rst met her, they were carefully shaded by a tartan bonnet,
and she entirely altered the tones of her voice; and this evening,
again, she would scarcely have been recognized in the imperfect light,
had she not suffered her vexation to betray her. But the night wanes,
and it is time for us to separate; I must go abroad, and see that all
things are quiet and in order, after this unusual revelling."

De Valette then quitted the house, and Stanhope gladly sought the
solitude of his own apartment, where he could reflect, at leisure, on
the agitating events of the few last hours. He walked to and fro, with
rapid steps, till, exhausted by his excitement, he threw himself beside
an open window, and endeavoured to collect the confused ideas, which
crowded on his mind and memory. The noise of mirth and music had long
since passed away, and the weary guard, who walked his dull round of
duty in solitude and silence, was the only living object which met his
eye. No sound was abroad, but the voice of the restless stream, which
glittered beneath the rising moon;--the breath of midnight fanned him
with its refreshing coolness, and the calm beauty of that lonely hour
gradually soothed his restless spirits.

He had encountered the object of a fond and cherished attachment, but
under circumstances of perplexity and doubt, which marred the pleasure
of that unexpected meeting. More than two years had elapsed since he
first saw Lucie de Courcy, then residing in the north of England,
whither she had accompanied a maternal aunt, the widow of an Englishman
of rank and fortune. Madame Rossville, who was in a declining state of
health, had yielded to the importunity of her husband's connexions, and
left her native land for the summer months, hoping to receive benefit
from change of scene and climate. She had no children, and Lucie, whom
she adopted in infancy, was dear to her, as a daughter could have been.
They resided at a short distance from the elder Mr. Stanhope; and the
strict Hugonot principles of the French invalid interested the rigid
puritan, and led to a friendly intimacy between the families.

Arthur Stanhope had then just retired from his profession, and the
chagrin and disappointment, which at first depressed his spirits,
gradually yielded to the charm which led him daily to the house of Mad.
Rossville. Constant intercourse and familiar acquaintance strengthened
the influence, which Lucie's sweetness and vivacity had created, and h