and fawned, and flattered that old dotard, sitting there ?" pointing to poor old Marmaduke, as he sat, the very image of doting helplessness in his seat, "to entrap his-his nephew, sir, into a union he loathed and detested from his very soul? Who was it that could have slain him when he spurned and spat upon your overtures, preferring beggary and disgrace to such an alternative? Who was it, I ask, that when he found his plans in that quarter so cruelly blasted, forced me to angle for that course, vulgar creature, sitting yonder?" and with another gesture of contempt and scorn, she pointed to the figure of her future husband, as he sat far away from them both, little dreaming of the scene that was passing so near him, "and told me I might thank fate that had sent me such a man?"

"It was me, Penelope," said Mr. Pestlepolge, interrupting her at this moment, in a voice scarcely louder than her own.

"You!" she continued, recoiling from him as if he had been some loathsome reptile lying in her path; "aye, I know only too well that it was you-you that have taught me, from my earliest childhood, to wear a mask of falsehood and deceit, even to her who was nearest, and should have been dearest to both of us, and whose heart was broken through your selfish profligacy and my early shame."

"You are mad, girl!" whispered he, in a threatening voice, grasping her thin, lank arm in his bony hand, until she could almost have shrieked with pain, and yet did not change a muscle of her countenance, "or why do you think of all this now?"

"Why do I think of it!" she retorted, in the same fearful whisper; "because to-morrow I shall have vowed myself to love, honour, and obey him"-and she pointed to the dark figure in the window again, "and after that, I could not have the opportunity, if I would, to tell you how I loathe this horrible trafficking of body and soul for pelf, this perjury of the little faith and honesty the world and you have left me. From the cradle to the altar my path has been paved with lies,-lies, father!--false, glozing, acted lies, which have rotted and festered on my heart, until it has become one mass of rottenness and corruption! God knows that I am humbled enough now in myself, and once again before we part, for after this night, the tie that bound us together will be snapt asunder, I wish to lay bare before you the sorrow, and scorn, and detestation I cherish for all that you and I have done between us.

"I believe," she continued, pressing her breast convulsively with her hands, and eyeing him with those brilliant eyes, that seemed to make the pallid face more like that of a corpse than of a human being, "that there was a time when I was not the false and guilty thing I am now. It is a long and dreary re

trospect, and yet I can recall the time when I was gentle, and bashful, and truthful, like other girls; but that was before your hateful lessons had taken root in my heart; that was when the shelter of a mother's love protected me, though the snare of the destroyer was already set, the mine already laid, and though it took years to sap the foundations of virtue, yet with the patient watchfulness of a fiend, you waited until the flood rushed in upon me."

A bitter smile was all his answer, as he turned to the dark figure in the window, which had never moved its position from the first.

"Then I turned upon you," she continued, with the same stony despair; "you had taught me deceit-I deceived you, and on the day when you learned that your daughter had been dishonoured, your eyes were for the first time opened to the horrible creed you had instilled into me. Would to God that even then you had retraced, as far as you could, your steps, and by your conduct for the future, atoned in some measure for the past. But warning and retribution have been of no avail, and again we stand upon the threshold of another deception."

"And on the peril of your soul, idiot, I insist upon your carrying it out!" he said, with gloomy sternness, releasing the arm that now felt dead and lifeless; "I will have no drawings back at the altar, no retracting of your promises, no exposure of family secrets or family shame."

"You need not fear detection in that," she said, with stern contempt; "whatever the struggle may cost, even to my life, I shall carry it out; and though I feel that it is only the threshhold to some darker and more dreadful crime, which has yet to be perpetrated, I will not shrink from discharging my portion of it: the guilt lies with those who have forced me to it."

"What a very long time you two are talking, Humphrey !" said the sharp, querulous voice of Marmaduke Hutton, at this juncture; "really, really now, I quite wonder what you can have to say all this time."

"You know Penelope marries Doctor Yellowchops to-morrow, my good sir," bawled his old ally, in a voice that might have awakened the seven sleepers, as it assuredly aroused our friend the doctor.

"Well, well, I've known that a long time now," retorted old Marmaduke, pettishly; "can't you tell me anything new, Humphrey? Deary me, how dull we all are now-a-days; when Walter was here, he kept us all alive with his tongue, and he was such a handsome fellow, too, Humphrey."

Both father and daughter glanced distrustfully at each other, as the old man made this strange speech; it was the first time

they had ever heard him mention his nephew without reproaches, and their altered countenances told both that the other dreaded danger from such an alteration in his views.

"Even he, you see, can feel remorse for the past," said the woman, frowning upon him with her hard, sallow features.

"I will soon alter his tune, girl," was the careless rejoinder; "he must not keep that notion long in his head."

"No, or you will soon be called upon to provide yourself fresh quarters," she said, disdainfully, as she prepared to quit the apartment. "Send him "-and she pointed to the doctor, who was bawling away to old Marmaduke, much to the latter's annoyance, who didn't like to be fancied deaf at all, as he stood over his chair,-"up to me before he goes away to-night," and suffering him to kiss her cheek with the same icy unconcern, she quitted the room, leaving the three men to themselves.

"He will think me so deaf, Humphrey," cried old Marmaduke, in a deprecating voice, pointing to Doctor Yellowchops, who had sat himself down on a couch near him, and was eyeing the poor old man with an appearance of the keenest interest; "he has really made me feel quite ill, Humphrey, and I don't want to be ill just at the very time when Penelope is going to be married-do I?"

