you see her, she will have quite a cheerful face; but when our nerves are shaken, they won't stand still immediately, -another thing that you gentlemen cannot be brought to comprehend. I am going to take Anne to my dressing-room, and after a little quiet, and a little eau de cologne, she will be quite a different person."

So in this pleasant frame of mind they parted; Mrs. Morton leading Anne upstairs, and Master Clavering returning to the chimney-corner in a state of great despondency.

'Everything," she exclaimed, recklessly; "for he is superior in everything to you and the others. And I will go to the Armstrongs'; Now Mrs. Morton was quite prepared, withand if you choose to say I go to meet him, out the shrewd advice that Master Clavering you may say it; even to papa you may say it, had given her, to keep her eye upon Anne. if you like, and I shall not care. There is She hoped, and believed indeed, that this causuch a thing as growing desperate!" tion was quite unnecessary; but she knew "What! my pretty Anne in a passion!" that sometimes wilful young people would do said Mrs. Morton, coming into the room, and | very extraordinary things, and that, even to quite surprised at the state of oxcitement in escape from Master Clavering, Anne might which she found her, standing opposite to take it in her head to run off with Mr. HardMaster Clavering's chair with flashing eyes wicke. and clenched hands, - and not less surprised, "You see how insolent he is, Mrs. Morperhaps, at Master Clavering's quiescent atti-ton!" exclaimed Anne, as she sat sobbing on tude, with his head leaning us usual against the sofa in that lady's boudoir. "You see he the corner of the chimney-piece. dictates to me as if I belonged to him. To suppose that I would stay at home for him! To obey his crazy whims! Never! I would rather die."

"Yes; she's in a rage, she won't stop at home with me," said that young gentleman, coolly.

"Oh! but Mr. Clavering, we have all counted on this party, and Anne could not be spared; perhaps you will be well enough, after all, to go with us."

"No, I shan't," he replied; "and if she goes, I advise you to look sharp after her, for you would not much like it, if she gave you the slip."

At this additional insult, Anne's overwrought nerves gave way, and she burst into

|

"Why, dear little Anne," said Mrs. Morton, pausing in her occupation of dropping lavender on lumps of sugar; "this much I say for Mr. Clavering, poor young gentleman! - that he has every reason to think his attentions very acceptable to your papa, and he has not quite tact enough to see how far they are acceptable to your papa's daughter. And remember, that hundreds of girls of the highest rank would be delighted at his notice, though it is so oddly expressed; for one day he will be "O little Anne, never mind, — he did not a very important personage, with more thoumean it! " said Mrs. Morton, good-naturedly, | sands a year than you or I imagine; so now drawing Anne's head on her shoulder; "boys are so clumsy with their random shots. I really beg your pardon, Mr. Clavering, but you are all of you too rough for us. You can never understand the meaning of the word feelings; and so, after all, it is hardly your | that her father intended to marry her to Masfault when you crush them."

tears.

But Master Clavering, after standing silent for a minute, looking perfectly aghast, went suddenly up to her, and seized her hand.

"Oh, but don't cry!" he said, in a terrified

take these lavender drops, like a good child, and lie down till it is time to dress."

Anne did as she was bid, and clasping her hands over her eyes, she lay thinking long and deeply over her affairs. She saw plainly, now,

ter Clavering some time or other. Mr. Clavering, she supposed, had the same intentions: she would put it beyond their power. If she gave her hand to Mr. Hardwicke, all their arguments, their threats, would not be able to

Anne's handkerchief from her son's destructive fingers.

"Miss Scawen, I claim the first quadrille, you know," said Frank, fidgeting about, as his mother, with that caressing fondness that her manner always assumed towards him, stood arranging his hair and cravat in a more becoming manner.

"I think I must beg you to excuse me,"

move her; but she felt that any less decisive pledge would be insufficient. How could she stand against her father's harsh determination and violence of temper, if a mere promise had passed between them? When it came to the point, she felt that she would not have courage enough to resist his will, and then, what misery! But once married, she could not comply with their demands; even Mrs. Scawen's malice would be wasted upon her, and she said Anne; "I have a bad headache, and I well knew with what acrimony her step-am mother would foster such a dispute. If she had ever hesitated in consenting to Mr. Hardwicke's wishes, the scene of this morning had resolved her. Her pride as much as her affection took the alarm. She to submit to such a miserable creature as Master Clavering! She to give him a right to control her! As she had once said to Mrs. Morton: "She had rather die!"

There were no tears when Mrs. Morton came to see her dressed, but her eyes were glittering like stars. Her white muslin dress, always "curiously fine," was simply relieved by a strip of red velvet round the neck and waist, and a cluster of fine white chrysanthemums at the back of her hair formed her only ornament.

66

Always nice and artistical; though you hardly know what that means yet," said Mrs. Morton; "and here, my love, is a great painted butterfly of a fan for you to flutter about. I observed you had not one at my dance." "O Mrs. Morton, you are a thousand times too good! I really —"

"I insist, my dear. Agnes Moray does a great deal with her fan, and, as she has constituted herself your rival, pray let it be war to the fan' between you."

Anne smiled and accepted, and Frank Morton, bursting in to ask for some perfume for his handkerchief, interrupted the conversation.

"My darling Frank, do put the stoppers back into my bottles, and don't pull that shelf down upon your head," urged Mrs. Morton. "Oh, the awkwardness of these boys! give me the flacon; you always take too much."

"Do you like otto of rose, Miss Scawen?" said Frank, giving his handkerchief to his mother to perfume. "What a lovely handkerchief! how transparent it looks! but your dress always is, — you always cut out everybody else."

"I cut them out at a very cheap rate, then," said Anne, smiling, and holding out her muslin skirt.

"He is pulling your lace to pieces, Anne. I warn you," said Mrs. Morton, rescuing

sure a single dance would make it so much worse that I should be obliged to leave the room.'

"Oh, this one dance!" cried Frank; "you will not be the worse for it, indeed; or, if you are, I will take up your cause against all comers,' and you shall not dance again."

"Oh, men, men!" said Mrs. Morton, smiling, and turning to Anne; "in heaven there will be more poor than rich, and more women than men; at least, so says some learned divine. But, my dear, I advise you to subscribe to his disinterested offer, for—" (she bent forward and whispered in her ear), "it will sound well to-morrow morning."

Anne was as quick as lightning. She colored, which blush, Frank, of course, set down to her being a good deal in love with him; but she saw directly that when Master Clavering should ask her, with his sullen look, with whom she danced, and she could reply, only with Frank Morton, things would go on much more peaceably between them.

When they all collected in the drawingroom to wait for the carriage, Master Clavering edged himself as near to Anne as he could, and stared hard at her for some moments.

"I say, I have had a letter from your father," he said; "would you like to see it? He comes here to-morrow, and we go straight back to King's Cope. What do you say to that?"

"I have nothing to say against it," said Anne, steadily. "Why should I desire to remain here any longer? On the contrary, I had rather be moving."

For, as Mr. Hardwicke was to leave the next day, she really felt relieved at the prospect of quitting the place where she had known him.

"Well, if you are not sorry, I am sure I am not," said Master Clavering. "It seems your mother-in-law finds the north does not agree with her. I am sure I thought she was too tough to mind anything. However, it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, and this will blow us, thank Heaven, over the border again."