ness.

virtue he was secluded by choice-a noble example of the truth, that the greatest and purest minds are seldom found in the highest places. Always sincere in his friendships and benevolent in his aims, and, during his visits to town, social in his habits, he seemed to shun sympathy, and to make his heart the sanctuary of an inviolable and settled sadThe quick intelligence of Geraldine had linked together some hints she had heard, of the events of bygone years, and concluded that he suffered from one of those maladies of the heart, which, far from tainting a fine nature with selfishness or cynicism, rather infuse greater sweetness into all its dispositions. Schiller made the devoted friend of Don Carlos nourish the fatal love the unhappy prince had conceived, from a belief that, though it might pain his heart, it would surely elevate his character.

"I saw his love

I had full power
The attachment,

In its first blossom-saw his fatal passion
Take root in his young heart.
To check it; but I did not.
Which seem'd to me not guilty, I still nourish'd.
The world may censure me, but I repent not,
Nor does my heart accuse me. I saw life
Where death appear'd to others. In a flame
So hopeless, I discern'd Hope's golden beam."

Geraldine said, that as in the natural world,

life of a higher and brighter kind often sprang from death-so in spiritual existence, the passions and the hopes which expired in anguish, might, in their very decay, give birth to higher feelings and more heavenly aspirations.

He

They found Damer alone on their return, with some open letters in his hands. was flushed and agitated.

"Excuse me," he said abruptly; "business of the greatest urgency calls me away. You will write to me from your retirement. I must be gone this instant."

"One word!" exclaimed Geraldine, as she held his hand fast. "Is this news good or bad!"

"Good! I trust in Heaven's mercy-good!" he answered fervently. "The gates of Paradise are before me, but I have a vision of pursuing furies swift to prevent my entrance. Farewell!"

The next moment he was gone, leaving them to speculate on the cause which could so strangely have excited him.

CHAPTER XVI.

In a society like our own, the man of money is one of those bastard and insolent powers, which grow out of the affairs of every day, as the mushroom grows out of the dunghill. It is necessary, in truth, that an age should be grossly corrupt, and deeply stained with infamy, when it replaces by money the sword of the warrior; by money, the sentence of the judge; by money, the intelligence of the legislator; by money, the sceptre of the king himself.-JULES JANIN.

THE first person Florian saw on his arrival in London was Mr. Laneton; for it is to be remarked that he had the luck or talent to meet every person at exactly the moment he wished to find him. He came to welcome Tremore back to London, and to transact a little business with him, if he found him in the mood.

He laughed heartily at Geraldine's escapade, which he had heard from the General, who had spread it over the town with some embellishments of his own, and he congratulated Florian on his escape from "that intriguing set." The father a bore, the mother

an intriguante, the girl a married flirt, and her husband a ruined spendthrift.

“To tell you the truth," said he, should have thought it only a friendly office to have put you on your guard against their manœuvres before you left town, but that I had discovered the secret marriage, and so far knew you were safe against their designs. Instead of her parents being angry, I really think they ought to be rejoiced that the girl is out of harm's way. She was much too free and clever to be left to her own discretion."

"You surprise me!" Florian answered; "I had no idea you were in the secret.'

“I found it out by accident—at least became morally certain of it; but it was no business of mine to publish my suspicions, so I left it to time to test their truth. No one can be sorry for the mortification of any of the family."

"Well," rejoined Tremore, in a tone of apology, "I must confess I thought them amiable, though, to be sure, his lordship's pomposity was intolerable, and his lady's scheming was a sad drawback to the pleasure of her society. But Lady Geraldine is positively a charming personage. I thought she was a favourite of yours."

"A favourite?

Oh, no! She amused me; and as she had the remains of a fashionable reputation, and a good deal of malicious pleasantry, no one cared to offend her. Poor Bellstar! Well, he's done for. No one will ever hear of him again. And Damer, a

fellow I never liked-full of sentiment and mystery, living no one knows where or how. His creditors will find him out some day, I suppose. They would have had a fine catch

in

you, had their snares taken effect. They tried hard to get Cavendish, but he broke loose from them. I fear they have done Una some harm. Dear child! I would give the world to see her thoroughly restored to the health and spirits she once possessed."

"How is Miss Laneton? I hope she is not worse?"

"No, not worse, I think, but rather more desponding since you left us. She occasions me the greatest anxiety. I wish to get my worldly affairs settled, but she is a bar to it. Entre nous, I have an offer of a coronet, and I only wait her marriage to accept it, and secure it to her issue. She has a pretty fortune of her own; and, as I shall settle all I possess on her, you may suppose the title will not want wealth to support it. She will be de

VOL. II.

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