"Oh, you mustn't be ill, my dear sir, on such an occasion," cried Mr. Pestlepolge, seating himself beside him; "neither Doctor nor Mrs. Yellowchops could ever forgive you that, you know."

"But she is not Mrs. Yellowchops, yet, Humphrey," cried the old man, as a cunning smile flitted across his withered face; "and you know the old adage, many a slip-eh?"

Well, that will only hold good till to-morrow, sir," rejoined the other, with a cheerful smile, "and then the doctor and his wife may defy fate."

"Fate's a bad thing to defy, Humphrey," croaked the old man, peevishly; "if poor Walter had only been here now—'

The expression that flitted across his face-it had become very childish now-was so peculiar as he said this, that both the men watched him for several minutes with no little curiosity; for the astonishment they felt at this second mention of that young man had affected them both, though in a different manner. Both waited impatiently, in expectation of hearing something that would give them a clue to the train of thought that had evoked such an expression, and yet both felt more surprised than ever, when the next moment he said more briskly"By the bye, Humphrey, as soon as we get this wedding over-say the very next day-appoint that rascally attorney to come to draw out my will; you know it is not made yet."

trospect, and yet I can recall the time when I was gentle, and bashful, and truthful, like other girls; but that was before your hateful lessons had taken root in my heart; that was when the shelter of a mother's love protected me, though the snare of the destroyer was already set, the mine already laid, and though it took years to sap the foundations of virtue, yet with the patient watchfulness of a fiend, you waited until the flood rushed in upon me."

A bitter smile was all his answer, as he turned to the dark figure in the window, which had never moved its position from the first.

"Then I turned upon you," she continued, with the same stony despair; "you had taught me deceit I deceived you, and on the day when you learned that your daughter had been dishonoured, your eyes were for the first time opened to the horrible creed you had instilled into me. Would to God that

even then you had retraced, as far as you could, your steps, and by your conduct for the future, atoned in some measure for the past. But warning and retribution have been of no avail, and again we stand upon the threshold of another deception."

"And on the peril of your soul, idiot, I insist upon your carrying it out!" he said, with gloomy sternness, releasing the arm that now felt dead and lifeless; "I will have no drawings back at the altar, no retracting of your promises, no exposure of family secrets or family shame."

"You need not fear detection in that," she said, with stern contempt; "whatever the struggle may cost, even to my life, I shall carry it out; and though I feel that it is only the threshhold to some darker and more dreadful crime, which has yet to be perpetrated, I will not shrink from discharging my portion of it: the guilt lies with those who have forced me to it."

"What a very long time you two are talking, Humphrey !" said the sharp, querulous voice of Marmaduke Hutton, at this juncture; "really, really now, I quite wonder what you can have to say all this time."

"You know Penelope marries Doctor Yellowchops to-morrow, my good sir," bawled his old ally, in a voice that might have awakened the seven sleepers, as it assuredly aroused our friend the doctor.

"Well, well, I've known that a long time now," retorted old Marmaduke, pettishly; "can't you tell me anything new, Humphrey? Deary me, how dull we all are now-a-days; when Walter was here, he kept us all alive with his tongue, and he was such a handsome fellow, too, Humphrey."

Both father and daughter glanced distrustfully at each other, as the old man made this strange speech; it was the first time

they had ever heard him mention his nephew without reproaches, and their altered countenances told both that the other dreaded danger from such an alteration in his views.

"Even he, you see, can feel remorse for the past," said the woman, frowning upon him with her hard, sallow features.

"I will soon alter his tune, girl," was the careless rejoinder; "he must not keep that notion long in his head."

"No, or you will soon be called upon to provide yourself fresh quarters," she said, disdainfully, as she prepared to quit the apartment. "Send him "-and she pointed to the doctor, who was bawling away to old Marmaduke, much to the latter's annoyance, who didn't like to be fancied deaf at all, as he stood over his chair,-"up to me before he goes away to-night," and suffering him to kiss her cheek with the same icy unconcern, she quitted the room, leaving the three men to themselves.

"He will think me so deaf, Humphrey," cried old Marmaduke, in a deprecating voice, pointing to Doctor Yellowchops, who had sat himself down on a couch near him, and was eyeing the poor old man with an appearance of the keenest interest; "he has really made me feel quite ill, Humphrey, and I don't want to be ill just at the very time when Penelope is going to be married-do I?"

"Oh, you mustn't be ill, my dear sir, on such an occasion," cried Mr. Pestlepolge, seating himself beside him; "neither Doctor nor Mrs. Yellowchops could ever forgive you that, you know."

"But she is not Mrs. Yellowchops, yet, Humphrey," cried the old man, as a cunning smile flitted across his withered face; "and you know the old adage, many a slip-eh?"

Well, that will only hold good till to-morrow, sir," rejoined the other, with a cheerful smile, "and then the doctor and his wife may defy fate."

"Fate's a bad thing to defy, Humphrey," croaked the old man, peevishly; "if poor Walter had only been here now"

The expression that flitted across his face-it had become very childish now-was so peculiar as he said this, that both the men watched him for several minutes with no little curiosity; for the astonishment they felt at this second mention of that young man had affected them both, though in a different manner. Both waited impatiently, in expectation of hearing something that would give them a clue to the train of thought that had evoked such an expression, and yet both felt more surprised than ever, when the next moment he said more briskly— "By the bye, Humphrey, as soon as we get this wedding over-say the very next day-appoint that rascally attorney to come to draw out my will; you know it is not made yet."