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As will be seen by our illustration, headdresses this winter are
worn with high coronets in the front; with scarcely any trim-
ming at the sides, but with more trimming and ornament at
the back. Gold, intermixed with velvet and lace, and feathers
of all colours, seem to be the favourite headdresses, unless for
full evening toilet, when wreaths of flowers are usually worn to
match those with which the dress is trimmed. These wreaths
are mounted in the same manner, with high coronets, very few
flowers at the side, which increase again in number and size
towards the back of the head.

HEADDRESS, No. 1.-The coronet is composed of black velvet,
with three pearl or gold stars, a large one in the centre and a
smaller one on either side. Two long white ostrich feathers,
fastened in at the side of the coronet and crossing behind,
complete this coiffure. It would be equally pretty made in pink
or blue velvet, with feathers of the same colour, the stars being
made of pearl, studded with steel.

2. The coronet, of black velvet, is trimmed with leaves
of the same material, intermixed with gold. A white ostrich
feather is placed on one side of the headdress, and a bow of
velvet, with ends of an unequal length, and fringed with gold,
on the other side.

3. This little headdress is very simple, and very easily made.
It is composed of two black lace lappets and six rosettes, the
rose es having in the centre of each a small gold star or orna-
ment. Take a piece of wire, twenty-four inches long, bend it
in the form shown in the illustration, and fasten a piece of
coarse, stiff black net at the back, on which to arrange the
bows and rosettes. Take the half of one of the lappets,
fasten it on the wire in the middle of the front, and catch it down
to the wire at intervals of three-and-a-half inches, making the
remainder of the lappet into a bow, with a short end falling on
each side. The other lappet is then looped at the back, having
two long ends falling in the centre; a large rosette is placed
in the middle of the headdress behind, with rosettes of gra-
duated sizes fastened to the wire where the lappets are caught

HEAD-DRESSES.

down. The rosette in the middle is small, the two next rather larger, and the two at the sides larger still. For variety, the lace could be ornamented with gold stars, &c.

4. The coronet is of plaited velvet, edged with gold braid,
and having a star quite in the centre; the loops behind should
also be made of plaited velvet, edged in the same manner,
but not made in such profusion as our illustration shows.
Seven long loops for the bottom row, and five for the top one,
would be quite sufficient; the plaited velvet being wider, would,
consequently, not require so many bows.

5. This headdress may be made of artificial flowers, or pearl
flowers and leaves mounted on wire. The coronet is composed
of black velvet, with a row of large pearls fastened on the inner
edge, the flowers being tastefully arranged high in the centre,
and narrowing towards the sides, with a full bunch behind.

6. This coiffure is composed of a black velvet coronet stand-
ing high in the front, and is trimmed with black velvet leaves
veined with gold, and mixed with gold tendrils or sprigs. To
make the coronet, procure twenty-four inches of common chip
or straw, one inch wide; sew a thin wire on each side; tack
over this a piece of lining, and stretch the velvet tightly over
it, stitching it neatly down on the wrong side. The leaves,
which may be purchased in sprays, as also the gold tendrils,
should then be prettily mounted on the coronet, leaving the
latter without any trimming whatever at the sides. Our illus-
tration shows the back of the headdress.

7. The same headdress as the preceding, showing the
front of it.

8. It will be seen at a glance, that the collar and cuff, which we have illustrated on this sheet, are the same as those traced on muslin, and given away with this number of our Magazine. They have been drawn to show the appearance, when finished, of these pretty little additions to the toilet, which possess the recommendation of having very little work in them, at the same time of being very effective. To work the collar, lay a piece of good fine Brussels net under the muslin, and tack these very

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MAGAZINE

THE FAMILY SECRET.

BY THE AUTHORS OF "UNDER A CLOUD."

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THERE is one thing about the villains, male and female, whom we find in storybooks, that must have struck everybody: they are all preternaturally clever, and their designs are proof against accident to the last chapter; and even then they are generally frustrated by a god in a machine. In real life we have our little plots, and some are more or less villanous; but for one that is carried through as we planned it, a hundred are overthrown at the outset diverted, burked, exposed, turned against ourselves by some trifling accident which we could not possibly have foreseen or guarded against. Villains in stories appear to enjoy an immunity against such accidents, though in life they hound our footsteps without number and without ceasing, save when-the faithful dogs!-they sleep at our feet in the night-season. Nor even then are we secure against them: witness the wife of Marino Falieri, who talked in her sleep, thereby letting the cat out and the executioner in.

