tory, they upheld their rights by planting the British flag at the same spot, under Captain Owen, in 1822; under Commodore Nourse, and again under Captain Owen, in 1823. The Portuguese, upon this, appeared to have claimed the district which had belonged previously to the Dutch, and then to the Kaffirs, and disputed the right of possession. The Boers of the South African Republic, desirous of an outlet to the sea, next coveted the easy and short road presented by the valleys of the Umzuti and Tembe rivers, and the splendid shelter and anchorage of Delagoa Bay. The English and Portuguese alike disputed the outlet from the interior, and the former once more planted their flag in these neglected regions, to which recent discoveries had attached a new importance.

The question, such as it is, has been referred for arbitration to the government of M. Thiers. It has not been by such squeamish sentimentality that Great Britain has extended her power over a large portion of the globe, or that the Yankees will gradually extend theirs; but, which ever way the arbitration goes, the future will not be retarded, for with the navigation of the Limpopo in the hands of the English, the gold and diamond-fields north of the same river also in English hands, and south of the river, in those of the Boers, there must be a free port in Delagoa Bay, as surely as the regions comprised between the Zambesi and the Cape will one day be a confederated state.

THE IRISH UNIVERSITY BILL.

WHAT wonder that our Minister of State
Should Modern History and Ethics hate,
Or that Political Economy

Should find in him a bitter enemy,

When History's most modern page brings shame

On England's sons, and on her rulers blame,

And Ethics damn the quibbling tongue, that shows
Black to be white with casuistic gloze,

While Economic Science is no friend

To Statesmen, who their country's treasure spend
To purchase peace, in warfare soon to end!

THE LOST BRACELET.

V..

LESTOCQ was immediately summoned, and ordered to set off without loss of time for Baden-Baden, to engage rooms and prepare for his master, who proposed to follow next day. This decision brought at least tranquillity to Tollington's mind, which the struggle between inclination and duty had greatly disturbed. He had decided in favour of the former, while he convinced himself that he had done only that which the latter in self-justice required of him. In the afternoon of the day of his arrival at Baden, Tollington was strolling out with some friends he had accidentally met there-the Count and Countess Podowski-when Mrs. Thirlwell and Charlotte drove by. He saluted them as they passed. Mrs. Thirlwell's hopes rose again to the pinnacle whence they had so lately fallen. For the first time since leaving Homburg, she spoke to her daughter in a cheerful tone.

"She was so glad their friend had arrived—she wondered when he came-she wondered at what hotel he was staying-and she wondered who those very distinguée people were with whom he was walking."

She had said in the morning to Jones-for she had not chosen to talk much with her daughter-that "Baden was dull, and stupid to the last degree. Nobody of any consequence there, and she should go on next day."

But Mr. Tollington had left his card during her absence, and that gave a different aspect to affairs.

She, however, objected to appear to make a change in her plans on his account; but contrived to sleep late the next morning, and to awake with a terrible headache which confined her to her bed for the day; and the journey was, thus, postponed to a more convenient time.

It was a very lovely morning, and-although Mrs. Thirlwell's throbbing head must be laid on the pillow-"Charlotte," she said, "must not lose the benefit of it. Jones should go with her for a walk."

But Mrs. Thirlwell detained her daughter and her maid so long in attendance upon her, in rubbing the palms of her hands and her aching temples with eau-de-cologne that, as she had foreseen, Mr. Tollington was announced before she had dismissed them. Charlotte was deputed to make her excuses.

Mrs. Thirlwell kissed her affectionately, and murmured languidly, "Find out, dear, how long he means to stay here, and for the rest, remember my wishes, receive him amiably-and-don't refuse him, Charlotte."

She sank back on her pillow, exhausted.

Charlotte smiled.

"Mamma," she said, "Mr. Tollington is not likely, I think, to speak of marriage before he has spoken of love. I hope he is not so self-conceited, and so ungallant."

"You have no pity on my head, Charlotte," said Mrs. Thirlwell, peevishly.

"Nor you on my heart, mamma," she replied, playfully, as she left the room.

Charlotte was absent nearly half an hour, and Mrs. Thirlwell, who was on the watch for her return, in a sort of cat-like doze, began to be very hopeful.

Charlotte and Tollington had, in fact, greeted each other in a very friendly way; a little more warmth and empressement, of course, in his manner than in hers. After duly expressing his grief for Mrs. Thirlwell's suffering state-though, by the way, he felt grateful for being relieved from the restraint of her presence he had managed to extend his visit to the very utmost limit of time that les convenances permitted. Charlotte thought it rather a short visit; for Toilington could make himself exceedingly agreeable, and on that occasion was anxious to do so. He was never at a loss for pleasant subjects of conversation; and he had touched on various topics in order to ascertain what especially interested her. Charlotte liked him much better than she had done before; but when she returned to her mother and could tell her nothing more than that Tollington had talked to her about Baden and other places, and had given her glowing descriptions of certain spots in Switzerland, which she had told him she much longed to see, Mrs. Thirlwell could hardly believe, she said, "that a man over head and ears in love, as she was sure he was, would let such an opportunity, as she had arranged for him of declaring his passion, slip away in foolish talk about mountains and waterfalls!"

