"These

effect, and then, ascending some steps, entered what is termed the dormitory, and which was carried over this part of the Abbey to a considerable distance. Here, in two small chambers, where the roof remained sufficiently entire, were a couple of beds, and a small quantity of neat furniture, and here the stranger pausing invited Edward to enter. rooms," observed he, "are my occasional habitation for at least twice a week during the night, but before I commence the melancholy narrative of my crimes and sufferings, I will endeavour to recall your recollection to your companion in arms upon the continent; for this purpose I will retire for a few minutes and put on the dress I usually come hither in, the habit you now see upon me, being merely assumed after reaching this place as best suited to the situation of my mind, to the penitence and humiliation that await me here." His tone of speaking, as he thus addressed Courtenay, was perceivably altered, being much more open and full than before, and brought to Edward's ear a voice he had been accustomed to, though he could not at the moment appropriate it to any individual of his acquaintance. Puring his absence his amiable companion,

who had not perfectly recovered from the alarm into which she had been thrown by Courtenay's intrusion, sat silent and reserved, until Edward, observing some manuscript music in the room, ventured to inquire if the exquisite performance he had listened to with so much delight in the Abbey, had not originated with her. A deep sigh at this question escaped her bosom, and her eyes filled with tears, whilst in tremulous accents she replied, that owing to the great relief and support her brother experienced from music, she always accompanied him to this place, and that it was a source of the purest happiness to her to be thus able, through the medium of her harp and voice, to alleviate and sooth his sorrows. For this purpose the instrument was left at the Abbey and was placed in that part of the ruin where its tones were best heard, and produced the most pleasing effect. At this instant the door opening the stranger entered clothed in a mourning military undress, and bearing a taper in his hand; he placed himself, the light gleaming steadily on his countenance, opposite Courtenay who involuntarily started at his appearance. "Do you not remember," he exclaimed, "the officer who was wounded by

your side at the battle of Zutphen?" My God,' cried Edward, 'can it be Clifford?' "The same, my friend, the same," he replied, "though affliction has anticipated on his features the characters of age. You behold Courtenay the most unfortunate, the most miserable of men;—but let me not pain my sweet Caroline by the recital of facts which have already wounded almost to dissolution. her tender heart, we will walk my friend into the abbey; its awful gloom will better suit the dreadful tale I have to unfold." Saying this, and promising his sister to return in a few minutes, they descended into the cloysters, and from thence through the choir into the body of the church.

The tranquillity of the night, and the light and refreshing breeze that yet lingered amid the ruin, and swept through its long withdrawing aisles, were unavailing to mitigate the agitation of Clifford, as with trembling footsteps he passed along the choir, "Oh, my friend," he exclaimed, "the spirits of those I have injured hover near us! Beneath that marble slab my Courtenay on which you saw me kneel with so much horror and remorse,

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repose the reliques of a beloved wife, of the most amiable of her sex, and who owes her death, God of mercy! register not the deed, to the wild suggestions of my jealous frenzy." Whilst thus speaking they hurried rapidly forwards toward the western part of the Abbey, and here Clifford, resuming more composure, proceeded in his narrative. "You may probably recollect about a twelvemonth ago my obtaining leave of the Earl of Leicester to visit England; I came, my friend, upon a fatal errand. I had learnt, through the medium of an officious relation, that my wife, my beloved Matilda, of whose affection and accomplishments you have frequently heard me speak with rapture, had attached herself to a young man who had visited in the neighbourhood of my estate at Cn, but that she had lately removed for the summer months to a small house and farm I possess within a mile or two of this Abbey, and that here likewise she continued to receive the attentions of the young stranger. Fired by representations such as these, and racked with cureless jealousy, I returned to England in disguise, and found the report of my relation the theme of common conversation in the county. It was on the

evening of a fine summer's day that I reached the hamlet of G and with a trembling hand and palpitating heart knocked at my own door, The servant informed me that Matilda had walked towards the Abbey. I immediately took the same route; the sun had set; and the grey tinting of evening had wrapt every object in uniform repose, the moon however was rising, and in a short time silvered parts of the ruin and its neighbouring trees. I placed myself in the shadow of one of the buttresses, and had not waited long ere Matilda, my beautiful Matilda, appeared, leaning on the arm of the stranger. You may conceive the extreme agitation of my soul at a spectacle like this; unhappily revenge was, at the instant, the predominating emotion, and rushing for'ward with my sword, I called upon the villain, as I then thought him, to defend himself.Shocked by the suddenness of the attack, and the wild impetuosity of my manner, Matilda fell insensible on the earth, and only recovered recollection at the moment when my sword had pierced the bosom of the stranger, through whose guard I had broken in the first fury of the assault. With shrieks of With shrieks of agony and despair

she sprang towards the murdered youth, and