tronger, and entwined itself round her alone, she
withered beneath his embraces as the shrub withers in the clasping folds
of the parasite plant.

She grew towards womanhood. Suitors thronged around her--gentle and
noble ones. Sir Reginald watched them with a jealous eye. He was
wealthy, powerful, high in royal favor; and could make his own election.
He did so. For the first time, Eleanor promised obedience to his wishes.
They accorded with her own humor. The day was appointed. It came. But
with it came not the bride. She had fled, with the humblest and the
meanest of the pretenders to her hand--with one upon whom Sir Reginald
supposed she had not deigned to cast her eyes. He endeavored to forget
her, and, to all outward seeming, was successful in the effort. But he
felt that the curse was upon him; the undying flame scorched his heart.

Once, and once only, they met again, in France, whither she had
wandered. It was a dread encounter--terrible to both; but most so to
Sir Reginald. He spoke not of her afterwards.

Shortly after the death of his first wife, Sir Reginald had made
proposals to a dowager of distinction, with a handsome jointure, one of
his early attachments, and was, without scruple, accepted. The power of
the family might then be said to be at its zenith; and but for certain
untoward circumstances, and the growing influence of his enemies, Sir
Reginald would have been elevated to the peerage. Like most reformed
spend-thrifts, he had become proportionately avaricious, and his mind
seemed engrossed in accumulating wealth. In the meantime, his second
wife followed her predecessor, dying, it was said, of vexation and
disappointment.

The propensity to matrimony, always a distinguishing characteristic of
the Rookwoods, largely displayed itself in Sir Reginald. Another dame
followed--equally rich, younger, and far more beautiful than her
immediate predecessor. She was a prodigious flirt, and soon set her
husband at defiance. Sir Reginald did not condescend to expostulate. It
was not his way. He effectually prevented any recurrence of her
indiscretions. She was removed, and with her expired Sir Reginald's
waning popularity. So strong was the expression of odium against him,
that he thought it prudent to retire to his mansion, in the country, and
there altogether seclude himself. One anomaly in Sir Reginald's
otherwise utterly selfish character was uncompromising devotion to the
house of Stuart; and shortly af