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stancy on her lips, the light-hearted girl received the parting embrace of her desponding lover.

But after all, Juan Considine did not go across the wide Atlantic. Arrived at Liverpool, and wandering along its magnificent quays, he met with one who knew him, and who, seeing him there alone, kindly invited him to his house. A rich and respectable merchant was Mr. Mansell; one, too, whose trade had at various periods led him to all the corners of the earth; and, among those corners to the thriving city of Marseilles. He had taken a liking to young Considine in the days when the latter was little more. than a child, for there was an arch joyousness in his southern face that charmed the grave and silent Englishman; and now that several years had elapsed since their last meeting, it gave him pleasure to see the handsome boy again.

When Mr. Mansell learnt that Juan was about to proceed to Canada on a mission re

quiring the experience of an older man, and the business habits of one early trained to commercial enterprise, he scouted the idea as ridiculous.

'Was that almost beardless boy,' he asked

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himself, a fitting antagonist to pit against men of ripe years, whose intellects were sharpened by rubbing against sharper ones; and whose previous knowledge of the country, and how to deal with its resources, gave them so great an advantage over him?' No, -an effort must be made to divert the purpose of the elder Considine, which could (as) in strong terms the merchant wrote to him) end but in the ruin of his grandson, and in the great deterioration of his property.

To this letter Mr. Mansell received no answer. He was a man of some pride and testiness, and being angered at the little respect shown to his interference, he proposed other plans to his young acquaintance. Of these, the one that gained most favour in Juan's sight was a proposition that he

should become a clerk in the merchant's firm of which Mr. Mansell was a partner. The latter was a shrewd, and in ordinary matters a far-seeing individual, but he did not suspect the reason that caused Juan to accept with such alacrity the humble post assigned him; nor was it till months had passed away that he learnt from the young man himself, how strong was the attraction that drew him towards the merchant's house.

In that house were three young ladies, the daughters of its owner, and the supposed co-heiresses of his wealth. The second girl (who was about nineteen) became the object of fervent love to Juan Considine, and with all the demonstrative flow of meridian feeling, the existence of that love was soon no secret to her who had inspired it. She was rather of a peculiar character, that Margaret Mansell, very still and gentle in her outward seeming, and yet with a power of devoting herself exclusively to another,

which is rarely met with in one so young and so untried.

How Juan saw through the veil that hid that secret fire, we leave to those to guess who are skilled in the lore of mysterious influences, and who comprehend the principles of involuntary attraction. It is enough to say that when Juan asked for the hand of the gentle Margaret, it was refused with peremptory decision by her father, and that then (for prudence is not the virtue of the young, and especially of lovers) they in rash haste, and despairing of softening the heart of her parent, left the great city together, and became man and wife before the altar.

Juan was a Roman Catholic, and it was therefore necessary that the marriage ceremony should be repeated according to the forms of his creed. This was done as speedily as possible, and with their finances much reduced by the various expenses attendant on marriage fees and their hurried

journey, the newly-married pair arrived in London.

They were not discouraged by the prospect before them, for they were young and of good courage, and their love and trust in each other were strong; besides, had not they two hundred pounds a-year? and was not her father human? Surely there was no parent but what would relent in time, and (as Margaret asserted to herself) 'Juan was so good, so engaging, who could choose but love him?' Poor girl! she reasoned as the hopeful do, and also as those who have never known how bitter are the feelings engendered by a difference of religious creed? What mattered it that Juan was a true man, with a sweet and unselfish

temper, and that he dearly? He was a

sufficient (now that

the husband of his

loved his young wife Papist,' and that was young Considine was

daughter) to harden

Mr. Mansell's heart against him. There are some who trust that to those who strive

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