tangled in a scrape out of which he sees no mode of escape,― -unfriended, melancholy, slow," he betook himself to his own apartment, there to ruminate on the sudden change which had taken place in his hitherto brightening prospects. But here even fresh matter for reflection and agitation awaited him. CHAPTER XIII. Though smile and sigh alike are vain ARTHUR Ashmont had now been about ten months in Bombay. A correspondence as regular as it is possible to keep up between countries so distant as the continent of India and our small portion of the European territory, was carried on between the Graham family and Arthur. He was kept tolerably au courant of his mistress's movements; had heard of their departure from London, their protracted residence at Graham Court, and was informed of the life they had led, and the society they saw. Amongst the few intimates of Graham Court, he had as yet heard of none likely to rouse feelings of jealousy in his breast, were he inclined to that bad and selfish passion. By degrees, however, the mention of the name of Shenstone so of ten recurred in his letters from shire, that he be gan to feel a little uneasy as to the degree of influence exercised by that individual over the mind of his be trothed. Shenstone had been described to him as a good-looking young man, possessed of a considerable fortune, and with a remarkable disposition to melancholy and reserve. Here was precisely the very character which is most likely to interest a young lady; and if that young lady chances to be of a romantic turn, her subjugation becomes nearly a matter of certainty, especially if the gentleman shows an inclination to relax towards her, and herself alone. He took refuge in the knowledge that his lady-love was not of a 'romantic turn, and in the hope (though he could think it scarcely a well-founded one) that Mr. Shenstone was insensible to the merits and charms by which he had himself been enthralled. Nay, he ventured to hope that as he decidedly passed a great portion of his time at Graham Court, and was evidently on the most intimate footing there, his future sister-in-law, Julia, might be the object of attentions he was satisfied must be directed to one or the other of the sisters. How far that hope was paralleled by Julia's wish, I leave my reader to determine. "Julia is very handsome,” thought he, "I dare say Shenstone is in love with her. And yet it is singular enough, I always hear of his saying this to Alice, and doing that with Alice. Being the elder sister, Julia might as well take upon herself the task of entertain taining strangers. Alice forgets Psha! nonsense! what am I thinking of? I believe I am going to be jealous. Certain as I am of Alice's affection, shall I doubt her plighted faith? Never.” Thus fortifying his mind against the uncomfortable impressions occasionally implanted in it by his English letters, though still not entirely divested of uneasiness, he endeavoured calmly to await the arrival of the next mail. In due time it came, and on his retreat to his apartment, at the close of the interview related in the last chapter, he found his table spread with letters from his various correspondents. The accustomed communication from Alice, though a long one, written with perfect ease, and indulging in the same confidential tone as before, had yet this variation: there was no mention of Shenstone in any way whatever. He had hoped to learn that his suit with Julia prospered, and that Alice was on the eve of acquiring a brother-in-law, whom she both esteemed and liked. But not a word in any way connected with him, was to be found in the whole letter, from the superscription to the postscript. Amongst the packages addressed to him, was one, the direction of which he recognized as the hand-writing of a Lincoln's Inn friend, an associate of his labours in that region. He put it aside until he had perused the more interesting correspondence of his family and his betrothed; but these once despatched, he recurred to that of his Lincoln's Inn companion. It treated of various indifferent matters-London scandal-London gossip. But there was one paragraph which thoroughly eriveted his attention; it ran thus: "Do you remember two pretty Miss Grahams who were in London last season, daughters of an old cock who has, I am told, a devilish pretty place in shire? I am told the youngest is going to be married to a man she has picked up in her neighbourhood, a good-looking fellow, as I hear, of some 5 or £6,000 a-year, but a deuced deal too melancholy and gentleman-like to please me. I forget his name." "Confound the rattling fool!" ejaculated Arthur to himself. "What does he mean by this trash? Alice going to be married to a man she has picked up in her neighbourhood? What the devil does he mean?” and, throwing down the letter, he paced the room with quick and unmeasured steps. For the moment, all traces of the unpleasant discussion he had lately gone through with his uncle, vanished from his mind, and the contents of this unwelcome letter were alone present to it. As he became more calm, the identity of the individual named forcibly struck him. "It can be no other than Shenstone," thought he," melancholy-five thousand a-year-good-looking-in the neighborhood:-every thing tallies exactly with the description I have already received of him. Yet, Alice false ! impossible. Alice to write to me in the strain of this letter, when she has accepted the ad dresses of another, and forever cast me off! I will never believe it." He turned to the date. Her's was considerably anterior to that of his London correspondent; his was written in the hurry of one who is aware that a ship is on the point of sailing; her's leisurely and calmly, in the style of a person who is aware of a sufficiency of time previously to the obligation of sending it off to London. There was a difference of ten days between the dates of the two letters, and in ten days how much might have happened. Unwilling to give credit to the news, fearful of rejecting it as false, he was distracted with doubts and fears. To thee, Reader! who art necessarily and very properly behind the scenes, and fully aware of all that has taken place in England, these letters are, I trust, no subject of astonishment. Thou wilt readily combine in thine own mind, that so long as Alice remained in ignorance of George Shenstone's affection for herself, so long did she write about him as of any other individual with whom they were in the habits of intimacy; but once apprized of the state of his feelings towards her, and become the depository of his secret history, it was natural that, being forbidden by honour and delicacy to disclose either the one or the other, she should shroud herself in profound silence upon the subject. Thou art, moreover, aware, Reader, that within a few days of the reception of Shenstone's letter, Mrs. Shenstone's death took place, and that, nearly immediately after that event, his resi dence at Graham Court had given rise to those reports of which Arthur's friend, in profound ignorance |