illed
in an art in which eminence in man is generally professional, must be of
mediocre or perhaps humble station. Ah! now that she was free and rich,
if she were to meet him again, and his love was not all gone, and he
would believe in _her_ strange and constant truth; now, _his_ infidelity
could be forgiven,--forgotten in the benefits it might be hers to
bestow! And how, poor Alice, in that remote village, was chance to throw
him in your way? She knew not: but something often whispered to her,
"Again you shall meet those eyes; again you shall hear that voice; and
you shall tell him, weeping on his breast, how you loved his child!"
And would he not have forgotten her; would he not have formed new
ties?--could he read the loveliness of unchangeable affection in that
pale and pensive face! Alas, when we love intensely, it is difficult to
make us fancy that there is no love in return!

The reader is acquainted with the adventures of Mrs. Elton, the sole
confidant of the secret union of Templeton and Evelyn's mother. By a
singular fatality, it was the selfish and characteristic recklessness
of Vargrave that had, in fixing her home at Burleigh, ministered to the
revelation of his own villanous deceit. On returning to England she had
inquired for Mr. Templeton; she had learned that he had married again,
had been raised to the peerage under the title of Lord Vargrave, and was
gathered to his fathers. She had no claim on his widow or his family.
But the unfortunate child who should have inherited his property, she
could only suppose her dead.

When she first saw Evelyn, she was startled by her likeness to her
unfortunate mother. But the unfamiliar name of Cameron, the intelligence
received from Maltravers that Evelyn's mother still lived, dispelled her
suspicions; and though at times the resemblance haunted her, she doubted
and inquired no more. In fact, her own infirmities grew upon her, and
pain usurped her thoughts.

Now it so happened that the news of the engagement of Maltravers to
Miss Cameron became known to the county but a little time before
he arrived,--for news travels slow from the Continent to our
provinces,--and, of course, excited all the comment of the villagers.
Her nurse repeated the tale to Mrs. Elton, who instantly remembered the
name, and recalled the resemblance of Miss Cameron to the unfortunate
Mary Westbrook.

"And," said the gossiping nurse, "she was engaged, they say, to a great
lord, and gave h