"Then of what use, sir, can Miss Redwood's return be?" interposed Fitzgerald.

"Of what use !-I appeal to you Miss Redwood: your father may be conscious of your presence; an act of duty and affection may soften the anguish of the dying hour; and it may, Miss Redwood, be a source of consolation for yourself which, believe me, you will need."

"I will go with you, Mr. Westall," replied Caroline, in a faltering voice, and she threw on her hat and shawl which were lying beside her, and offered her arm to Westall.

Fitzgerald thrust himself between Westall and Caroline, and seizing her arm turned fiercely to Westall, "Stand off, sir!" said he; "I have a right to Miss Redwood. Miss Redwood, you have plighted faith to me; you cannot-shall not leave me till the priest has done his office."

your

"Captain Fitzgerald," said Westall, "you need not apprehend any interference with your rights: matters have gone too far between you and Miss Redwood to be retraced: all that I ask-all that I wish is, that you will not attempt to deter her from doing an imperious duty, which omitting to do will disgrace her eternally."

Fitzgerald was softened by the admission of what he feared would be a contested right, he relinquished Caroline's arm, and permitted Westall, without any farther opposition, to lead her to his carriage.

Westall then returned for a moment to Fitzgerald, to beseech him to take all feasible measures

to prevent the publicity of the evening's expedition; if not prevented, he thought it might be deferred till Miss Redwood had left the springs, and she thus saved from the disgrace to which a lady is always exposed by a clandestine affair. He then left Fitzgerald to take such means as his own prudence should suggest to effect this desirable purpose, and proceeded with Caroline, as expeditiously as possible, to the springs, where they arrived between twelve and one o'clock. Caroline fortunately did not encounter any person on her way to her own room, whither she went to await the summons which Westall promised to send her as soon as he could ascertain her father's present condition.

It may be necessary to account for what appears to have been very impolitic haste on the part of Caroline and her lover. The threatening symptoms of Mr. Redwood's increasing illness, certainly warranted the natural hope of Fitzgerald, that Miss Redwood's parent did not possess the gift of immortality, which impatient fortunehunters are apt to attribute to rich old fathersand the constant and even growing favour of the beautiful daughter, authorized the confident expectation which the gallant Captain indulged, of a successful termination of his campaign; when, lo! one of those adverse accidents, that happen alike in love and war, occurred to frustrate his plan of operations: this was none other than the receipt of a letter from his commanding officer, containing

an order to rejoin his regiment; and the information that the regiment was ordered to a station in the West Indies.

The Captain perceived, at once, that in this exigency a coup de main was the only mode of extrication from his embarrassments. He immediately informed Miss Redwood of his recall; but as he knew that the young lady had set her heart on a voyage to Europe, he prudently deferred to a subsequent opportunity the communication of the appointment of his regiment to the West India station. It had become necessary to make a premature application to Mr. Redwood: Caroline, as has been seen, unable to resist the pleadings of her lover, consented to be the medium of it. Mr. Redwood's decided answer precluded the hope that he would change his mind. It was impossible for the Captain to await the lingering termination of his sickness, and the hacknied procedure of a clandestine marriage was the last and only resort.

Few fathers are inexorable, and nothing, as Fitzgerald thought, was more improbable than that Mr. Redwood, with a spirit subdued by a mortal sickness, would withhold his forgiveness from his only child; and, in the very worst supposeable case (for which Caroline had provided by the arrangement of her baggage) the affairs of the heiress might be committed to an agent.

Thus had the Captain, after a survey of the whole ground, with the prudence of a skilful officer, provided for every contingency but precisely that one which for the present suspended his victory.

238

CHAPTER XXV.

"Breaks not the morning's cheering light

Forth from the darkest hour of night?"

Young Lady's Scrap-book:

We must now return to relate the incidents that had occurred while Caroline and her lover were pursuing their clandestine expedition. Ellen and Westall were left slowly retracing their way to the springs, and poring over Mrs. Harrison's letter. Whatever might have been the excellent old lady's epistolary talents, Westall certainly thought her letter a chef d'oeuvre when he read the following passage:

"I have no hesitation, my beloved Ellen, in giving you a decision on the subject you have referred to me. You have borne your probation with unremitting patience, and I am sure your fortitude will be equal to the issue, whatever it may be. I see no reason for delaying one moment to penetrate the mystery of your birth. I have, as you well know, admired and encouraged your fidelity to the letter of your mother's dying injunctions; and I do not see that you depart from its spirit now. The box was not to be opened you had arrived at the age of twenty one, ex

till