affectionate embrace of Huyp more than made amends to her for Aaltje's incivility. She knew that her want of fortune was the mote that blinded the eyes of Aaltje to her virtues, and pitied the worldly-mindedness which led her to thwart the projects and happiness of

her son..

CHAPTER XXXIV.

When the heart is sick,

What are your raree-shews, your masques, your revels,
Your painted ladies, or their waiting women?

Base, empty, worthless; fit to please the fools,
The curled and scented fools, who spend their time,
The sinews of their youth, and all their hopes
Of manhood and of fame, on such light trifles.——
Out on them all!

Old Play,

AALTJE had scarcely ventured to expect that her son would so easily have complied with her desire for leaving the villa. Indeed had she not assumed that sudden calmness, it is more than probable that he would not have

complied from coercion. In this respect he was something like herself, and deemed his own opinion to be of some However they

little consequence. reached the tower in tolerable good humour, as Aaltje wished not to raise any cabal that might be accessary to the frustration of her hopes.

As they crossed the draw-bridge they perceived that some company were just driving up the avenue. It is my uncle, thought Huyp, and he will advocate my cause. Aaltje bade the man hasten onwards, and was at the door before the unexpected guests had alighted from the cabriolet. Huyp sprung from his mother's carriage and ran to welcome them-but, to his consternation, he saw neither Luitje, his aunt, nor Matilda, and encountered the eyes of the Robsons. He was provoked and disap pointed, for of all people in the world they were the very last that he would

have desired to have met with. The evil however could not be avoided, and Aaltje, contrary to the expectation of Huyp, received them with open arms, and professed herself exquisitely happy to see them at the tower. At the moment Aaltje hoped that the languishing Alicia might wean him from Clara, and hailed her presence as a favorable omen for the accomplishment of her own views. The Robsons were more fitted to become her friends than the openhearted Clara, and besides, though they had no fortune worth mentioning, they were at least tolerated in the fashion, able world, from which Clara had been driven by a cruel reverse of circum

stances.

These considerations had their weight with Aaltje, who was still the votary of incipient ambition, while the Robsons were always happy to make any ac quaintance which might eventually be

181

likely to prove conducive to their own. interest. Huyp liked them not, and indeed had little reason to do so.. They had scouted him when they thought he was friendless, though, when they discovered their error, they were the first to court him again.

"Dear heart!" exclaimed Madame Robson, "what a charming sequestered place the tower is! It is the Elysian fields of this country; and how happy you must be, Madame Aaltje, in having so delightful a retreat! Oh, it is a most exquisite situation, and what taste you have displayed both in the house and grounds they are absolutely fault. less."

This compliment, though somewhat fulsome, was not too highly seasoned for the taste of Aaltje. She, in com pliance with the assertion of the poet, always believed the word of the flatterer. Even the Burgomaster smiled at the