each his due, without taking from her own in the true law of justice. To sift—to decide; and when decision had taken place, to leave no remains of the one feeling left,—to root it out altogether; so that it might put forth its blossoms, and germinate in the only true soil, or produce eventual happiness for its comfort. She talked in metaphor and parables, sheltered in the repose of the soft corner of her carriage. Her human capabilities were not such as to proclaim things by their right names. She could, indeed, proclaim nothing until the enemy's country was passed through, and its snares all left behind. Then she would return to her guardian, and tell him all; fully enter upon the recapitulation and renunciation of her weaknesses and follies, and reassured by his judgment and affection, turn to him with implicit confidence and faith in their mutual love, and as the childrens' stories have it, "live happy with him ever afterwards!"

It has been said that the streets below are "paved with good intentions ;" and Miss Aylmer felt some relief in the midst of all she did feel, in having brought hers so near their fruition. She felt delighted, also, at the prospect of again seeing Mrs. Strickland, and the artless expression of feeling she could so well anticipate from the children; and the improvement she should witness in her friend's domestic economy, also took its place in her catalogue of expectations.

Still on one point she was ever silent, in the very silence of her own heart; she could have no fond anticipation of meeting, seeing, speaking to Mr. Bracken. It was a new part she had to play, and she played it singly and honestly; that is, she would not talk with her own sensations. She left them like culprits in a lone cold place apart, waiting to be tried, and then sentenced, holding no communication with the straight-forward rôle of this life.

But the rich reward was in store, reaped in his approbation; that gratification to her heart and self-love, of which she even herself could not measure the extent. Indeed, to prove what she felt, the solidity of her affection, to develope her kind, her tender feelings, brought all her faculties into play. It was now necessary to unfold her understanding, and all the powers of her soul,-that soul that does not attain its complete developement, except when it combines the love of truth, with attachment to a being of superior order. Besides, she beheld in Mr. Waldegrave the object of her profound admiration, and at the same time, tender compassion. It was when looking at him she felt, from the bottom of her soul, the truth of this beautiful verse,

"Jamais tant de respect, n'admit tant de pitié !" And when these two feelings take possession of an elevated and feeling heart, it is moved to its inmost recesses.

She had left him, like Adam, wandering in her Paradise alone; and the gentle Eve

struck her repeater to count how long it would be before she returned to him. The lively sensibility of his fine countenance, the warm pressure of his hand, still glowed in her memory; and she was still studying with love and veneration all he had done and said before they parted, when the carriage wound round the sweep, and drew up close to the stone steps of the Rectory of Haveringham.

CHAPTER III.

The man who spends his estate without marrying his daughters, paying his debts, or laying it out to advantage, may be well enough liked by every one but his wife and children.

LA BRUYERE.

In order to reculer pour mieux sauter, Rosalind again shrunk into the corner of the carriage. The bell sounded a sort of knell, she thought! and her own servants had put on an extra air of attention, something in her eyes quite funereal, to what they used to have at the gate of the cottage, the dear dear cottage! and she sighed off this last token of her tenderness.

But everything was changed around. In