ments as a last tribute of affection to their beloved Master, after man had set his seal upon the door of the sepulchre, and left him alone to his eternal rest? CHAPTER XVIII. HAD Lord Carrisbrooke thought it worth his while to practise upon his young companion all the arts of fascination, of which he had once boasted himself the master, he would probably not have excited so deep a feeling of interest, as his weakness and suffering had called forth; and long did the intervening days appear to Anna before she was again summoned to her appointed task. The next time the artist was seated at her easel, Lord Carrisbrooke felt himself so much better, as to be able to converse with ease and pleasure; and now to his wandering and delighted auditor, he poured forth the rich treasures of a mind, stored with almost every kind of information, selected with taste and judgment, from a life of constant amusement and variety; and did not hold himself above the trouble of being agreeable, even in obscurity, and to a simple country girl; for he saw that she had understanding enough to appreciate his own talents, and sensibility to feel gratified by his endeavour to please: to say nothing of the vanity of both, which formed the chain of connection between their spirits, blending all agreeable ideas and associations into one bond of sympathy. "Are you going to a party, Anna," said Mary to her friend one day, as she watched her, altering a beautiful silk dress, to the fashion of the day. ing of more brilliant and sparkling orbs; and Mary fixed upon the face of her friend this searching expression; and Anna felt that she was looking at her, though their eyes did not meet. It was in vain that she tried to change the current of her thoughts. She felt that she was blushing, and she felt also, that she was convicted in an act of eggregious folly. At last, when she could bear it no longer, she laid down her work, and exclaimed, "Mary, you are too deep for me. You have discovered what I was trying to conceal from myself; that I have really been taking all this pains, to make myself look more pleasing and more ladylike, in the eyes of a man, who is shuddering on the brink of the grave. I thank you from my heart, Mary, for your well-timed and gentle warning. You see I am again beset with temptation. It is a hard lesson that I have to learn; for no sooner is one branch of vanity cut off, than it puts forth another; but if He will give me help, to whom alone belongs the glory of victory, I will be worthy of your friendship yet, Mary." And with this laudable resolution, Anna went to her own room, and after locking up her silk dress, cast a farewell glance at the mirror, before she went to her morning's occupation. It was only intended for one glance, but the wind had been busy with her raven hair; and sorry we are to say, that Anna looked again and again; for there were ringlets to arrange, and a pink handkerchief to adjust, so as to give a glow to her faded complexion. Lord Carrisbrooke had again sunk into his usual state of brooding melancholy, probably from an increase of his bodily infirmities, bringing, as they not unfrequently do, an increased longing to retain a life, of which those who cling to it with the greatest pertinacity, often profess to be the most weary ; and he might besides have his own private reasons for dreading his impending doom. Anna saw at one glance that he was worse; and though she made no remark, yet she found many excuses for altering the folds of his cloak, that she might at the same time place his cushions more comfortably, offer him refreshments, or soothe him, with kind words; never so touching as when whispered near to the ear, in the sweet tones of womanly tenderness. There was something in the situation of Lord Carrisbrooke deeply and painfully affecting to a sensitive mind; and it afforded him no small degree of gratification, to find that Anna was affected by it. He had wandered through the world as a stranger, extracting from society every thing but what he most wanted ;-the communion of a kindred soul-the pure and devoted affection of a guileless and unsophisticated heart. In vain he had tried to make any lasting impression upon the feelings of woman, as he had found her, in the magic circle of fashion, glittering in deceitful charms, and decked in false smiles; and often had he exclaimed, after returning to his own chamber, "My poor Maurice loves me better than any of them." His sister, it is true, regarded him with what some would call passionate fondness; and he knew, that when the hour of parting should draw near, she would be overwhelmed with anguish, and drowned in tears; but he knew also, that her light step would skip over the church-yard before his grave was green. And yet, what bond of union could possibly exist