"I WILL, my child," replied the stranger, raising himself feebly from the ground, on which he had rested;

but indeed my Eloise, I can undertake this journey no more; it is too much for me."

MORALDI, who had kept aloof during this conversation, and conceal'ed himself near a clump of trees, close behind them, now approached, and with an ingenuousness and candour he knew so well how to assume, offered his arm to support him.

"YOUNG man," said the stranger, laying his hand upon his shoulder, while a look of dignified sorrow marked each expressive feature, "I will accept your offer, with gratitude; long is it since the sounds of sympathy and commiseration have reached my

ears;

ears; you shall assist me to my cottage, and Eloise shall thank you for her father."

MORALDI was delighted; and the gentle Eloise raising towards him a blushing look of gratitude and tenderness, flew before, to prepare the cottage for their reception. After a visit, which lasted three hours, they parted, mutually pleased with each other; all the information, however, that Moraldi could gain as to the situation of his new acquaintance, was that they were French; their names de Cleance; and that they had been driven, by unforeseen misfortunes, to seek an asylum in Italy, where they subsisted, by dint of the utmost frugality, on the scanty store saved out of the wreck of their fortunes this pittance he found, also, was much

much increased by the exertions of Eloise, who, educated in the most finished manner by her father, possessed

an

4

uncommon fund of information, and now industriously turned those accomplishments to the support and comfort of the parent she adored. That they were of rank, expressions accidentally dropt by de Cleance left him not a doubt; but who they really were, was a confidence he never could obtain. Nor could he ascertain whether or not he had a son, a circumstance he had also been induced to conjecture as it was, a great mystery hung over them, and grief, more than infirmity, seemed to be hastening the excellent de Cleance to his grave. Yet, alas! not all his former sorrows were sufficient to ensure him from the yet greater calamities that were in store for him under the assumed name

of

of Marinari, Moraldi became a stant and welcome guest; and under the guise of friendship, under the semblance of goodness and honour, engaged the esteem of de Cleance, and the love of his innocent child; ere alive to her danger, she became the victim of an ardent, and as she herself imagined, hopeless affection; for the artful seducer, while he appeared unable to disguise the sentiments with which she had inspired him, hinted at peculiarities in his situation which restrained his inclinations, and doomed him to misery and despair. From this period, the once peaceful dwelling of de Cleance became the abode of gloom and discontent; the note of Eloise was heard no longer; her music was neglected, her drawings torn and effaced, and all her hours past in tracing each step of the path where she had

VOL. II.

C

first

first scen Moraldi, in musing on his image when away, in watching each expression of his countenance when with her.

UNFORTUNATE de Cleance! not all thy wrongs, not all thy sorrows, had been sufficient to guard thee against that treachery and deception, of which the liberal and noble mind too generally becomes the prey: generous, open, and believing, not all thy miseries had taught thee suspicion; had taught thee that the serpent, while fostering in the bosom of a father, will oftimes strike his deadliest poison at the heart of his offspring: Not till too late did he observe the alteration in his child; not till too late did he bitterly repent his ill-judged confidence, or perceive, with sensations of the keenest agony, that her peace was for ever fled; and that the efforts she

made