She led him forth, and she bade him sing:

Then bade him cease; and the gold of his hair

She touched with her hands; she embraced him there, Then lifted her voice and proclaimed him King.

And the men made fair in their new-found loves,

They all cried "King!" and again and again,

Cried "Long may they live, and long may they reign, And be true to their loves as the red-billed doves :

"Ay, long may they live, and long may they love,
And their blue-eyed babes with the years increase,
And we all have love, and we all have peace,
While the seas are below or the sun is above.

"Let the winds blow fair and the fruits be gold,
And the gods be gracious to King and Queen,
While the tides are gray or the Isles are green,
Or the moons wax new, or the moons wane old!"

FINIS.

LEAVES FROM A LOST DIARY.

BY M. BETHAM-EDWARDS, AUTHOR OF "KITTY," " DR. JACOB," &c.

June 15th, Morning.

T is hardly light, and yet I am up and dressed, counting with anxious heart the hours that must elapse before my husband's return. All night long I lay awake, trying to see some way of escape out of the misery and shame before me; but could discover none. Before nightfall he will be here, and will have learned all from my own lips. As I look at myself in the glass I start back, horrified at the ghost of the once happy creature I used to see there. Will Harry recognise in this woe-begone, hollow-eyed spectre the young wife he left a few months ago? Were my hair only grey I should look quite old.

How shall I tell him? In the first hour of his home-coming, or a little later, when we sit before the fire in the twilight? Will he send me away from him, and bid me never cross his path again? Will he let me stay in his home still, his wife in name, in all else his burden, his curse, his enemy? I do not know; I have never yet seen my husband angry.

As I look back I can recall the beginning of temptation. We had been married only a few months when we went to London, and Harry introduced me to his friends and relations. He was not rich, and in marrying a country vicar's daughter without a penny had affronted his own family, who had hitherto boasted of having no poor relations belonging to them. I was now that poor relation. "Put on all your finery," he said to me a day or two before my introduction was to take place; "my cousin John's wife is a grand personage, and I do not wish her to say that I have married a dowdy." I ransacked my poor little wardrobe with dismay. What else could I be but a dowdy? I cried with vexation as I saw how poor a figure I should make at Lady Mary's in my cheap silk dress and coral ornaments. No; to go in such attire was impossible. I sat on my trunk, debating in my mind which of two things was best to do-to go sullenly to Harry and say that unless he could give me some money for a new dress I must stay at home, or, what was much easier, to procure a dress and jewels without saying anything about the

matter, and to pay for them by quarterly instalments of my allowance. Surely there would be nothing wrong in that! When Harry promised to give me fifty pounds a year he made no bargain as to the manner of spending it. I put on my bonnet and shawl and went straight to a jeweller's shop, whither Harry had taken me to choose my betrothal ring. The man recognised me, and when I asked, blushing and hesitating, if I might pay for the things I wished to buy in a short time hence, he assured me nothing would be more agreeable to him. I was persuaded to take away what seemed, amidst the splendour before me, a very modest set of pearl and ruby ornaments; then I went to a milliner and ordered a white satin dress, returning home intoxicated with the foretaste of my triumphs.

All that Harry said on seeing me ready dressed to go with him was, "So; you have got some new clothes-and they well become you! But you must make your allowance do, my poor little girl, and not get into trouble." I suppose the bare suspicion of debt just occurred to him. This was the beginning of harm. My first appearance was successful, and Harry came away better pleased with me than ever.

"It is highly desirable that you impress my relations favourably," he said, as we drove home. "They are all rich, and half of them are childless"-and then he stopped, as if shocked at his own suggestion. It was a worldly thought, but I could not help dwelling upon it; and the more I saw of the luxurious world outside our own, the more discontented I felt. Bouquets, flowers, jewels, and perfumes never tired me. I looked upon our little home as a prison-house; and Harry, who had the reputation of being a wit, liked society for different reasons, and was welcome wherever he went. Thus we

soon saw ourselves dragged into a round of dinners, soirées, and balls.