Your natural conclusion from this is, that my story must be a true one. Miss Dacre is its evil genius, and her little plot was quite ingenious enough to have been carried out with slight inconvenience to herself and the most tragical results to everybody about her. But it was not in the power of the fair equestrian to ride on the whirlwind and direct the storm she had brewed. Accident has stepped in more than once. Very little has happened as Adelaide would have it-up to the present time, that is-and much that she proposed has been in another manner disposed.

In the first place she was ignorant of, and therefore she could not take into account, the development of heart and will in her cousin Herbert-a change which left him much less plastic than she imagined him. In the next place, she counted too surely on so starting her plan that Lady Grovelly would have no choice but to countenance it, even if it did not fall in with her views of propriety and honour. No. 10, VOL. II.

K

We know that while my lady was placed in an awkward dilemma, and was sufficiently fainthearted, not to say cowardly and cruel, to have allowed the plot to succeed could it succeed smoothly, without scandal, without deadly injury to Charlotte and with only a little distress to her son--still her views about Herbert's marriage were somewhat changed when she had to accept it as a fact; and above everything she considered his happiness. Leeson's death, too, had complicated matters against Miss Dacre in a way which she had not foreseen; for this event not only threw a considerable property into the opposite scale, but with Lotty's father died her low connexions, while the Grovellys were all the more bound to treat her with generosity now that she was absolutely friendless and at their mercy. It is true, Leeson's death was unknown at Grovelly House at present. As for the letter which Leeson had caused his daughter to write, that was not exactly what Miss Dacre had anticipated as the result of inciting Sir Thomas to complain of his son's being trepanned. That Leeson would write to Herbert on the subject, or ever speak with him about it, she never dreamed, nor was it the most natural thing for Leeson to do. From a general survey of his character Adelaide had no doubt that on receipt of Sir Thomas's letter he would quietly sequester his daughter, and gradually break up all connexion with his patrons and friends.

That Leeson's letter, or rather the effect it produced on Herbert and Lady Grovelly, gave the young lady much uneasiness we may be sure; and even before her encounter with the brothers in the mad-room, she had began to doubt whether her affection for Herbert, or her hatred of Charlotte, or her wounded self-love, or all these things combined, had not hurried her into a course of conduct that might prove little satisfactory to herself in the end. After what had passed in the madroom, and when she took that into consideration, she became still less sanguine; but then she discovered, for her comfort, that she had all along been actuated more by hate and revenge than by love or hope.

"They are agreed that I am in the story! I am the jealous woman-jealous of Charlotte Leeson! I am the evil character of the piece, and they are preparing a final tableau for me!" These sentences Adelaide repeated over and over again to herself as she sat at her toilette table after escaping from Mr. John's room, and every time she muttered them, the curtain that half hid her own mind from herself made a hitch upward, till she obtained a tolerably clear view of her real sentiments. From these she found her spurious, ill-begotten love for Herbert totally ejected. The place where it had lain was warm, indeed, but that was rather loathsome than otherwise. But as for her anger, her jealousy, her fancied injuries, there they were in full blossom, lusty and obscene as poison-plants in a Brazilian jungle. In a figurative sense she nodded to them familiarly, and with a grim smile. "Ah, mes amis," she said, "you are there? Welcome! I am outraged by one of these young gentlemen, I am insulted by the other; and the two put their idiotic heads together to mock the affection which has caused me such pain and involved me in such risks! The affection was not very deep, perhaps, and I—or he!—might have found the match miserable had we come together. What a fool I must have been to have contemplated such a future! However, I am cured of my folly, which leaves me more at liberty to Well, we shall see whether I cannot avoid being brought into that tableau at any rate. I am the evil genius of the piece! Well, some one must support the rôle, I suppose!" Thinking which, Miss Dacre looked into her glass, and smiled at herself as one of the handsomest evil geniuses she had ever

beheld. It was ridiculous to suppose she could be very wicked, though she certainly meant to be ingenious.

These were Miss Dacre's first feelings. Afterwards, as she dressed for dinner (which she did without her maid's assistance, conscious that the operation is favourable to thought), they cooled down; and she became more reflective. It was not long before she acknowledged to herself that her plans had involved affairs in a very ugly tangle, that the end of the thread had slipped through her hands, and that all she could do, as it seemed, was to wait and look on. But what then? A crisis had arrived, which in two or three days might result in her own complete discomfiture, and the installation of Mrs. Herbert, with honours, into Grovelly House. Dear Adelaide remembered what my lady had said on a certain occasion, that if Herbert threatened to go out of his mind for a kitchenmaid, she would not provoke him by opposition-he might have the maid if he would only keep his equanimity; while, as if he had known his mother's weakness, he had actually taken this course for a woman who was many degrees above the kitchen, and who was his wedded wife into the bargain. Miss Dacre had therefore no doubt that Lady Grovelly would submit to the conditions her son had imposed on her-that she would prevail upon Sir Thomas to explain away his insulting letter and accept the match, and that she would beg Charlotte at once to return to her husband. "And then," said Adelaide, "I shall behold the lovers rush into each other's arms, melting with joy that they shall never, never, never more be parted!" As the picture rose before her she smiled in malicious contempt. Also she plunged a comb into her fair hair with such effect, that she broke three of its inoffensive teeth.

