As we have already told, the alarm she had felt, on hearing of Blandford's danger, had revealed to Carema the secret of her own heart; and as her bosom swelled, for the

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first time, with the sweet delirium of awakened passion, she blushed and trembled under contending emotions, until the startling fear of maiden coyness prevailed in the sudden gush of tears that followed, and relieved her from a consciousness that was growing too intense.

Fortunately, the immediate cause of her excitement remained unknown; and as soon as she had escaped from the tender assiduities of her friends, she sought her chamber, and in its quiet seclusion schooled her young heart into that self-command and apparent indifference, which are woman's best, perchance, her only, defence from the low devices of a world, which treats her tenderness as children gather flowers!-marring the form of beauty with a touch too rude.

This innocent deceit, if useful, had its pains and penalties:-she yearned for even the slightest intelligence, and yet she feared to request that an effort should be made to