between the haughty Lord Carrisbrooke, and the humble Anna Clare? He, surrounded by luxury and wealth, yet suspended but for a few brief moments above the gloomy grave; and she, a simple country maiden, apparently pursuing her homely path with patient steps. Yes, there was a bond betwixt them. The bond of sympathy, felt and acknowledged by both. Sympathy of taste, and thought, and feeling; sympathy of high purpose, and noble sentiment; sympathy, which no difference of rank or station can subdue; sympathy in the inward yearnings of the spirit, which struggled in vain to support its own existence; clinging in its weakness to the veriest reeds of earth, and rejecting again and again, the offer of that hand which alone is mighty to save. It was in the cheerful month of June, that the noble invalid and the young artist, sat together at an open window, during the quiet morning hours, before the Hall was disturbed by visiters, and while the dew was yet upon the grass. For now they often found both time and inclination to converse, and Lord Carrisbrooke cast his melancholy eyes around upon the clear landscape, the blue hills, the shining river, the green slopes, and the deep shadows of the trees; but neither the fair landscape, nor the scent of summer flowers, the hum of bees, nor the song of merry birds, brought gladness to his soul, for he was losing his firm step upon the joyous earth, and looking almost his last upon the smiling flowers, and listening to the jocund birds, that would soon be winging their happy flight above his grave. "You will be here," said he, as if continuing the mournful train of his reflections, "You will be here when summer comes again, and-I,-” He paused and looked earnestly at Anna. Words were upon her lips which might have been applicable in such an hour, but she dared not utter them. How did her spirit yearn to answer, "And you will be in heaven!" All that woman can say, with eyes that shine through tears, was written in her countenance; but she made no audible reply, and her companion went on quoting the words of Antony, "I am dying, Egypt, dying." "A fatal malady is preying upon my heart, yet I brave it out to the world, and none, but my faithful Maurice, knows that I endure any other than bodily suffering; even he knows not the cause, but to you I will confess, that when I think of launching forth upon the boundless ocean of eternity, I feel like a fearful child, about to enter upon a region of impenetrable darkness. "In my ride the other day, I saw a poor woman sitting at the door of her cottage, reading her Bible; and oh! how I envied that humble creature, feasting upon what, to wealthy, and accomplished; and I am a woher, were the words of eternal truth." "The same book," said Anna, "is open to all; and it is the perfection of that volume, that its sacred truths are equally applicable, its moral precepts equally serviceable, and its religious consolations equally available, to the high and the low, the rich and the the happy and the miserable." Lord Carrisbrooke shook his head. "My mother forced me when a child to learn long lessons from the Bible, as a punishment when I did wrong; and I have never been able to read it since." poor, man, young, and poor, and unprotected." "And for these qualities I love you better; and surely for those, you cannot respect me the less!" "My lord, that very weakness which excites your tenderness, and that dignity which awes me into respect, are incompatible with the fair and equalizing nature of friendship." "Then call it love, if you will. It matters little what name is given to an intimacy like ours, to be dissolved in a few brief moments; but oh! do not leave me to myself. Come often; sit with me till you are weary; and, "If you would but try, my Lord," said above all things, tell me how to make death Anna. "Will you read it to me?" replied his Lordship. And then he smiled as dying men have no right to smile. "I would do anything," said Anna, in her own guileless manner, "to make you less melancholy, less desponding; and I would suffer anything, were it possible for me to be instrumental in raising your thoughts to a participation in those hopes, which alone are able to support the soul in its hour of mortal trial." "How is this?" said Lord Carrisbrooke, and while he spoke and looked earnestly at Anna, tears, burning tears, were in his eyes; and he stretched forth his thin and wasted hand, and grasped her arm with something of unearthly energy. "My course through this world has been short and eccentric; winning the wonder of the many, and the love of the few. Had I not dived beneath the shallow surface of profession, my sated vanity might have revelled in fruition; yet have I never known from my cradle until this hour one friend who cared about my soul." "Your