be. I can almost rejoice that no former associations will interfere with the claims of Holdinghame to be your first and only love."

Kathleen listened, with downcast eyes and a beating heart, scarcely able to convince herself that she must soon awake from this dream of happiness to the practical evils of life.

The walk to George-street was all too short for what each had to hear and tell, and after a moment's hesitation, and a fruitless attempt to induce Kathleen to take one turn up and down the street, Lord De Cressy followed her upstairs, in order, as he said, to prepare the old ladies to resign their companion with a good grace. The Miss Robinsons looked up, surprised by the incursion; but Kathleen was spared the embarrassment of an introduction, for he said, with courteous ease, "Miss Mortimer tells me that you have expected her to claim acquaintance among the English who pass through your town, and now that she has at last found a friend, he ventures to intrude, even at this unseasonable hour."

"Any friend of Miss Mortimer's is welcome here," said the elder Miss Robinson, while her sister turned her eyes first on Lord De Cressy, then on Kathleen's more transparent countenance. She noted the transformation which had been wrought since they parted an hour before, the elastic step and joyous bearing, the smile which danced in her eyes, shone through her blushes, and curved the full, expressive lip; and she was at no loss to determine her relation to the young English stranger. But her conjecture seemed less probable when Kathleen shily named Lord De Cressy, in reply to her eager and very audible whisper

"And what will his name be, my dear?"

"I must apologize," said Lord De Cressy, "for omitting that very necessary particular, when I undertook to introduce myself."

Miss Nancy smiled, fidgeted, and looked again at Kathleen's deepening blushes; who fairly ran away, on the plea of wishing to take off her bonnet. But she returned almost immediately, fearing that Miss Nancy might follow her, and sat down to work, her face averted from the light, and her chair removed as far as possible from Lord De Cressy, who attempted in vain to draw her into the conversation. Still he talked diligently of Scottish scenery and national dishes, of Holyrood and sheep's-head, and he seemed in no haste to end his visit. The Miss Robinsons were neither intellectual nor very refined, but he was too happy to be fastidious.

A pressing invitation to stay for tea reminded him of the lateness of the hour, and he rose to take leave. "I must go back to Douglas's," he said, "for I have letters to write, and I mean to take the express to London to-morrow." And then he turned to Kathleen. "Will you give me your sister's address, Miss Mortimer? And can I be the bearer of any message? credentials," he added, with a smile of playful meaning, and in a tone meant for her ears alone.

"I will write," replied Kathleen, her head bending lower over the slip of paper on which she inscribed Mrs. Lisle's direction with nervous haste. For a moment Lord De Cressy retained her hand with a firm, yet gentle pressure, and, after a whispered assurance that they should soon meet again, he took leave of the Miss Robinsons, and departed.

De Cressy.

14

"A very grand gentleman," said Miss Robinson, as soon as the door was closed.

Her sister's emphatic assent was given, "That is he!" and then there was a pause, manifestly to allow Kathleen to speak next. She spoke accordingly, but only to ask whether she should pour out the tea.

"It is not sufficiently maskit: it may bide a while,” rejoined Miss Nancy; "though not over long either, for I put in an extra spoonful, thinking that Lord De Cressy might be induced to stay. I think you said Lord De Cressy, my dear."

"I - I believe so," said Kathleen, in such pitiable embarrassment that she could not have made a definite

reply had she been asked her own name. Miss Nancy, however, pursued her researches relentlessly.

"I thought the name was not that strange to me, and now I mind that it belongs to the English gentleman who bought Dalross. Maybe they are friends."

"He is a nephew of Mr. De Cressy's," said Kathleen, who had been long enough in Scotland to be aware that "friends" are there allied by the tie of kindred.

Miss Nancy was gratified by the discovery of this connexion. The coincidence of his uncle owning an Ayrshire property gave Lord De Cressy an additional claim to her good opinion, and when further inquiries elicited the fact that they had met "once or twice" during Kathleen's residence at Ardcrae, she considered that she had a personal interest in the marriage.

"For that it will be a marriage, there can be no manner of doubt," she said to her elder sister, who was not equally ready in drawing conclusions. "He has just gone south, to arrange matters with her friends and his

own, before it is declared. One would think that a young lord behoved to marry good blood, and not a poor companion, but it is not to be denied that she is a wellbred lassie, and as queenlike in her beauty as any lady in the land."

LORD DE CRESSY was not happy in the moments which he selected for his visits to Mrs. Lisle. He repaired to Brompton early on the day following his arrival in town so early that the damsel who opened the door for him did not consider herself presentable, and she ran away, leaving him to find his own way up to the front parlour. As he doubtfully opened the door in question, he was disposed to close it with greater haste, on hearing his own name spoken by Edward Lisle, in no conciliatory tone.

"Well! If that same De Cressy were to cross my path just now, I should be tempted to speak my mind to him."

Edward was in the act of folding up Kathleen's last letter the last, at least, which they had received, for another, written in a very different strain, was already on its way and a sense of the discomforts of her position, and of his inability to relieve her from them, had