She had recovered sufficiently from her indisposition, to walk out the next morning with Charlotte, and Tollington, who had been on the alert, soon joined them. He told Mrs. Thirlwell, in the course of conversation, that his friends, Count and Countess Podowski, much wished for an introduction to her.

"They were very charming people; of distinguished Polish family, and exceedingly wealthy. If she would allow so recent an acquaintance as himself to make them known to each other he

would feel highly honoured, and he was sure she would be pleased with his friends."

This proposal was highly gratifying to Mrs. Thirlwell, who said, "She had already been greatly struck by the graceful elegance of the countess;" though she had not, in fact seen her before the previous day. "But what of that?" thought Mrs. Thirlwell, why should truth be spoken, when a little fiction makes things much pleasanter?"

It was arranged that Tollington should call with his friends the following morning; but when Mrs. Thirlwell repaired to the Kursaal the same evening with her usual two florins, she found the trio already assembled there. So ceremony was waived, and the introduction took place then and there.

The Baden-Baden season was somewhat advanced, yet there still remained a tolerable sprinkling of visitors. Tollington exchanged bows and smiles of recognition with several persons in the saloon; but he and his party eschewed "the tables" entirely, and were content to observe and converse. Mrs. Thirlwell and her new acquaintances were, apparently, mutually pleased; Charlotte was monopolised by her lover, who suggested when they left the Kursaal-as the moon was shining brightly, and the evening air was soft and balmy-that they should all walk home together. It was delightfully pleasant, no doubt, for before the party separated an excursion was arranged for the next day.

More than a fortnight passed away in parties of pleasure, picnics, riding, and driving, exchanging visits, and dining together; the small circle having been increased by a few acquaintances, old and new, met at Baden by one or other of the friends.

Charlotte had made two or three conquests. But Tollington was constantly at her side and kept would-be suitors at bay. "He seemed, she thought, to understand her every wish and fancy, and to seek to anticipate them; but, except in the language of flowers, or in the more eloquent one of the eyes-which she quite understood, but had not translated to mammana-he had not spoken of love. And Charlotte was well pleased that it should be so; though she began to confess to herself that not even Edward Weston was a more agreeable companion than Arthur Tollington.

Mrs. Thirlwell, however, was not so well satisfied: "Such trifling," she said, "was abominable!" Suddenly, she announced her departure for Switzerland. "That," she said, "ought to bring him to the point."

It did not; and she set out on her journey, secretly, much annoyed with herself for so abruptly breaking up the pleasant little côterie she had lately drawn around her at Baden.

VI.

On the evening of Mrs. Thirlwell's departure, Arthur Tollington was taking a solitary ramble, dreaming of his idol, whose heart he then almost dared to hope fluttered a little with the passion he sought to inspire, when he was accosted by a tall, thin woman, of genteel appearance, dressed in mourning. Her voice awakened him from the pleasant reverie into which he had fallen. turned towards the speaker, and, in a tone which betrayed great annoyance, said:

He

"Pauline, how is it you are not in England? I gave your husband a sum far beyond what was requisite to take you both over."

"Don't be angry with me, Mr. Tollington," she answered. "James has sent me to you with this." And she took a small parcel from her pocket. "We had got as far as Calais when we met with Brinsley, just arrived from England, and on his way to Paris. He and James talked over the business which had brought him to France, when my husband recommended that you should be asked to arrange the matter for him, as it is one of importance and worth your attention. Brinslev agreed to his proposal, and James sent me back instantly to Homburg. I am to meet them in Paris."

Tollington thrust back impatiently the packet she held towards

him.

"I know nothing of Brinsley," he said.

"Don't be angry," she repeated. "James spoke of you only by your former business name of Rilhams. He thought you would do him this favour, because he would gain something by it, and he has the funeral of his father yet to pay for. I wish he would give up such a mode of life, and that we could take the house I told you of and furnish it."

"I am very sorry for you, Pauline," he answered, "but your husband will never let you settle down to a quiet respectable life. I have assisted him far beyond what he had any reason to expect from me; for claim he has none. All transactions between us are at an end, as I told him at Homburg. For your, and your children's, sake I am still willing to do something more; but I must be quite sure that what I do will be for your benefit. I repeat, I know nothing of the man Brinsley, and in this affair of his and your husband's, whatever it may be, I decline to interfere. But take this for your own use, Pauline"-and he gave her a five