"I respect and esteem Mr Lyndsay," said the Countess, but I will not adopt his prejudices." "Will you believe the voice of the world, then ?"

"I already know all that the world can say.It will tell me he is thoughtless-extravagant— imprudent-erring, it may be, in many thingsbut all that he has told me himself-such he once was-till-till he loved."

Mrs St Clair groaned. "Then whose testimony will you admit, since you reject mine?-you reject Mr Lyndsay's-you reject that of the whole world."

"I will receive none," said Lady Rossville, mildly, but firmly-" erring, perhaps faulty, he may have been; but to doubt that he loves me —there, I will receive no one's testimony but his own."

"Then you are lost!" exclaimed Mrs St Clair, in violent agitation-" but it must notshall not be. You dare not marry without my consent-without the consent of” she stopped-" I tell you"

"If I am to be ruled by any authority, it must be solely by my mother's," said Gertrude, proudly;

"no other being has, or ever can have, the right to control me in this point. Once before I promised, that I would form no engagement without your consent until I had attained the age of twenty-one-I am now willing to repeat it—but, in the meantime, my preference must be left free. And now, mama, let us end this strife-it may be my misfortune to differ from you-do notoh! do not let that difference divide us-I will be always yours in affection, if not in sentiment." -And she would have embraced her, but her mother repelled her.

"Such a compromise is a mere mockery," said she with bitterness; "but I too am sick of altercation-such as it is, then, for the present your promise must suffice-let me trust in Heaven that your delusion may be dispelled ere it be too late!"

If it is a delusion, I too join in the prayer," said the Countess, but more in the tone of lofty assurance than of lowly supplication.

This contest with her mother only served to strengthen Gertrude—as violence invariably does -in her own opinions. There was something too in the very suspense calculated to give a play to

her imagination, and fascinate the youthful heart far more than any sober certainty of waking bliss could have done. She would have shrunk from acknowledging even to herself that she harboured a doubt; but how many a stranger feeling mingles unknown to ourselves with the home-born sentiments of our hearts!

CHAPTER XXV.

With an old bachelor how things miscarry!
What shall I do? Go hang myself—or marry?

HORACE.

THERE was a duty which Gertrude was particularly anxious to discharge, and that was the debt she had incurred to Mr Adam Ramsay. Having procured a bill for the money, she therefore ordered her carriage one day, and, having contrived to elude the curiosity of Lady Betty, and the vigilance of Miss Pratt, she set out alone in hopes of making her peace-at any rate of relieving her mind from the weight of pecuniary obligation. A thaw had begun-but just begunconsequently, both earth and atmosphere were in that raw, chill, dubious state, which combines all the discomforts of foul and frosty weather, and even in the narrow precincts of uncle Adam's parterre, both were displayed in perfection. The

snow, though soft, lay deep betwixt his house and the little gate which separated him from the road; no attempt had been made to clear it away or open a passage; and an avalanche, which had fallen from the roof of the house, lay undisturbed upon the steps, and effectually blocked up the door. Altogether it had a desolate, uninhabited look, different from the neatly scraped paths and sanded steps belonging to the houses on either side, and Gertrude began to fear, she knew not what, from this desolate exterior. Meanwhile, the footman having, with some difficulty, contrived to wade up to the door, knocked loud and long in all the energy of insolence and ill humour-but no answer was returned. Again and again the summons was repeated, in a manner enough to have raised even the drowsy porter in Macbethbut with no better success. At length the servant turned away in despair.

"There is nobody within, my lady."-But at that moment his lady's eye was caught by a view of the back of uncle Adam's wig, as its queue hung in expressive silence over a chair in the parlour. It retained its posture, however, so immovably, that it seemed as though it would have