ly tones of
various instruments accompanied the graceful evolutions of the dancers,
as they threaded the mazes of the country-dance, cotillon, or quadrille;
for waltz, polka, and schottish, were then unknown in our ball-rooms.
Here and there sat a couple in a quiet corner, evidently enjoying the
pleasures of a flirtation, while one pair, more romantic or more serious
than the others, had strayed out upon the balcony, to indulge more
unrestrainedly in the conversation, which, to judge by their low and
earnest tones, and abstracted air, seemed deeply interesting to both.

It was now long past the hour 'of night's black arch, the keystone,' and
the early dawn of a midsummer morning was already bestowing its first
calm sweet smile on the smoke-begrimed streets and world-worn
thoroughfares of mighty London, as well as on the dewy hay-fields, shady
lanes, green hedgerows, and quiet country homes of rural England. The
morning star, large, mild, and lustrous, was declining in the clear sky;
and on the left of the lovely planet lay a soft purple cloud, tinged on
the edge with the lucid amber of the dawning day. A light breeze just
stirred the leaves of the trees in the square garden, and fanned the
warm cheeks of the two spectators, as, suddenly silent, they stood
feasting their eyes and hearts on the surpassingly beautiful scene
before them, and marvelling at the remarkable purity of the atmosphere,
which, in the foggy metropolis of Britain, seemed almost to realize the
Venetian transparency of the pictures of Canaletti. Perhaps it may be as
well to take advantage of the pause to describe the two lovers, for that
they were lovers you have of course already guessed.

A handsomer pair, I am sure, you would never wish to see! The well-knit,
well-proportioned figure of the gentleman bespoke at once activity and
ease, while the spirited, intelligent expression of his
countenance--dark-complexioned as that of an Andalusian--would have
given interest to far plainer features. The glance of his dark eye, as
it rested fondly on his fair companion, or was turned abroad on the
world, told alternately of a loving heart and a proud spirit. Philip
Hayforth was one who would have scorned to commit an ignoble action, or
to stain his soul with the shadow of a falsehood for all the treasures
and the blessings the earth has to bestow; but he was quick to resent an
injury, and slow to forget it, and not for all the world would he have
been the fir