I suppose jewels excite the same passion in women as cards and wine do in men. I know that from the first time of procuring those fatal ornaments I felt an insatiable craving for others. Two or three gifts from my husband's aunts, mostly antiquated ear-rings and brooches, did not satisfy me. I wanted something more in keeping with my youth, that youth of which I had heard nothing in my country home, but which was always being praised now; to have smooth cheeks, red lips and dimples, seemed a virtue among my husband's relations, and to compensate in some degree for my sinful poverty; they petted me and flattered me-especially the men-till I took great credit to myself for being pretty, and thought it only right that I should do justice to such good qualities. Thus

it came about that from small beginnings I grew to be overwhelmed with debt. I never got a new dress or ornament without making some virtuous resolve, just as upon the heel of any poor little economy I was sure to commit some fresh extravagance. There was always the hope that Harry's income would increase. It seemed impossible that Government would let us go on starving much longer upon six hundred a year! Again, there was the chance of a legacy any day. When real anxiety stared me in the face, it was staved off with such arguments as these; though for the most part I lived in happy unconcern. A year ago I began to be uneasy because I was asked to pay a milliner by whom I had at first been begged to get into debt. Harry was just then very much worried about his own affairs, and I felt that I would rather part with every one of my beloved jewels than go to any of his family. I racked my brain, and at last could only hit upon my sister Janey as the person likely to help me. She kept house for my father, and though they had only a hundred and fifty pounds a year to live upon, they were so careful that they always had a little to give away to the poor. Janey's answer and five pounds came back by return of post. "Dearest Lucy," she wrote, "I send all I have; but I dare not mention what you have done to our father. It would break his heart."

That letter made me laugh and cry. Kind, simple Janey! What was such a sum as five pounds to poor debt-burdened me? I felt half disposed to send it back, and only refrained because I knew how greatly it would vex my sister. The milliner was appeased by some device for a time, however, and then my worries began afresh. Now it was a jeweller, now a hairdresser, now a lace-cleaner, who showed growing signs of uneasiness. Again and again, I was on the point of going to my husband and confessing all, but could not summon courage. At last he was sent abroad for a few months on official business, and I determined somehow to set things right before he came home. How the time has passed I cannot tell. It seems only yesterday that there remained a long reprieve before me, but now it is gone! Looking back, I feel that if I had strained every nerve I might still have avoided this disgrace. I might have urged upon the jewellers to take back their goods. I might have humbled myself before some of my husband's relations, and borrowed the necessary money of them. It seems to me, as I sit here in despair, that I might have done a hundred things to avert the ruin hanging over me. Oh! father, father! what would you say if you could see your poor little Lucy now? Would you believe her if she told the reason of her tears and self-abasement? As I write this, the remembrance of my wedding

day comes back to me; the pride of it, the joy of it, the hope of it! My father could hardly have felt prouder had he married me to a prince. Harry was so handsome, so clever, so well-born! Compared to ourselves, too, he seemed quite rich, and whenever he took me home on a visit, we were looked upon as grand folks by all the neighbours. Ah, me! how shall I ever bear to go home again?

He

Evening. Whilst I was writing this morning Harry came. had travelled all night in order to get home a few hours sooner, having great news to communicate to me. I listened without a word,

and in his elation he did not notice how I trembled. before seen him so gay and so eager.

I had never

"Lucy," he cried, "Fortune smiles upon us at last, and if we choose, the days of our poverty and insignificance are over. I have had a Government appointment in India and a thousand a year offered me. Yes or no? Shall we stay here, beggars, or go to a new country, and live in ease all the rest of our lives?"

There was not a trace of the indifference and coldness of manner habitual with him as he said this, and, without waiting for my answer, he went on enthusiastically:

"You, Lucy, will be a little queen out there, and I shall no longer be a mere drudging clerk, a bond slave of routine. I have always been ambitious, as you know, and at last I see a chance of doing something with my life. But what is the matter? you are white as death. Oh! child, what can have happened?"

"I am not ill, Harry; don't be frightened; but I have done something very wrong, and the dread of telling you has made me like this."

He dropped my hand, and turning very pale, scrutinised me for a second, I know not with what dreadful thought in his mind; then we sat down side by side on the sofa, and I told him as best I could. "How much do you owe altogether?" he asked.

"Fifteen hundred pounds," I faltered out.

Fifteen hundred pounds! Income of two years and a half! Oh, Lucy!"

That was all he said, but his manner of saying it I shall never forget. Then he left me, saying that he must have a quarter of an hour to himself to think of what could be done; and at the end of that time he came back to me.

"Lucy," he said, quite calmly, and almost without looking at me, "to accept that post is now impossible. I cannot begin a new life