added the still impetuous youth, "I must go; far, far, from this hated country-from those I love; and as wave after wave bears me from an atmosphere tainted with unhappiness, I may be able once more to exist without this agony which pervades every nerve of my frame." The Duke still forbore to answer. He was rapidly pacing the apartment; his disordered steps and agitated countenance reflecting too truly the emotions which filled the heart of his young friend. At length he paused, and with a voice hoarse from the conflict within, said, "Clairville, I will consider what you have requested. But I must pray you leave me now. I am not in a state for conversation-I am ill-what you have told me has moved my very soul- come to me again to-morrow," and with these words he almost opened the door himself for Julian; and when he had departed, he turned the lock, and throwing himself into a chair, he pressed his forehead with a violence, and a degree of mental agony which appeared to seek relief by actual bodily pain. He was, indeed, in a state of bewildered and distracted feeling, agitated by a thousand hopes and fears. That one formidable rival was removed was certain; but was there no other to be dreaded? He paused; he remembered the seclusion in which Evelyn had lately passed her days; he called to mind her innocence and ingenuous character, and while he deemed it scarcely possible she should have formed any attachment previous to the period of their misfortunes, the warm glow of hope filled his heart; but then again it faded away leaving him more depressed than before. What was to be done? This state of uncertainty was worse was infinitely more distracting than the antecedent despair. He was interrupted in a train of perplexing and gloomy ideas by repeated knocks at the door. The secretaries were waiting with letters of importance; visiters upon business were announced; affairs of consequence crowded upon him; but it was observed by all that the Duke was in a most extraordinary state of abstraction. His friends looked upon him with surprise and sorrow, his enemies with malicious gratification. The great mind appeared to be giving way; the noble lion at length hampered and perplexed by some unseen toils. Little did those who saw him thus, imagine how delicate and weak a hand could alone extricate this exalted man from the difficulties that were pressing upon his heart, and that one smile-one little word, would at once restore him to his former self. At about seven o'clock on the ensuing morning the travelling carriage of the Duke of Strathhaven was to be seen at his door, and the owner soon after stepped into it. After a night of agonizing deliberation, he had determined to go down to Riversdale Abbey, and endeavour to gain from Blanche some insight into the true state of the case. He felt that, until his mind was assured upon the subject, he could never tranquillize his feelings or keep up appearances to the world. If he found that all hope was excluded for him, he must endeavour by that firmness of purpose which had carried him through life, to overcome a feeling which was now literally consuming him. He would then go to India; and devoting the remaining energies of his mind to the difficult and complicated affairs of its government, either recover the tone of spirit which had now forsaken him, or die. : CHAPTER XV. "I have no bloom of laughing youth My offering to be; I only bring my earnest truth- "EVELYN," said Blanche de Cressy, "let us go and spend the morning in the arbour near the old cloisters. We will take our books and work, and also the guitar. We shall have fresh air all the morning without fatigue, which Dr. T― says will soon restore you, dearest. But I still think you require a great deal of nursing and care to bring back the roses to those pale cheeks. Come, let us go," she said gaily to the languid girl, who sighed as she tried to smile acquiescence. And assisted by |