and, when first the marriage was talked of, he would have persuaded Rosemaldon to break it off, but he could not prevail on him to forfeit his word, even though, by keeping it, he sacrificed his happiness."

"Well, I like De Winton for that," said Mabel; "I am glad to hear that he is not base and deceitful in all things. And Lord Lechmere, that down-looking coward of a man, even he was rejoiced, was he? Well, I care nothing about what he thought, he's sure to change, and change!"

"Good night, dear Mabel," said Horatia; 66 to-morrow you shall see Rosemaldon. Oh how happy, how very happy I am! but I do not love my early friends the less."

CHAPTER XIII.

Up! quit thy bower, late wears the hour,
Long have the rooks cawed round thy tower;

On flower and tree loud hums the bee,

The wilding kid sports merrily.

A day so bright, so fresh, so clear,
Shineth when good fortune's near.

Up! lady fair, and braid thy hair,
And rouse thee in the breezy air.

The lulling stream that soothed thy dream,

Is dancing in the sunny beam.

And hours so sweet, so bright, so gay,

Will waft good fortune on its way.

THE BEACON.

BEFORE Rosemaldon left De Winton Park, he asked Lord De Winton to inform his sister that their engagement was at an end.

Rosemaldon would have spared Henrietta, if he could, from deep humiliation; for, after the first joyful surprise was over, notwithstanding she had wrought such misery by her worldly scheming, he felt a degree of generous pity for

her.

"It is a commission," Archibald answered, " which I execute con amore. You will bear in mind, that if you had taken my advice months ago, you would never have suffered the unhappiness which has pursued you, since you persisted in keeping to the promise which you gave in an hour of by-gone chivalry."

66

My dear Archibald, how could I suspect Henrietta of such base deception? . . . . ."

"Ernest, if you had opened your eyes, and then made use of them, you would have seen through the flimsy veil. However, she is my sister; ill-judging, ill-educated girl, I must prepare for the terrors of thy frown." Quitting the dining-room, he repaired to the apartment where she sat, trembling with agitation. She expected that Ernest would come to reproach her for her faithlessness, and had already

planned a scene of coaxing fondness, and a series of excuses, which she was almost sure he could not withstand. What then was her horror, to see her brother enter the room with an ironical smile on his countenance! The character of gentle endurance she was going to act gave way.

"What do you mean by this malignant laugh?" she said, in a hasty voice. "I have never experienced anything like affection from you; I am sick of ingratitude, I am weary of trying to comprehend you."

"Perhaps, I shall make myself intelligible, now," answered her brother, "if I announce myself as the ambassador, deputed by the Marquis of Rosemaldon, to give notice of his departure from De Winton Park,―ay, final departure."

"What, to tell his doating father?" she uttered, with a wild, affected laugh.

"He is going to his father," replied Archibald, more seriously; "and you have seen him for the last time as your lover."

"It is false !" exclaimed Henrietta; "I will

not believe it. Ernest dares not go without allowing me to speak to him."

"It is not my fault that you are incredulous," said her brother; "it is a pity that your prudence was not equal to your disbelief. To put a stop to any doubts on the matter," he continued, "I am commissioned by Ernest to tell you that you are free as air, so choose another husband from this moment, and he advises you to select one more suitable to you than your dull and melancholy cousin."

Henrietta, darted on him a look expressive of her rage and mortification, as she cried, in a voice choked by passion; "If you had possessed one atom of delicacy or feeling, you would not have suffered him to listen to a private conversation: I dare say you opened the horrid door."

"Henrietta, you are now the hunted deer, so I e'en forgive your idle words; but I will say, where was your delicacy, when, as a woman, within a fortnight of marriage to one of the best and most honourable of men, you could not quit the room where he was sitting, for more than five minutes, ere you began to