love in that, if ever I saw love. That beastly Mademoiselle Clarisse, to have dragged us on so! I wish she had been taken with a fit of apoplexy on the steps! I shall write to him before many hours are over." "You don't know his address," interposed Emma Mowbray.

"There are ways and means of conveying a letter besides through the post," answered Rose, nodding her head mysteriously. "Where's Miss Seymour going to ? she has not taken her things off."

"I heard her say she was invited to dine at Mrs. Marlborough's, Make haste, all of you; there's the dinner-bell."

That afternoon, Madame de Nino conducted the English girls to church, herself, for which they did not thank her. They were obliged to be on their church-behaviour with her: there could be no rushing out early or stopping in late, as they pleased; and they reasoned that Mademoiselle Clarisse must have told about their pushing out, in the morning. Rose's lover was not there, and Rose fidgeted on her seat, but just as Dr. Singleton, who was going to read prayers for the chaplain, began the service, he came up the aisle. The lady and little girl, before mentioned, were walking first, and he followed, by the side of Eleanor Seymour. The girls stole a glance at Rose: never had they seen such a frown on her face.

"The forward creature! the deceitful huzzy!" broke from Rose Darling's lips, as soon as the school got home. "You girls have called me bold, but look at that brazen Eleanor Seymour! She never saw him before this morning: I pointed him out to her in church for the first time and she must go and make acquaintance with him in this barefaced, disgraceful manner, hoping to cut me out! As sure as she lives, I'll expose her to Madame de Nino! She has no business to be in the school! She'll contaminate us all! If our friends knew it, they would

Rose's passionate words were cut short by the entrance of Madame de Nino, who came to the schoolroom to give some instructions to the teachers, for she was going out for the evening. Rose, too angry to weigh what she did, went up to Madame, and said something very confusedly and very fast. Madame de Nino concluded her directions, and then turned to Rose, who was a somewhat favoured pupil.

"What do you say, Rose? Did I see the gentleman with Miss Seymour? Yes; a very prepossessing young man. I spoke with him today when they came to fetch her."

"Do you know his name, madame ?" gasped Rose, a frightful thought taking possession of her-" who he is ?"

Young Mr. Marlborough. Miss Seymour is engaged to him." The girls sat, breathless with astonishment, till Madame left the room, and then Bessie Clark, who was a wild romp, after a derisive dance in front of Rose's white and stony features, executed a pirouette and leap over several forms in succession, for which she was favoured with a punishment of two-and-ninety lines by the teachers.

III.

THEY were now in the sultry days of August, studying away, might and main, for the prizes. A month had elapsed since Miss Seymour's entrance, and there was no talk of her leaving. A new day-pupil had entered the school, Anna Marlborough, to remain only during Mrs. Marlborough's stay in Boulogne, which would be but a few weeks. She was the youngest daughter of Mrs. Marlborough, and the only one with

her.

It will scarcely be credited that Rose Darling, after the discovery, continued to pursue her preposterous flirtation with Mr. George Marlborough. She was more strenuous in it than ever. The girl seemed bewitched. There is little doubt that a real, an ardent passion for him had grown up in her heart and she regarded Eleanor with an unconquerable, jealous hatred. Whether she really deemed that she should succeed in supplanting her, no one could say: the girls thought so, and they were keen observers. She was now upon speaking, nay, intimate terms with him, for they had met him at the houses of friends, and Rose had been to dine at Mrs. Marlborough's. Miss Seymour was commissioned to invite three or four of the young ladies to dine there, and something was said, in the school, about her not daring to ask Rose: it came to Eleanor's ears, and Rose was asked forthwith. Anna Marlborough, a giddy child of twelve, was the go-between, and not an evening did she return home, without taking a message or letter from Rose to her brother-for it had come to writing. None of the girls knew what Eleanor thought: and none could presume to guess at the feelings of Mr. Marlborough. Of course he felt flattered, they said amongst themselves, for Rose Darling was very lovely, and she evidently loved.

Just upon this, Captain Darling, Rose's brother, came to Boulogne. He soon struck up a friendship with George Marlborough, and here was another link in Rose's chain. She would meet the two young men in the street, and stop, in defiance of all school rules, ostensibly to shake hands with Frank, but in reality to flirt and talk nonsense with George Marlborough. The school would be gone the length of the street, two sometimes, before she caught it, panting and flushed, and boasting what George had said to her. It was of no use the teachers remonstrating and forbidding; do it she would, and do it she did.

