tact with such a passion. Of love, she knew enough; its
fragrant atmosphere had been around her from her cradle, it had come to
her night by night in the fond kiss of her grandfather, and well nigh
hour by hour in the endearing words and caressing arms of her kind old
nurse, who cherished her as such sweet blossoms of life's early spring
are ever cherished by those who have attained its winter: but of hate
she knew nothing; it was the first time that this accursed thing had
crept into her presence, which steals about this world, poisoning the
well-springs of friendship and affection, that rise to refresh us out of
the desert sands, of this our pilgrimage, and turning their sweet waters
into blood.

The first touch of this vile passion sickened the young heart of Lilias,
and filled it with the most intense compassion for him, unknown as he
was, who had become the victim of such a fierce aversion. How she
wondered who he was, and what he had done, to be so detested; and it
seemed to her gentle nature that no man, not the worst criminal, could,
with justice, be so dealt with by a fellow-creature; but a kind of
instinct told her that the hate was causeless, and therefore did it seem
to wound her, as if herself had been injured. She followed Lady Randolph
through the long galleries, and she whose step had been so fearless on
the dangerous mountains, now shrank from the shadows on the wall; for it
seemed to her as if this house, and every heart within it, were full of
dark, strange, spectres; bad thoughts haunting these souls like ghosts;
evil passions lurking beneath fair outward appearances; and words full
of meaning which she could not fathom floating on her ear.

But for the deep peace of her own innocence, the clear cool waters of
perfect truth in which her own soul lay steeped, so fresh and pure,
Lilias would have trembled to remain an inhabitant of this place, where
she felt instinctively there was so much that was mysterious and dark.
But she resolved to hold firm her own sweet faith and practice, that
there was mercy in all events and good in every heart, and that she had
nought to do but to love all mankind with an active, charitable love;
and so she trusted to be as safe and happy here as in her Irish home,
where simplicity of life was the natural result of simplicity of heart.

From Dickens's Household Words.

NEW DISCOVERIES IN GHOSTS.

Eclipses have been ascribed sometimes to the hunger of a great dr