o'er the many wonders she had been told, she reclined her arm on a table, lost in a sweet yet sometimes sad delirium of thought, which looked "unutterable things."

To whom was Paulo about to introduce her? This question began to furnish her with a thousand vague conjectures, all of which might prove visionary when she beheld him!

Was it to Captain Singleton, her so much respected and dearlyloved father, over whose lamented death she had shed many a bitter and sorrowing tear?—or was it to the father which nature had given her?—No, to him it could not be, for Paulo had declared that he was his mortal enemy!

Then who was the Duchess? and wherefore was she the object of her vengeance?- she knew but of one Duchess, and that was the lady who was her tenant in the Cottage on the Cliff; and the treacherous note she had received from her, on the evening she quitted the house of her protector, too much favoured this deception.

These were the reflections of Agatha during the short interval that she was left alone; yet the thoughts of being one day emancipated from her lonely prison, and of being certainly secure under the protection of Paulo, gave her transports of the most lively joy; and she wept and laughed by turns when her little maid again returned to the apartment with the dinner-tray.

"Dear lady, I could not come before," cried Beda, setting the covers on the table; "grandmother would not let me, she is very cross to-day, I never saw her so cross before; and she was going to beat me, if the Captain had not that moment come in, but she is afraid of him."

"It is fortunate that she stands in fear of somebody," observed Agatha, in so sprightly a tone, that Beda surveyed her smiling looks with the most unspeakable delight and wonder.

"At what are you so intently gazing, my dear little Beda ?" cried Agatha with a smile, and patting her rosy cheek at the same instant.

66

Why I can't help looking, and that is the truth of it," returned Beda, "for you have got a colour in your cheeks like roses, and your eyes sparkle like diamonds."

"And I ha tha, laughing, in the world waiting-maid repast.

ppetite for my dinner," cried Agaer than all the roses and diamonds nediately sat down with her little increased vivacity, a comfortable

SUSPEN

istence; with, and

behind,

of our w Whe

had no heroinc be con

" Di

this h

let m

now £

"] Beda

the Captain."

PTER XXIX.

: means

likely instruments, full oft ents produced."

e of the most tormenting feelings of exs and our bitterest griefs are interwoven and every moment seems either to lag speed, the nearer we approach the goal je confirmation of our fears.

vening had gradually advanced, and Paulo the impatience and anxiety of our lovely parent to the eye of the watchful Beda to

ed she, "you have asked me thrice withic je time, and I do not know unless you will e of grandmother. But wherefore are you

יי?

a enduring the intollerable agony of suspense, jatha, "for ere now I expected to have seen

"And know you not, lady, that he is gone forth from the Abbey on a white palfrey, and may not return again before to-morrow's dawn?" rejoined Beda: "in truth I heard him say so, just before he departed hence."

The countenance of our almost despairing heroine at these words again brightened into a smile, and she exclaimed :

"Say'st thou so, dear Beda? then with that assurance I will content me. But does he go often on these journeys, and stays he long absent ?"

"He only went once that I can remember, and then he tarried three days and three nights, and in sooth he was sadly weary when he returned," replied the girl; " and grandmother and he had much talk together; but it was not merry talk, lady, for ever and anon the Captain wept, and grandmother chid him for it yet still he wept and sighed heavily. But I could never learn the cause 'of it."

"Nor ever will, probably," said Agatha, "this place is full of mystery! would to Heaven that it were revealed to me, or that I could once behold" Agatha paused; and, recollecting the caution she had received from Paulo respecting the little girl, blamed herself for her indiscretion, and became absorbed in her own reflections, which were certainly not of the most pleasing kind for she still doubted and feared, still trembled, and still hoped that the issue of Paulo's visit to her would relieve her of the dreadful anxiety which hung over her fate.

Meanwhile Beda had prepared the coffee in her usual style, and intreated her mistress to partake of it: who, unable to resist the intreaties of the kind and affectionate girl, was just beginning to sip, when a gentle tap at the door announced her expected visiter; for it was indeed Paulo who now made his appearance before her.

"Continue to enjoy your meal, lady," uttered he, "and by no means let me be any interruption; I will sit and warm myself by the good fire which I am glad to see Beda has so well provided for you."