There was a large party given one night at Sir Sandy Maxwell's, and Rose and Eleanor, whose families were known to the Scotch laird, were invited to it. Madame de Nino grumbled and growled a little: she did not approve of her pupils going to these grand assemblies: but she had no pretext for denying Eleanor, so she suffered Rose to go as well. Emma Mowbray laid a bet with Miss Carr, and it got whispered about, that George Marlborough would dance more dances with Rose than he would with Eleanor. So eager were the girls to hear the result, that those in the large dortoir kept awake till they came home. It was one o'clock in the morning, and a fine fuss Madame made about it the next day she had only given them till half-past eleven, and they had kept the coach waiting all that time, and Madame's own maid, old Félicité, in it. After all, there was no bet to decide, for George Marlborough did not make his appearance at the party.

Class was not over the next morning till past one: it was always late, just before the giving of the prizes. It was the third Thursday in August, the sortie day, and some of the girls were going to Mrs. Marlborough's. Miss Seymour, of course, Mary Carr, Rose Darling, and Adeline de Castella. It had oozed out, in the school, that Emma Mowbray was excessively mortified at Miss Seymour's never fixing upon her, as one of the visitors to Mrs. Marlborough's; but Eleanor never did. They were to partake of the usual dinner at school, for the Marlboroughs did not dine till six.

While the cloth was being laid in the schoolroom, the girls dispersed about, some in the court-yard, some in the garden, all in the shade, for it was very sultry. There was certainly something more than common the matter with Rose; she appeared half crazy with joy, and Mary Carr remarked it to Eleanor Seymour.

"Don't you know the cause?" said Emma Mowbray, hearing the remark. "She has just got another letter from Mr. Marlborough."

"Don't talk absurdities!" exclaimed Miss Carr, catching a side-glance of Eleanor's changing cheek.

Emma Mowbray moved away, but she presently returned with a letter in her hand. Taking it out of its envelope, she gave it to Miss Carr. "Seeing's believing," she exclaimed; "read that." And Mary, suspecting some school-girl trick, read the letter:

"MY DEAREST,-You must have been surprised not to see me last night at the Maxwells'. I was dressing to come, when a message arrived for me from a friend, who is staying at the Hotel du Nord. He had met with a dangerous accident, from the bursting of a gun, and I have been sitting up with him till now, four o'clock. I write this to you. before I sleep, and shall send it by Anna, when she goes to school, for you have a right now to know every thought and movement of mine. You dine here to-day, and others, my fair fiancée amongst them; but I wish you were coming alone, for I have many things to say to you. "Ever, my dearest, yours only,

"GEORGE MARLBOROUGH."

Miss Carr had often heard of mistakes and deceit in letters; but there could be none in this. The writing was George Marlborough's, and the address, "Miss Rose Darling, En Ville," all plain enough; and the seal, which was well known in the school now, was nobody's but his. And yet, there were strange suspicions hovering in Mary's mind. Miss Mowbray walked away with the letter, and at that moment Anna Marlborough went by.

"Come here, Anna," called out Miss Carr. So the child arrested her steps, and faced her.

"Now-don't equivocate, or I'll acquaint Madame de Nino that she has got a letter-carrier in the school," began the young lady, sternly. "Did you bring Miss Darling a note from your brother this morning?" "Yes, I did," stammered Auna. "Don't tell, please."

"What did he say when he gave it "He told me to give it into with his love," answered Anna.

you u?" continued Miss Carr. her own hands when nobody was by, "Oh pray don't tell of me, Miss Carr!"

"Does he send Rose many?" "Not many she sends him most. won't tell."

I'll never do it again if you

But poor Eleanor Seymour! She had sat there, on the old wooden bench by the porch, white as marble, and Mary had risen and stood before her. Now that Anna had darted off, she burst into an uncontrollable fit of weeping, she clasped Mary Carr's hands with a painful pressure, and finally glided away by the bedroom staircase. "Make any excuse for me at the dinner-table," she whispered.

It was a terrible shock to Eleanor Seymour. Those who have never experienced such, could not understand or believe in its intensity. She had a long life before her, in all physical probability; but, no matter to what misery that life might be destined, she could never experience a moment of anguish so sharp and dire as this. And yet, she would have wagered her life on the truth of George Marlborough. Here were his letters to her, breathing an earnest faithfulness, and speaking hopefully of their future wedded life. In a paroxysm of despair she flung them from her, and paced her bedroom with fierce, uneven steps, the tumult of her outraged feelings increasing, till it seemed to verge upon madness. How was she to act? What must be her conduct to him? Should she write, and give him up? Oh no, no, in mercy to her own self, let her not be the one to sever the precious tie which was her stay in life! And then she fell on her knees, a wild prayer issuing from her lips, that this dreadful vision might pass away, and her lover not desert her for

another.

