d child, much less that her heart could yearn for
feminine society. To one who was naturally so sensitive and timid,
the task was exquisitely painful; yet she dared not murmur, or a
volley of abuse would have been the result. Nine months thus passed
away in splendid misery, during which period Beaufort had often
indirectly expressed his wishes that his daughter would accept the
overtures of the baronet; but on the morning of her twentieth
birthday, he called her into his studio, saying that he had a matter
of importance to consult with her upon. Poor Amy guessed too well the
subject he was about to introduce; but she was appalled when, in a
few hurried words, and with a voice almost choked by agitation, he
told her that it depended on her decision, respecting the acceptance
of Sir Philip Rushwood's suit, whether he was to give her away at the
altar as a bride, or be himself dragged to a prison.

'But why, father, should there be so dreadful an alternative?' she
eagerly asked.

'Because I have nothing but what I owe to him. On his credit this
house has been furnished, and his trades-people have supplied our
table. Your very apparel has been purchased from sums of money I have
from time to time borrowed from him--for I have not yet met with the
increased sale and handsome remuneration for my pictures I was led
to expect. Indeed, many of those you supposed to be ordered, were
pledged for a tenth part of their value. If, however, you become his
wife,' he proceeded, 'we shall never want; for his fortune is
immense, and he is easily persuaded to part with it; but if you
refuse, his vanity, which is his ruling passion, will be so deeply
wounded, that he will withdraw his assistance from me, and our ruin
is inevitable. I have amused him with hopes of success and assurances
that you will smile on him at last, in spite of your girlish
coquetry, till he is incensed at the delay; and he last night told me
that he would be put off no longer, but have a positive answer _from
your own lips_ this very evening.' Amy pressed her hands upon her
burning brow in unutterable anguish. 'Yes,' her father resumed, 'this
very evening you must set your seal to our destiny. It remains for
you either to open a brilliant career before me, or to shut me up in
a prison in disgrace. I ask you not to give _me_ an answer. Your bane
and antidote are both before you; but remember that on the decision
of your lips to-night our mutual welfare depends.'

A