"Gertrude, I cannot conceal from you that we are both in the power of a villain—I have told you, and I again repeat it; the circumstances which have placed me there I will only disclose with my dying breath, if even then;-how soon that may be, depends upon your decision. I can no longer conceal from you that he does possess a claim over you-nay, be still, and hear me-which he is ready to relinquish, if, within twenty-four hours, I can raise five hundred pounds-this I must accomplish, or my ruin-your wretchedness for life, is inevitable."

Gertrude began to breathe at this unexpected relief.

"If he obtains this sum, he has pledged himself to quit the kingdom; and with worlds, if I had them, would I purchase his absence."

"But what are those mysterious claims which this man has upon me? why not bring them forward openly?—let them be urged in the face of the world :-in this land of freedom-in my uncle's house-what have I to fear?"

66 As you value your father's memory, as you value my peace-my life-let this transaction be for ever buried in silence if there were a way to

escape-if it were possible to release ourselves from him, can you suppose that I would have suffered what I have done,-that I would have submitted thus to humble myself to my own child ?"

And Mrs St Clair dropt a few tears.

"But where is such a sum to be procured?" asked her daughter, as she thought how she had already been stripped of everything she could call her own. "I have nothing in my power!"

· 66

"I know you have nothing to give; but you have only to ask and you will obtain. My uncle can refuse you nothing; and it is no such mighty matter in the future Countess of Rossville, to borrow a few hundred pounds from a man to whom wealth is an absolute drug.-Here," said she, placing some paper before her, and putting a pen into her hand, "you have only to write, and I will dictate."

But the pen dropt from Gertrude's fingers. "No-I cannot-indeed I cannot be guilty of such meanness-it is too degrading."

Mrs St Clair made no attempt to argue or remonstrate; but, waving her hand with a sort of desperate calmness, she merely said,

"I am answered-leave me."

"Oh ! mamma-give me the paper-you shall be obeyed-tell me what I must say."

Mrs St Clair testified neither joy nor gratitude at this concession; but immediately began to dictate the form of a letter to Mr Adam Ramsay, which her daughter implicitly followed-scarcely conscious of what she wrote. In a calmer mood, she would have revolted from the duplicity and servility with which every line was fraught; but, in her present excitement of mind, her powers of thinking were suspended, and she was the mere passive instrument of her mother's will. At length it was finished; and, as Mrs St Clair sealed it, she looked at her watch

"It will be just in time for the letter-box and no more; we must return to the drawing-room, and we can put it into the box as we pass through the hall."

"I cannot return to the company," said her daughter. "I am unfit for society after such a scene this-I cannot dissemble."

"You can, at least, it is to be hoped, exercise some self-control, and not suffer yourself to be read and commented upon, by every curious eye

which chooses to look in your face. Happily 'tis one that even crying cannot spoil; you have only to wipe away your tears," and she applied her own handkerchief; "and see, not a trace of them remains-Come, I insist upon it." And Gertrude suffered herself to be led to the drawing

room.

The only person with whom she now felt any companionship was Mr Lyndsay. There was a sort of protection in his presence which made her like to be near him; some unknown evil hung over her, from which it seemed as if he only could deliver her; and when he entered the room and approached her, she welcomed him with the only look of gladness that had brightened her face that day.

Although Mr Lyndsay was pretty well aware of Mrs St Clair's real character, and saw, moreover, that she had some strong motive for wishing to mislead him, still her words had made some little impression upon him. He gave her full credit for her anxiety to detach her daughter from Colonel Delmour; but he was somewhat sceptical as to her sincerity in wishing to bestow her upon him. He saw that Gertrude loved with

all the delusion of romance, and, like many a young enthusiast, had mistaken her imagination for her mind. To have saved her from the fatal consequences of such infatuation, he would have made any sacrifice, but his nature was too noble to join in a stratagem. With these feelings he drew near Gertrude, but Mrs St Clair had contrived to get herself and her daughter so built in by Lady Betty, her little table, her large basket, and her fat dog-that it was impossible to engage in a separate conversation. He could only talk to her, therefore, as he leant on the back of her chair, of common topics; but that he did in a manner to render even these amusing and instructive, without being either satirical or pedantic-for he possessed an accurate knowledge of most subjects of science and literature, and, like all really well-informed people, he threw out ideas and information without the slightest design of instructing others, or displaying his own acquirements. Insensibly Gertrude became interested in his conversation, and did not observe the entrance of the rest of the gentlemen, till she heard Mr Delmour say, in answer to a question from one of the voters