The picture did not please her; and as, in addition to having broken her comb, she had drawn blood from her ivory scalp, there she had another reason for detesting Charlotte. "It is too much!" she said, tears starting to her eyes from pain and vexation. "But what matter? Why do I vex myself about these sentimental fools? Am I not sufficiently avenged as it is? My good aunt, so wellmeaning and generous, has herself disposed of one of them. If my new cousin, Mrs. Herbert Grovelly, ever recovers the shock of the intelligence my lady was good enough to impart in her bed-room, it will not be yet for many a year. She is excellently qualified now to mate with Herbert, and to continue the weakminded race; why should I seek to separate them! Let them alone-and 'bless the child and save the mother,' says nurse; and bless the child and save the mother,' say I!"

This was better! Adelaide's spirits were returning.

"And as for the young gentleman himself, he is playing with edged tools, which I think I have sharpened. He knows his danger, I suppose, when he herds with his brother, and he shall never learn from me that he escapes it. One should always adhere to one's opinions; and I have already explained to him my views of the changed condition of his poor mind. Unhappy cousin. Poor dear young man!" Here Adelaide put on a look of profound commiseration, by way of experiment, or practice; and her glass assuring her that it was an admirable, a perfect counterfeit, she smiled again, and seemed almost pleased.

By this time the young lady's toilette was completed, and she was about to leave the room, when a gentle tap was heard at the door, and Lady Grovelly entered, with more than her accustomed gravity of manner.

"How fortunate it is," thought Adelaide, when my lady appeared, "that I really have been weeping! Now she will ask what passed between me and her darling son, and what he said, and what I think of his mood at present, and his ideas, or want of ideas, for the future."

But this did not appear to be my lady's errand.

"We dine with Sir Thomas to-day, Adelaide, as you know," she said, very coldly.

"Do we? Ah, I had forgotten that this is one of his days."

66

Yes, and I ought to tell you, perhaps, that I mean to speak with Sir Thomas about this affair of Herbert's. It is evident that he has some knowledge of it already through whom I am at a loss to discover-and, besides that it is my duty to acquaint him with his son's marriage, it is clear that Herbert must not remain in that dreadful room. It is enough that he is so wild as to go there."

"Perhaps," said Miss Dacre, casting her eyes to the ground in real or feigned confusion-" perhaps you would rather dine with Sir Thomas alone."

"That as you please, Adelaide—I do not ask it. What I do wish, however, is that you would make some excuse to leave us early after dinner. Sir Thomas is then in his best humour, as men generally are, you know; and I need not scruple to say I want to take what advantage I can."

"In endeavouring to reconcile Sir Thomas to my cousin's marriage,” Adelaide faltered.

"Yes," returned my lady, with much emphasis and a little impatience.

The sharpness of this reply was rebuked by the meekness, the sweetness with which Adelaide then said

"Dear aunt, might I not assist you more by my presence than by my absence ?" "You, child!" cried my lady, gazing in astonishment at the humbled, trembling creature before her.

"Sir Thomas loves me; he knows I loved Herbert, and on my account he might be angry too. But if I add my entreaties to yours"

My lady fixed a scrutinizing gaze on her niece's face, which that young lady, so far from avoiding, met with the sad, frank smile that is so charming in a nun. "Yes, dear aunt," she said, in answer to Lady Grovelly's inquiring look," the contest is over. I have been very foolish, perhaps very wrong; but having seen our poor Herbert——"

"You are convinced as I am that we two women must sacrifice to his safety. Adelaide, now you prove yourself generous indeed! Oh, dear!" cried my lady, "how delighted I am with you, child, I hardly know how to express! Such a load from my mind! Such a load from yours too, I am sure!"

"By-and-by," murmured Adelaide, shaking her head, to intimate that she did not expect the return of her peace for many a year.

"But resignation will bring a better future than rebellion, be sure! It will keep us friends, at any rate; and I confess I feared, Adelaide, that to-day we should become enemies."

"That would have been shocking!"

"Yes, and I will confess to something more: the quarrel would not have been improved at my hands, for I began to doubt whether you had any true regard for Herbert, and whether you were not a little malicious."

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