sorry, Mr. Grahame! don't think me such a brute as to have wilfully done this. Ibbetson was bothering me; and Aspinal and the carpenter were teasing me with their thousand wants, at the time I was hunting for a sheet of paper in which to fold the grapes. I flew into a rage, and forgetfully rolled up the fruit in the very paper I wished to prevent your ever seeeing; "-and the old woman burst into tears.

"Hush, hush!" said Paul; "don't reproach yourself. It is better I should know all."

"It's no such thing, indeed: I know how you'll take on," said she, wiping her spectacles. "I ought to be smothered for my carelessness; your poor heart has been wrung sufficiently; and now this terrible blow comes to complete the work. Oh, dear! oh, dear!"-and fresh tears followed.

Paul's chest heaved, and his whole frame quivered as he re-read the paragraph announcing that a union was about to take place between the Duke of Lissborough and the beautiful actress, Zarina Cardonizzi.

"Thy will be done," moaned he, tearing the paper into tiny shreds: "I will no longer murmer; I will no longer desire to live," he added in a broken voice, as he buried his face in the pillow.

"Oh, she is a false, perjured, wicked"

"No, no, good Mrs. Godfrey!" exclaimed Paul; "not a word against her, I entreat. I cannot bear to hear her name linked with harsh words. I love her still, and while my heart throbs it will cherish her image."

"Cherish a toad, an adder, a serpent within your bosom, rather than that false girl's image!" cried Mrs. Godfrey. "Oh, Mr. Grahame, take an old woman's counsel, and tear her for ever out of your memory."

"I cannot-I cannot!" replied he.

"I'll send you abroad :-yes, to Italy!" continued she in an excited tone; "you shall see the works of the great masters, if you will strive to forget her. Listen. I confess that I'm rich; I can afford to send you all over the world, and will do so, if such be your desire. I have no child, no relative. I have scraped together wealth-have hoarded it with miserly care; it shall be yours, and you shall be my child."

"I am grateful" commenced Paul.

"I know you are," interrupted she. "I want no thanks; my money will be well spent if it assist in recovering your precious health."

Paul silently pressed her hand, and she proceeded cheerfully and coaxingly

"Think of the Lake of Como, that Claude Melnotte talks so much about. Only fancy your being able to see all those grand mountains one hears of; one of which is vomiting forth smoke and red cinders on one side of you, while on the top of the other it's freezing for dear life."

In this way Mrs. Godfrey chattered: all her kind feelings were awakened for the broken-hearted man whom she feared would never live to see the year out.

"Clo' and papa have already told you, my dearest mother, of what is about to happen. Yes, all is settled; and in twelve days hence I shall become the Duchess of Lissborough. We are all staying at Sir John Craggsbridge's, where we shall remain till we leave for Eaglemount Castle. Papa says he has arranged that you join us on the 20th. I send you the enclosed bank-note, that you may be enabled to provide yourself with necessary equipments for the occasion.

"Clo' did not permit me to see the whole of your last letter to her; and I have been filled with uneasy thoughts lest you did not approve of my conduct. Your congratulations have been so stiff and constrained. Do not reproach me, my darling mamma-all is for the best-papa says so; and I think so. Not one word of him when we meet. I could not bear to hear his name now; it is my duty to forget it. Do you understand me, my own mother, whose affection I prize so dearly? There are some acts in our lives, to the commission of which we are forced by an unseen yet powerful hand

""All unavoidable is the doom of destiny.'

"I will not pursue the theme further. I will bury the past in the swallowing gulf of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion.' "'RINA."

Vain hope! Who can drive from the heart the recollection of the being most beloved? Memory tenaciously clings to the dear one's image, and each day Fancy adorns it with a new charm of person or mind.

CHAPTER XXIX.

It was the last night of 'Rina's performance on any boards-as the play-bills say. She had chosen for her farewell part the character in which she had first appeared in London. The theatre was crowded to suffocation, for everybody seemed anxious to behold the actress who was about to wear a coronet.

Mr. Trenmore was distressed at being forced to part with his most attractive actress; but his generous nature forbade his making any complaint, or even inflicting the usual fine for breach of engagement.

The curtain fell amid loud plaudits, and the sisters were called before the curtain to receive an especial ovation. Bouquets, garlands, and wreaths were flung from boxes and stalls; ladies waved their handkerchiefs, while gentlemen clapped their hands, and vociferously shouted "Brava! brava!"