"Will you not also take some coffee?" inquired Agatha; “you are weary, and it will refresh you."

"I should be unable to resist so kind an invitation, lady, even were I not weary," was the reply of Paulo: and a dish of coffee was immediately handed over to him by Beda, at whom he looked and sometimes smiled.

"You have greatly improved since you have had the honour of being in attendance on this lady, Beda," exclaimed he: " and have acquired an art which I never knew you to possess beforethat of being silent until you are spoken to a very useful lesson for a young maid like you."

No. 17.

49

our heroine, who greatly surprised, read the following words from her beloved Wolf.

"I know not if this will ever reach your dear hand, my pretty sister, but as this is the night of the banquet, I will watch for an opportunity, when the men are all drunken, as I suppose they will shortly be, of contriving to speak with your little waiting-maid, who appears to be a very good-humoured girl, and deliver this to her care. Don't weep for me, dear sister; because, though I am a prisoner and dare not walk abroad, yet the man who brought us in the boat, and whose name is Manfrida, treats me very kindly, and gives me plenty to eat and to drink; and sometimes he is merry, and laughs and jokes with me: and though he seldom leaves me alone, yet he is often drunken with wine and brandy, of which he takes prodigious quantities, and then he falls fast asleep. But now he is gone to the great feast that is to be given to-night in the ancient hall, in honour of the Captain's birth day : so I lighted on an inkhorn which was full of ink, and in one of the old mouldy drawers I found some pens and a few sheets of paper, and bethought me of writing to you, dear sister.-Manfrida is coming-bless you, bless you, farewell!

"It was a false alarm, dear sister! Manfrida is not coming: it was only the frightful old witch, that hobbled across the gallery with a lighted taper in her hand, and seems so drunken that she will presently fall down.

"Sister, I have helped old Mysis upon her legs again, and she gave me a nice pasty for my pains.

"Where is good Manfrida, mistress Mysis?' cried I. 'I want to go to rest.'

"Then in the name of Heaven go thy ways, child,' uttered the old woman: for if you wait for that drunken dog Manfrida to see you to your chamber, you are like to keep watch till the cock is crowing, boy for they are all lying on the floor as drunken as David's sow. There is not a sober person in the family now but me,-and-and my little granddaughter who is along with the young lady in 'tother part of the Abbey; in the greendragon-chamber, just at the end of yon gallery. But hie thee to

thy roost, boy! I must away and warm me with a scald drop of brandy, which is all they have left me, with a murrain to them, out of the bonniest cask that ever was broached on board of the Buccaneer. Good night to thee, child; my eyes begin to wink and blear with the frosty air, and a female must needs take care of herself among such a set of drunken swine. Night, Night, my little cock-sparrow.'

"Mysis now hobbled away, dear sister, but left me all the intelligence I wanted; for I now knew that only the gallery divided us : and there will I watch for the remainder of the night, until I chance to get a sight of the little maid, to carry this to your dear pretty white hands. Angels bless you! is the unceasing prayer, night and morning, of your faithful-WOLF."

Our heroine was so transported with this unexpected intelligence of her beloved Wolf, and the account he had given of his treatment in the old Abbey, that for moment she forgot the terrors of her own situation, and certainly was unmindful of the eager and watchful looks of little Beda, who for the last quarter of an hour stood by her side, surveying with some degree of youthful impatience the countenance of her lovely mistress, as she devoured the contents of this precious billet; and finding Agatha profoundly silent, she softly exclaimed:

"If what I have given you has made you so happy, why is not poor little Beda permitted to partake of your joy, dear lady? were I so happy, methinks I should delight in telling you what had made me so."

Our heroine actually felt herself blush at the reproach of this affectionate child; but, nevertheless, felt it necessary to repress this emotion, as well as to discourage a freedom which hereafter (if ever Beda came under her protection,) might prove troublesome in any other situation; and she somewhat gravely replied:

"My dear Beda, did the contents of this billet concern you I would read it to you with pleasure: but I am not at liberty to reveal my brother's thoughts, which relate to him and me alone. Yet be assured you will not find him forgetful of this piece of service you have rendered him, nor me ungrateful for the pleasure it has afforded me."