Lordship has been very unfortunate! Amongst the first of earthly blessings which heaven bestowed upon me, was a faithful friend; a friend whose counsel and kindness have been as a light upon my path." "And will you be this friend to me?" "Impossible, my lord!" "Why impossible?" less horrible. Ah! you are going again, going to gather roses, and sit within your sunny bower, and listen to the birds that warble overhead, and feel the breath of summer fan your blooming cheek, and think not of the weary hours that I am spending. Indeed why should you? I am nothing to you, I can be nothing, and have no right to trouble you with my fruitless complainings." Anna held out one hand, while with the other she concealed her face; and wishing the miserable invalid a good morning, went her way to muse upon the various branches and bearings of the word "interesting;" a word so important in the vocabulary of the sentimentalist, that it appears to possess the talismanic property of discovering whatever is worthy of consideration either in nature or art. "How interesting!" exclaims the enthusiast, and immediately her beau ideal is clothed in a mantle of imaginary beauty. Within may be an empty void, it matters not. Vanity or vice may lurk below, they are alike unheeded. Misery and disappointment may lie shrouded beneath, they are endured with the patience of a martyr. And why? Because the object is interesting, and consequently it becomes an idol. Again-When anything earthly, or unearthly, has received the fatal condemnation of being pronounced uninteresting, how utterly hopeless and vain is every attempt to "Because you are a man, noble, and force it upon the attention of those, who have been accustomed to look only through the false medium of sickly sentiment. Unheeded, unnoticed, by them, uninteresting philosophy may labour in secret over the investigation of truth, uninteresting charity may go forth upon her errands of mercy, uninteresting resignation may watch beside the lowly bed of sickness, and offer up from unfeigned lips her last soul-felt prayer; and what to them is the incense of uninteresting piety, though it should burn upon the altar of the heart, consuming all that is gross and perishable, and purifying the immortal spirit for a new existence in the regions of eternal light. CHAPTER XIX. THE ambition of doing good, is often the last effort of expiring vanity in an amiable mind, and the resolution to do good is unquestionably laudable in the abstract; but with this excellent resolution there are not unfrequently certain accompaniments, such as these; I shall make myself valuable, I shall be more beloved, my name will be exalted among the people; and mournful it is to observe, that the mind of woman is peculiarly liable to fall away from its high purpose, into these snares and pitfalls, which are so placed along the christian's path, that there is no footing to be found upon the pilgrimage of life, without its own temptations, and besetments. Possessed with these aspiring hopes, Anna Clare retired to her own chamber; and while she turned over various volumes, and referred to different texts of scripture, which she conceived might aid her purpose, there not unfrequently flitted across her mind the encouraging assurance, that "he who converteth a sinner from the error of his ways, shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins." Having fixed at last upon the conversion of Count Struensee, Anna hastened early to the Hall on the following morning, with hope in her countenance, and triumph in her heart. "You must read it to me," said Lord Carrisbrooke, "for there is something in your voice that charms away my evil genius." So Anna opened her little volume, and sat down, and thought she had never been so well employed in her whole life; but, in spite of all her sanguine expectations, she could not help perceiving, that the thoughts of her noble auditor went not along with her, at least with her book, and that his eye never rested upon anything but her face, and when she closed the book as an experiment to try whether his attention was really fixed, he made no remark upon it, but seizing the white hand by which it was held out to him, pressed it to his lips, with every expression of gratitude and admiration. "It will not do," said Anna, as she walked home that morning: and when she met the calm countenance of her friend, she was more than ever convinced that she had been wrong; her pupils too were rejoicing in their prolonged holiday, and she herself was returning weary and dispirited, and not a little disposed to be dissatisfied with all around her. "This picture takes you a long time to paint," said Mary: and Anna who was so conscious that it might have been completed in half the time, felt a reproof in the remark which it was not