,

lips, than in the studied notes of Herbert's practised but unsuggestive voice.

"

the five

When the time for parting came, they who had spent that summer day together stood grouped side by side upon the lawn, looking on the lovely star-bespangled sky.

The moon was shining, not continuously, but at intervals, between the slowly passing clouds. On the white sun-dial slept the shadow of a tall, straight, cypress-tree; while, within a stone's throw, the nightingale sang as though his little heart were in his throat, to the accompaniment of the gently rustling leaves as they were stirred by the soft summer air.

Arthur Brandreth, as he stood near Alice, murmured in his soft, rich baritone, the concluding words of the last song that she had sung to him:

"Dream thou and from thy sleep then wake to weep

"Do you often sing those words?" he whispered to her, "those mournful words;" and then, encouraged by her silence, he repeated the first stanza of Shelley's exquisite "Mutability:"

ཝཱ

Lightning that mocks the sight,

RENT A Brief even as bright,"

"And see," he added, pointing to a distant opening among the woods, "see, there is summer lightning now, far in the distant west, come to illustrate the verse of the immortal poet. It is a thing I love to look upon, among the many lovely ones that mock the sight."

I enjoy far more watching the savage, forked flashes as they dart across the blackened sky," sai Alice.

boo"Of course you do," said Arthur, playfully, "all women like excitement. It is a case of spasm versus sense. But I must say 'good night, for the air is growing chilly, and your scarf is but a poor protection from the cold," and as he spoke he closed the light garment over her throat, with almost a lover's care.

Alice permitted the attention, for in truth she seemed as one powerless in his hands. It was love's own hour, and she sank for a brief space under its dominion. The pressure, strong yet gentle, of Brandreth's muscular hand did not (as he bade her "farewell") remain unanswered; nay, as to herself, in the silent watches of the night, she shyly owned, she even clung to his grasp when he would have withdrawn his own, and saw him go at last with an unconsenting heart.

Contrasted with that lingering passionate pressure came the slight touch of Herbert's thin and meaningless fingers: and what wonder that their contact seemed cold and hard? What wonder that, in defiance of every effort to drive it from her memory, Arthur's image haunted her through the sleepless night, and was hovering near her pillow when the sun awoke her from her late and troubled slumbers?

And here it is possible that many a commentator on female virtue will rise up against the hapless Alice, and condemn her. "A forward, vicious-minded girl," they will probably say, "who for a few ardent looks, and some sentimental words whispered in her ear by a good-looking and unprincipled man, allowed her affec

tions to wander from the excellent clergyman whose wife she has promised to be! A very shocking young woman indeed, and one whose example should be held up to general reprobation."

Ju

But is there nothing that (to these uncompromising critics) can be urged in defence of the fickle, foolish girl? Something, perhaps, might be said, were it nothing better than the oft-repeated truism that human nature is human nature, and never more completely so than in a young girl of eighteen. Then, too, it may be suggested that Alice was taken by surprise, and fell unawares into the snare. Had she indulged in the luxury of dangerous reveries — dangerous because bringing with them the longing for the forbidden fruit and had she striven to retain the remembrance of Arthur's g gaze, or repeated to herself in solitude the words that he had whispered, then would we give her up at once to the castigation of her virtuous sisters. But Alice did none of these things; and, therefore, let us hope that the Recording Angel will pass lightly over her momentary fault and almost unconscious trespass. But for those who whether from the paucity of temptation, the absence of opportunity, or from the blessing of a colder temperament have never felt their hearts beat more wildly than decorum warrants, what is the most fitting duty? Is it not to thank their God, with meek reverence, that their lives have been set in smoother places? And should they not, while flinging from their hands the accusing stones, build up in their hearts a monument, pure as unsullied marble, to those who, when they were tempted, have yet found a way to escape?

t

d-doo?

albut wit to 90 "But alas! to make me

gritou i orThe fixed figure for the Time of Scornton his To point his slow, unmoving finger at."

1

SHAKESPEARE.

WHEN the sisters met on the following morning, it was easy for Alice to see on Lady Thornleigh's careworn face traces of the sleepless night that she had passed. The evening-light had been favourable to the concealment of her altered countenance; but in broad day, and with the morning sun shining on and revealing sits secrets, that countenance told a tale which Alice shrank from reading. Her eyes were turned often and anxiously towards the door, and once she asked her sister if she had seen Philip, or knew in what direction he had turned his steps for his customary early walk. toile lors that yetgodom od wah

The words were hardly uttered when her husband hastily entered. He walked straight up to the speaker, and then, stopping short, looked steadily into her eyes. There was mischief and menace in his fixed gaze, and Lady Thornleigh turned pale beneath it..

"You informed me that you walked to the South Lodge last night," he said; and his tone was not more reassuring than his manner bred sair moti garant

I did," she answered; but the words were barely audible, and he turned from her in disgust.

"I was a fool," he said, "to look for truth; but by I loathe a lie like h-!"

"Oh, Philip," interposed Alice, "what shocking words!"

"Applied to a shocking thing: but I beg your pardon for using them, and shall endeavour to choose my expletives from a young lady's vocabulary. To begin then, was it nice of your sister to make e use of that delicate little artifice last night? and was it dear of her to receive pretty little notes, and to read them by the And by Heaven!" he continued, grariverside?" dually lashing himself into fury, "it was an accursed thing to meet a man there at night, and make" but Alice's hand was on his lips, and her ears were not sullied by the coarse words so nearly spoken.

The action seemed to sober him; for he added more calmly, “Leave us, Alice; this is no scene for you to witness. Nay," he continued, seeing that she hesitateds to obey him, "your curiosity will soon be gratified, for your sister's shame must become a public scandal now." Lus DOTTA LIGH

"Cruel! most

Lady Thornleigh almost shrieked cruel!" she cried. "But do not leave me, Alice. I implore, I entreats of you to remain;" and she clung convulsively to her sister's dress. So urgent was her appeal, and so manifest was her terror, that Philip could almost have pitied her, despite the bitter contempt that was apparent both in his voice and countenance when he again addressed her.

21

མནཱ ༢༢ སཱིཎྞཾ

Wretched, degraded woman!" he said, "you have mistaken your vocation strangely, for you have not the courage to stand forth and face the consequences of your vice. But you have nothing to fear from me," he continued, looking down upon her writhing form. "You do not imagine, I suppose, that I have lost my