my inquiries, I think I cannot be mistaken in believing it was the Colonel."

"Ohmeina may love mystery as well as his friend Minoya," said Catherine, anxious to rescue Grahame from suspicion ;" and there are many tall men, besides Colonel Grahame; and scarce one, at this warlike period, who is not made several inches higher, by the military cap and plume."

"True, Miss Courtland," said O'Carroll; "but you will grant there are few, very few, who, even in the uncertainty of moonlight, could be easily mistaken for Colonel Grahame. That dignity of air, that unrivalled grace of figure and of motion, which are peculiarly his, render him at once distinguishable. I know not another, who possesses them in such perfection."

"This is but a trifling proof, O'Carroll, and would not be admitted in a court of law," said the Major; "even with me it weighs nothing, since your luxuriant imagination might readily invest some clownish boor with the grace and elegance of our friend Grahame. But your relation has recalled to my remembrance another circumstance, which tends to corroborate your suspicions. I was struck yesterday by the Colonel's embarrassment, when I inquired with whom Minoya resided; and with his indirect refusal to name the family, although I requested it of him. There is certainly some mystery about this young man; Heaven grant, he may have no dishonorable entanglement to render him unworthy of our esteem."

"Impossible, father!" exclaimed Catherine, with involuntary warmth; "you, who have ever been so unwilling to suspect the goodness of others, are over hasty in condemning Colonel Grahame."

"I am far from suspecting him of any deliberate baseness, my dear," said the Major; "but I confess I am not a little perplexed by the circumstances under discussion. That with the plea of an indispensable engagement, he should break his promise to us, and then be seen lurking with Ohmeina on the borders of the forest, seems to me so strange, so unlike all that

we have hitherto seen of his character, that I cannot suppress my astonishment."

"But granting it was he, whom Captain O'Carroll saw," said Catherine, "the Indian said he was on a visit of mercy; some friend, perhaps, required his presence; or some suffering individual, dependent on his kindness, and for whom he thought proper to sacrifice a visit of pleasure to one of sympathy and consolation." "Your charity is abundant and ingenious, Kate," said her father, smiling; and I hope his own explanation may be as satisfactory. I am the last man who would triumph in the downfall of Colonel Grahame ; and even should he not prove himself all that I have, and still do think him, I must continue to look back with pleasure to the hours enlivened by his society, and to remember, with grateful emotion, that it was his hand, which twice arrested the blow, which was ready to fall upon the defenceless head of an enemy and a captive. But he will be here to-morrow, and a few inquiries may then terminate our doubts."

"I think," said O'Carroll, "we had better be silent on the subject, unless it is first introduced by the Colonel himself. We would not wish to pry into actions, which he may have strong motives for concealing. And since he will doubtless learn from Ohmeina, that it was I who interrupted his conversation, he will, I am persuaded, explain the occurrence, if it can be explained satisfactorily and with honor."

"You are right," said the Major. "I would not be guilty of the meanness of extorting a secret, which its possessor is reluctant to divulge. But he must be conscious that he has exposed himself to suspicion, and I think he will be solicitous to banish the doubts he has awakened."

"He cannot honorably reveal the secret of another," said Catherine; "of course, his silence on the subject, should not be imputed to him as a crime. But it is very late, father; and since we are not likely to settle this matter at all to our satisfaction, I will bid you good

night, and leave you to discuss it, till morning, if you please."

She left them, and retired to her own apartment, not to sleep, but to reflect upon the occurrence and conversation of the evening.

But without any guide to the real truth, and without any definite hint to assist her conjectures, they were of course vague and remote from probability; till wearied by the hopeless effort to elucidate the mystery, which seemed gathering around the hitherto candid and ingenuous Grahame, she yielded to the refreshing influence of sleep, which seldom fails to banish sorrow and anxiety from the pillow of the innocent and young. Her dreams were soothing and delightful, and she would gladly have indulged them longer, but the bright beams of the morning sun, darting through the curtains. of her bed, at length dispelled the illusions of the night, and recalled to her remembrance the incidents of the preceding evening.

