y and anxiously awaiting her
father's return from Elvas.

Presently she heard the sound of horses' hoofs clattering on the
pavement of the court. Rising from her melancholy posture, she was
going to meet her father, when, on opening the door, Colonel L'Isle
stood before her.

All the incidents of the last evening they had spent together,
particularly those which he had so carefully suppressed from the
narrative wrung from him, rushed upon her memory. Her folly and his
generous forbearance stood facing each other. Casting her eyes on the
floor, and grasping the handle of the door, to steady her tottering
frame, she could only gasp out, "I expected my father."

"My lord is very busy in Elvas, and so indeed was I," said L'Isle,
coolly; "but, as I march at sunrise to-morrow, I felt bound to borrow
a few minutes from duty to take my leave of Lady Mabel Stewart."

She now recollected herself enough to let go the handle of the door,
and make room for him to enter, and, by a motion of the hand, invited
him to take a seat.

Taking a chair near her, L'Isle ran his eye round the well-remembered
room. Perhaps he was thinking of his last visit here--perhaps
remarking its dismantled, comfortless condition. It was not more
changed than he was. All his earnest frankness of manner was gone. He
seemed to have borrowed a leaf from Colonel Bradshawe's book; and his
air of cool self-possession, his imperturbable manner, under the
present trying circumstances, would have excited that gentleman's
admiration, but it added a chill to the discomfort of Lady Mabel's
position.

Had he been angry, indignant, haughty, or sullen, it would have been
an infinite relief to her. She might have known how to deal with him,
and perchance have soon brought him round to a very different
mood. Now L'Isle evidently waited with cool politeness to hear some
sound from her lips; and she at length stammered out, "I am very sorry
that you are going--that is, that papa and all of you are going so
soon."

"Our pleasant sojourn in Elvas is over!" said L'Isle, carelessly, "and
Elvas is a pleasant place. Your stay here, too, has been quite an
episode in winter quarters. We cannot thank you too much for the
enlivening influence of your presence among us. I, for one, will ever
carry with me a vivid recollection of it."

Lady Mabel bowed. How cold and formal did this sound in her ears.

"To do ourselves justice," continued L'Isle, "some of us have not been
remi