themselves, were among the first to leave the festal board and wander
off in sylvan haunts. Anon, all appetites were satisfied, and amid the
buzzing of tongues and boisterous flashes of merriment, the multitude
again dispersed. Unobserved and in a very unenviable frame of mind,
the unhappy Mell stole away to herself. The paramount desire of her
wounded spirit was to get beyond the ken of human eye. In a hidden
recess screened by an overhanging rock, she sat down, the prey of such
discordant and chaotic thoughts as wear away, in time, the bulwarks of
reason. It was yesterday, no, the day before, no, longer, that he had
called upon God to witness that she alone was dear to him, she only
precious in his sight, and now, how stands the case? Ah, dear God, you
heard him say it! Oh, All-seeing Eye, you have looked upon him this
day, and will not a lightning blast from an indignant Heaven palsy the
false tongue, whose words have no more meaning than loose rubble!

Into the heaviness of these thoughts, growing heavier with access of
bitterness as the moments sped, there came the ringing tones of a
voice--a voice well known to Mell.

Shaking off her lethargy and looking out from her hiding place, she
beheld the object of all these harrowing reflections, grasping Miss
Rutland's two hands in his own, as they together, and laughingly,
descended a precipitous declivity. Once down, they proceeded with
access of laughter, to push their way through a tangle of brushwood.
To get out of this into the beaten path, they must necessarily advance
in the direction of her place of concealment, and, devoured with
jealousy, inflamed with distrust, tortured with the cruel madness of
love, Mell determined to satisfy herself on the spot, as to whether
Jerome's avoidance was premeditated or unintentional. Just as the
couple emerged from their nether difficulties, and stood on clear
ground and firm footing, Mell suddenly stepped forth upon the same
path, confronting them face to face. Miss Rutland did not speak. Mell
knew she would not, although they had attended the same boarding
school for years, lived in the same house, and graduated in the same
class, where Miss Rutland, unlike herself, achieved no distinction of
self-merit; being content to be accounted distinguished through the
sepulchre of a dead father.

Mell did not expect recognition from her in such a place at such a
time; for the neighboring rocks were alive with the best families in
t