Impressed with the belief that Colonel Grahame. would pay them an early visit, she immediately arose, and awaking her cousin, they shortly left their apartment, and entered the breakfast room together, where they found the Major and O'Carroll waiting their ap

pearance.

After breakfast, the gentlemen paid a short visit to Captain Talbot, who was fast convalescing, and then ordering their horses, went out to ride; the Major, as he left the house, bidding Catherine detain Colonel Grahame to dinner, should he make his appearance before they returned.

Catherine readily promised compliance with her father's desire; indeed she was not herself aware, with what impatience she anticipated Grahame's arrival, till Amelia made her sensible of it by inquiring what she saw so very interesting from the window, towards which her eyes were continually turned. Catherine blushed, and made some confused remark upon the brilliancy of the morning, which was so delightful after a day of clouds and rain. She then, to elude her

cousin's scrutiny, proposed a visit to Captain Talbot, and they repaired together to his apartment.

But Catherine was too restless to remain long stationary, and pleading some trifling excuse, she soon returned to the parlor, leaving Amelia reading to Talbot ; a task, which the young man would have transferred to her cousin. But, in truth, Catherine began to observe the pleasure which her presence gave him; several little incidents of the preceding day had revealed to her the state of his feelings. See had marked, with pain, the flushing of his cheek, and the lighting up of his whole countenance, when she addressed, or even when she approached him; and had, more than once, been startled by an expression of his sentiments too pointed to be misunderstood.

Feeling herself unable to return his affection, she forbore to encourage it, and resolved, by every possible means, consistent with delicacy and generosity, to check its progress, and spare him the pain of a final rejection. She determined to visit him less frequently, and never alone, and to confer on Amelia the task, which she knew was far from disagreeable to her, of soothing and entertaining the invalid. But her father, who saw and highly approved Captain Talbot's sentiments, was constantly making some excuse for sending her to him; and on the preceding evening, had insisted that she should remain with her cousin in his apartment.

Captain Talbot's attachment to Catherine, had commenced during the former part of their acquaintance, and he had made Colonel Dunbar (the particular friend of his father) the confidant of his passion and his hopes. From his brother-in-law, Major Courtland had learned the state of the Captain's affections; and delighted with the prospect of a union so advantageous for his daughter, he had, previously to his departure for the north, encouraged the young man's visits, and now augured the most happy result to his wishes, from the circumstance of his becoming a member of his family circle.

It was noon before the Major and O'Carroll returned from their ride, and they expressed no little surprise, when informed that Colonel Grahame had not yet made his appearance. Catherine had employed herself about a hundred different things, and thrown them all successively aside, till vexed with herself, that she was capable of feeling so deeply the disappointment of Grahame's continued absence, she took up the book which she had just laid down, and resolved to think only of its contents. But she had read several pages, without comprehending a word that they contained, and was beginning to reperuse them, when her father and O'Carroll entered the parlor.

What, alone, Kate!" said the Major, with some surprise. "Pray, where is your cousin ?"

"With Captain Talbot, sir," replied Catherine, closing her book as she spoke.

"With Captain Talbot!" he repeated." "Did they wish for a tete-a-tete, or is your's a voluntary banishment ?"

"To

"It is voluntary, father," replied Catherine. confess the truth, Amelia was reading an old romance which I had no mind to hear again, and so I stole away to amuse myself here."

A look of displeasure for a moment shaded the Major's countenance, but it quickly vanished when O'Carroll said,

"And so, Miss Courtland, Hugh tells me the Colonel has not been here this morning.'

"No," said Catherine, "but it is not impossible we may yet see him before night."

"It is not probable," said the Major; " and I confess his continued absence looks rather suspicious,"

O'Carroll shrugged his shoulders as he said, “Perhaps we may find him in the forest again."

"Are you going to search," inquired the Major, observing the Captain move towards the door.

"No," he said; "I have not a particular fancy for the gibbet, and shall not, of course, act the part of a spy. I am going to the stable, Major, for Ronald tells me