plant me if he could—And is it right in you, Gertrude, warned as you are of all this, to continue to encourage him, and lavish your attentions on him ?”

"What can I do?" asked the Countess, beginning to give way to her lover's vehemence, and to believe that she really was doing wrong;"What would you have me do ?"

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Nay, it is not for me, Gertrude, to point out the line of conduct you ought to pursue, I leave that to yourself. I would have concealed from you, if I could, all that you have made me suffer; but when you call upon me to make a friend of the man who, in spite of our mutual vows, dares to love you——"

"But this is mere fancy."

"No-I speak from certainty. Gertrude, is it possible you can be so blind as not to have perceived it yourself ?”

“Would that I were both blind and deaf to all the jarring elements, which are for ever threatening my peace," said Lady Rossville sorrowfully- How happy, how perfectly happy might I be but for the passions and the prejudices of others; but it is distracting to me to see all

those I love thus at variance. If this is the neeessary consequence of riches and grandeur, Oh! how willingly would I exchange them for goodwill and mutual confidence!”—and the tears dropped from her eyes, as she leaned her head upon her hand.

"Gertrude, dearest, most beloved, forgive me that I have thus distressed you-were you but mine, all these doubts would vanish; but while it is in the power of malice or treachery yet to separate us, can you wonder that it requires all your love to still the tumults of my heart? Call it suspicion-jealousy-what you will; until you are once mine, your partiality for Lyndsay will constitute the torment of my life."

"And I must become unjust, ungrateful, to one to whom I owe so much? Ah! Delmour, at what a price must I satisfy you!"

CHAPTER VII.

Human faults with human grief confess

'Tis thou art chang'd—

PRIOR.

FROM this time Gertrude's manner was wholly changed towards her cousin. Instead of the sweet smile with which she used to welcome him, her eyes were now commonly averted from him, and an air of constraint and embarrassment had succeeded the open, confiding carelessness which had hitherto marked their intercourse.

Lyndsay felt the change, and was at no loss to guess the cause. The books they had been reading together, the songs they used to sing together, were now discarded for others of Colonel Delmour's choice, and she read and sung with him, and with him only. The plans they had been carrying on together were stopped or overturned,

and others of a totally different nature were adopted.

"Will you walk with me to-day, Gertrude ?" asked Lyndsay, one morning, when he accidentally was left alone with her; "it is long since you have seen your school-house, should you not like to look at it, and see what progress it has made since we last saw it together?"

"Certainly, I should like very much to see it; but the phaton and horses Colonel Delmour ordered for me have arrived, and I promised to take a drive with him."

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Perhaps you will drive that way, and I shall meet you there ?"

"I am afraid it will not be possible;" then, after a pause, she added, “I am afraid you will think me very foolish and expensive, as you tell me I have not much money to squander; but Colonel Delmour and I discovered such a lovely little spot lately on the banks of the river, just a little below the cascade you know, a sort of tiny Paradise, that the thought struck us both of making a sort of miniature of a ferme ornée, quite a babyhouse thing, in fact-a sort of Lilliputian beau ideal of rustic life," said she, attempting, by a

laugh, to hide her confusion, "with a flower-garden and all sorts of prettinesses, for you know flowers are my passion, and we appointed to meet some of the people there to-day, to talk and walk over it; but I am afraid you will think———”

"You did not use to be so afraid of me, Gertrude," said Lyndsay mildly, but gravely; "what have I done to inspire you with so much dread ?”

"You know you are my guardian now," said she, with an assumed gaiety; "of course, it is my duty to be a little afraid of you, especially when I know I deserve a scold."

“Well, you will be relieved from your fears, I shall leave you to-day."

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My dear cousin, I spoke but in jest,” cried Gertrude, thrown off her guard, and relapsing into her natural manner.

"Not entirely," said Lyndsay, with a melancholy smile; but, whether you fear me or not, I feel you no longer look upon me as your friend."

"Indeed you wrong me,” cried the Countess, in emotion ; "I never can cease to regard you as my friend, would you but become the friend of those who are dear to me."