intended to convey. "Ican finish it at one more sitting," was her consolation as she went to rest that night; and she did finish it, and was more than ever concinced on the following morning, that the work of reformation was at an end, at least that its triumphs were not for her; that Lord Carrisbrooke had been amusing himself, and gratifying his own vanity by the interest he had excited in her mind; and that in order to give this interest a deeper character, he had expressed all, and perhaps something more, than he really thought, and felt, at the prospect of the awful doom that was impending. Oh! woman, in thy mysterious and often eventful life, thou hast many a hard lesson of humility to learn; and, perhaps, none can be more painfully instructive, than that which teaches thee, that in thy noble and generous desire to serve thy fellow creatures, thou has been aspiring too high. Learn, then, from the experience and the warning of oth- | ers, learn while thy young heart is yet unscathed by disappointment, that thy sphere of merit is a lowly one; and above all things, go not forth upon the mighty ocean, in the presumptuous hope, that thou shall be able to pilot the stately vessel into port; let the heavy prow heave on upon the billows of destruction; thy feeble help cannot avail; thou canst only be drawn within the vortex, engulphed, and lost for ever. Thy little bark is made to float amongst the shoals and shallows of the shore, to warn the ignorant of danger, to gather up the wreck, to save the perishing, and to comfort the forlorn. The last meeting between Lord Carrisbrooke and Anna was a painful one, through which nothing could have supported her, but the fruits of a sorrowful experience, and a heightened sense of duty. eye seeth thee, offer up thy earnest prayers, that he who knoweth the path of the eagle in the heavens, will turn away the wanderer from the error of his ways: and, seek not thou to be the instrument. Look out upon the sufferings of thy fellow creatures; diligently watch the opportunity of fulfilling every duty; search the recesses of thy own soul, and see whether thy appointed task be not sufficient, without aspiring higher. It was some weeks after this time, at the solemn close of a sabbath evening, that Anna Clare sat alone and silent at the window of her own chamber. The golden tints of the setting sun were fading away; the hum of the village was subsiding; the shepherd was folding in his sheep; the silvery dew was falling; and one pale planet shone out from the clear and distant heavens. How strange that, upon such a scene, the principal of evil should dare intrude! Alas! for our heroine! she looked not forth with joy and thankfulness, but tears were stream ing from her eyes, and she was repining, that amidst so much peace and loveliness, her path must be alone; whether amongst flowers, or thorns. The beauty of the flowers and the anguish of the thorns, must be en "It is better, much better;" said she, as she walked home that morning; and yet tears were every instant starting in her eyes, and sometimes there seemed to be whispered in her ear, as if by a rebellious and unsub-joyed, and endured alone. dued spirit, "I was but seeking to cheer the last moments of a dying man." Unable to enter into the affairs of Mary's household, she retired to her own chamber; and here, upon reflection, she was confirmed in her belief that the path she had chosen was a wise and prudent one. The words, "touch not, handle not," were continually recurring to her mind. "These things are not for thee." Will he repent at thy bidding; who has lived to the mature age of manhood, in the habitual contempt of religion, and forgetfulness of his Creator? Will he be subdued by thy charming, whose heart is as the flinty rock! Or will thy reasoning convince him, who has exhausted the powers of an acute and penetrating mind, without having discovered the immutable excellence of eternal truth? "Touch not, handle not," but go thou into thy secret chamber, and when no Where now was her lately acquired submission, her patience, and resignation? Selfishness and vanity, had again been contending for the empire of her heart, and she was reaping the bitter fruit of their destructive warfare. For a short time her former self returned, to pine, and suffer; and when she thought of the mysterious and highly gifted character, in whose feelings she was just beginning to hold a share, when stern duty warned her to withdraw, it seemed to her, that she alone, of all mortal creatures, was singled out to resign whatever was most intimately connected with her heart of hearts. At last, her murmuring thoughts found utterance in words. "Every thing on earth has its little sphere of enjoyment, in which it can meet and participate with others. Coarse spirits have |