"And now, if you will honour me, by

dancing the next

set," said Faulconbridge,

"I shall have an oppor

when he was gone,

tunity of detailing all the particulars on which I am to build my hope of your favour; you perceive Roderick has taught me his own good generalship, in first hinting at a bribe at all."

Helen consented, and when the next moment she found herself leaning upon his arm in the middle of the crowded drawing-room, she felt much in the mood of Abon Hassan, when he bade the fair sultana bite his finger to see if he were awake; she found that her agitation did not diminish by indulgence, however, and she exerted all her remaining energies to enquire when and where, he had seen her friend.

"She spent a few weeks with my mother at Faulcon Court, during the autumn; I escorted her to Hemingsley on her return, and

from thence with Lady Margaret to Harewood where I left her ten days ago. I should certainly have brought despatches for you, had not Miss Annesley been aware of my intended stay in Edinburgh, and grudged the detention of her letters. I expected to have nothing to communicate of her movements which her own pen had not forestalled; I can assure you of her health, however, and I think I may talk with equal confidence," and he smiled very kindly, "of her friendship, notwithstanding the appearance of that most heinous of ladies' crimes, a suspended correspondence; it was only a few hours previous to my departure that I heard her talk of you in such terms as would have satisfied any one, much more exigeante than I imagine you to be-shall I illustrate my assertion?"

"If you please," said Helen looking up with a glow of pleasure.

Faulconbridge went on, "She said nothing

earthly was so dear to her as your affection."

Helen's large eyes had darkened with attention, and in an instant the soft tears swelled over their intense violet, and glittered upon the silken lashes which shadowed them; Faulconbridge met the liquid glance but for a second ere it was withdrawn, the next moment the color rushed over his own cheek and forehead, and he turned away with an expression which Helen's experience did not yet enable her to define.

Fortunately for both, the business of the dance occupied the next few minutes, and when the conversation was renewed, Colonel Faulconbridge took care that the subject should not endanger the composure of either. He said Miss Annesley did not intend visiting London at all this season, being busily engaged with some projected improvements at Hemingsley; and then with great ease and

of

gracefulness he glided from the subject of Ruth entirely, and amused his companion with remarks upon the metropolis and its attractions, the numerous phases of society, the influences of fashion, and the lights and shadows human nature, as it is found in that mighty arena; comparing the march of luxury to a city on a plain, which has gradually defaced every vestige of the primitive beauty of its

situation.

And then descending from the generality of the subject, he touched with a quiet sparkling humour upon his own London experience; and the snares of business, and the meshes of pleasure, which he had been forced to burst asunder, before his departure thence to Scotland, on his present visit. His success in the attempt to establish a footing of kindly familiarity between Helen and himself, was testified by her cloudless eyes, and the soft musical laugh that followed every lively pic

ture, or sportive anecdote. She was gradually won to exercise her own simple powers, in heightening the interest of the conversation; and in a little while she found herself detailing the whole of the provoking contre temps that were so nearly depriving her of the first ball, -Roderick's prolonged absence, and the critical and important moment of his reappear

ance.

He encouraged her to proceed, with the polished tact that belonged to him, and was equally careful of allowing the timid approaches of her intimacy to make their way unsupported, and of scaring them into silence by too broad a display of the influence that awoke them. Helen asked herself again and again, if this were the same Faulconbridge, whom she found it so impossible to speak to at Kilmore; and it seemed as if he were equally anxious that the occurrence of which it had so lately been the scene should be forgotten ;—