To the surprise of Miss Carr, Eleanor was dressed and ready to join the party to the Marlboroughs. George came down to the coach when they arrived, laughing and pleasant as usual. Rose was the last to get out, Eleanor had run hastily into the house, and he gave Rose his arm up the steps, whispering and laughing with her, as men, engaged though they may be, like to do with a pretty girl. Captain Darling dined there, and a Mrs. Ponsonby.

It nearly came to an explosion. They had been admiring a very beautiful rose-tree, and Rose, in her flirting, joking manner, said the rose was the emblem of love; if any gentleman offered her one, she should deem it equivalent to the offer of his heart. Afterwards, when she had left the spot, George Marlborough cut one of the roses, and quietly slipped it into the hand of Eleanor.

She spoke, her face white with agitation and her voice unsteady:

"Look here, Mary! Mr. Marlborough would press this upon me, with his love," holding out the rose contemptuously. "It would be better for him to bestow it where it will be deemed worth the keeping." And she threw the flower over Anna's harp, through the window, towards the spot in the garden where Rose was standing.

Miss Carr disliked scenes, and she quitted the room, leaving them alone. When they came out of it, Eleanor was looking flushed and indignant, and he confounded.

From that hour, there was no peace, no mutual understanding between George Marlborough and Miss Seymour. He repeatedly sought an explanation, sometimes by letter, sometimes by words. She never would give either. She returned his letters in blank envelopes, she refused to

see him when he called, she haughtily shunned him when they met. Mrs. Marlborough saw that something was wrong, but as neither party made her their confidant, she could not interfere. Rose alone seemed radiant with happiness, and Anna carried no end of notes, generally threecornered ones, from her to George.

The day of awarding the prizes was a great day. The girls were all dressed in white, with blue sashes, and the hair-dresser arrived at eight in the morning, to get done in time. About two o'clock, the hour fixed, Madeleine de Gassicourt exclaimed, in her bad English, "For de goodness sake who is it dat is to de garden, deranging deir hair before we do go in?" Emma Mowbray and Miss Carr peered, through the trees, to the faroff garden, and there saw Rose Darling and George Marlborough. She appeared to be crying, and he held her hand as he bent over her and talked earnestly. Emma Mowbray looked round at Eleanor Seymour, who was at the window and saw it all. She was very pale and still, her lips compressed together.

66

I tink it is Rose Darling," observed Madeleine, who was very nearsighted, and wore spectacles at her studies. "I do suppose it is her brodare wid her."

They suffered her to believe in the "brother," for they never trusted the French girls, with the exception of Adeline.

It was a pleasing sight when the young ladies went in. Two pretty little English girls walked first, sisters, of the name of Lee, and certainly the two prettiest of the elder girls walked last, Rose Darling and Adeline de Castella: both beautiful, but so unlike in their beauty. Adeline with exquisitely sculptured features, graceful and statue-like; and Rose a very Hebe, with laughing blue eyes, the most brilliant complexion, and golden curls. A large company was assembled, Mrs. Marlborough and George amongst them. He scarcely took his eyes off Eleanor, and those in the secret of affairs despised him for his deceit. Some of the girls had as many as nine prizes. Rose gained two: but she had been studying for another sort of prize.

Miss Maxwell, the kindest old lady that ever breathed, the laird's sister, insisted on taking some of the girls home to dinner, Miss Seymour, Rose Darling, and Mary Carr. Madame de Nino graciously consented. After dinner they went for a walk on the pier : it was a lovely evening, warm and bright, and the harvest moon shone, large and clear. Whilst they were sitting at the end of the pier, George Marlborough came up and joined them.

Suddenly, everybody rushed to one side, watching a steamer that was making its way up the harbour. Miss Seymour alone retained her seat, and George Marlborough, seeing this, came back and sat down by her. Eleanor instantly rose, and would have moved away, but he laid his detaining hand upon her arm.

"Hear me, Eleanor," he exclaimed, "this is an opportunity that I have long sought in vain; I pray you hear me. Not two months ago, on this pier, I told you I was about to ask for you of your mother. I had reason to believe you loved me-nay, I know you loved me. I did ask for you: I obtained a promise that you should be mine: we both looked forward to a happy future; and you cannot forget the blissful dreams of that future in which we mutually indulged. Eleanor! in the very midst of