Mr. Trenmore led 'Rina into the green-room, where all the performers, male and female, were assembled to take leave of the future Duchess of Lissborough. 'Rina was pale and agitated. She had stood behind the footlights for the last time, and strange thoughts stirred in her breast. Henceforth her station would be lofty and proud-would she be happy in that station?

"I am sorry to lose you, my little duchess in embryo," said Mr. Darly, shaking her hand vehemently. "Pray excuse me; I'm called for the farce ! business before pleasure. No, no, I didn't mean to say that; for this parting isn't a pleasurable event. Aha! I was the wizard who foretold" "Mr. Darly, you're called, sir."

"All right, Brill." And the old actor rubbed his chin and hurried away.

"Ah, goddess of my soul!" cried Mr. Chatterton Mowbray, waving his arms like a windmill in a hurricane, and raising his eyes to the ceiling, "must I indeed say farewell to thee? How shall I ever again play the Duke Aranza, without my fairest Juliana? My wife was alternately in fits of despair and rapture-rapture and despair, when she heard you were going to leave us in order to become a real duchess. Suffer me to kiss your hand. Believe me, you have my most sincere wishes for your future felicity. My wife, Mrs. Chatterton Mowbray, desired me to repeat in the words of the great bard--"

"The deuce take you, Chatterton! you're monopolizing the lady," said Mr. Trenmore, laughingly drawing 'Rina away to a corner of the apartment, where she was quickly surrounded by the rest of the company.

"Health and happiness to you!" exclaimed one. "I echo that wish," cried another.

"Don't quite forget me, my child!" said an elderly lady. "Oh, Mrs. Hescott! you shall never be forgotten. You have ever been so kind to my sister and me."

"Your sister remains with us, does she not?" asked the lady.

"She will complete her engagement with Mr. Trenmore," rejoined 'Rina. "I can answer for her no further."

"Ah! by-and-by I suppose she'll be hopping off with some great man!"

At this moment Julius and Clotilda entered the room, and together approached 'Rina.

"The carriage is waiting," said her father, in a louder tone than necessary; "and his grace is most impatient this evening."

she.

"I have to undress, but shall not keep you long," replied "Adieu-adieu, my friends."

"Adieu-adieu."

And the actress hastened from the green-room: a few minutes afterwards she was ensconsed in a corner of Sir John's carriage, and proceeding towards Park Lane.

During the whole of the drive neither Julius nor Clotilda spoke to 'Rina, who seemed abstracted, and sat with her eyes fixed upon the bouquets and garlands that had been thrown to her that night, and which she now was carrying home as trophies of her last triumph. Where were her thoughts at that moment? Assuredly not with him who was about to call her bride.

The duke considered he was making a vast sacrifice in wedding the actress, but he was fascinated by her-she was so beautiful, so courted; and, had she been surrounded by a score of vulgar relations, he would have married her. He had never dreamed of taking a wife to Eaglemount; he had always scoffed at that knot which ties for ever-now he would not, fer worlds, have possessed 'Rina otherwise than honourably. This change in the duke's sentiments was not precisely the result of Sir John's advice-his grace's chief counsellor being vanity,-nor had honour or feeling any voice in the matter.

After much debating with Sir John, and consultation with 'Rina, the duke decided that the marriage should take place in London; and that the bride and bridegroom should spend their honeymoon under the ancient roof of Eaglemount Castle.

A few days before her wedding 'Rina drooped perceptibly, and those around her noticed that her cheeks had grown paler, and that her eyes were constantly swollen and red with weeping. Clotilda alone knew the cause of her sister's tears.

Emma arrived in town on the evening previous to her daughter's wedding-day, and all were assembled in an apartment in Sir John's house. The meeting between the mother and her girls was constrained-almost sorrowful. Emma felt that all was not peace within 'Rina's breast; and she trembled for her child's future. She glanced at the duke's white head and stern face, and then at 'Rina's bright curls and youthful countenance. Oh, what a contrast! May, sunny May and frosty December-fragrant flowers and withered leaves. Emma spoke to Sir John. She said she feared unequal Emma

matches, but trusted her 'Rina would be happy. thought of her own married life and its disappointments and hard trials, through which a devoted affection for her husband and children had alone supported her.

But with 'Rina the case was altogether different. She