ked the Capitol or the pleasures
to be found there; but she felt wearied and annoyed by the attentions
that were showered upon her by the numerous suitors who thronged around
her, using all the powers of persuasion they had at command, to induce
her to listen to their respective suits. The parchment visaged Nabob,
with his sacks of rupees, the wealthy planter, whose fortune had been
wrung from either opium or indigo, perhaps both, the rich civil servant
and field officer, with numerous others, all jostling and hedging each
other in the race for the hand of the beautiful Miss Effingham; but the
prize was not for them. She cared not a jot for either their persons or
their purses and would not consent to be caught, and like a bird in a
golden cage, flutter without the means of escape.

But there was one for whom she did care, one whose image was indelibly
stamped on her heart, and whom she loved as woman only can love, and
this favored one was Arthur Carlton, Lieut. H.M. Light Dragoons--the
playmate of her childhood, and companion of her riper years in the
golden days at Vellenaux, in dear old England.

"It is absurd in the directors, or whoever has to do with it, to send
Horace off to the Northwest, just at the commencement of the season too;
besides, we shall scarcely be settled before we shall have to return to
England. I declare we are being treated shamefully," said Mrs. Barton,
as she stepped from the Chuppaul Ghat to the Budgerow that was to convey
them to the steamer, in which a passage had been provided by the
Government for them, to the nearest port on the coast of Goozeratte, _en
route_ for Goolampore, "and to think," again resumed the little lady to
Edith, as they sat together in the handsomely furnished cabin, "that
your brilliant prospects will be destroyed; for who is there in the
interior that will compensate for the loss of those eligible suitors for
your hand?" Edith disclaimed against brilliant alliances or the admirers
referred to.

"It is all very fine, my dear, for you to say so; but depend upon it,
for a young lady in your position and circumstances, there is nothing
equal to a wealthy husband, and an establishment of your own. But what I
shall do without you I really do not know; but I expect it must come to
that some day or other." Here the good lady sank back among her
cushions, and resigned herself to her fate, her Ayah, and her last new
novel.

For several months all went pleasantly enough w