I saw

Maitland with the fervor of a first attachment. him frequently by stealth, but the watchful Mrs Reeves discovering it, I was sent to Devonshire to my aunt Wilmot, with a letter from my father, whose temper was of the most unrelenting kind, giving an account of my conduct and charging her not to permit me to receive letters or go out unattended.

'My good aunt Wilmot tried to reconcile me to my destiny, endeavouring by every means in her power to convince me, that it was my duty to submit implicitly to the will of my father.

'The health of this excellent woman had been for some time declining, and hearing of the death of Captain Wilmot, who was stationed with his regiment at Jamaica, the blow proved fatal to her. He had ever been an affectionate husband, and in feeble health the calamity was more than she could bear. She sunk under the weight of her affliction, and my earliest, and, I might almost say, my dearest friend, was now no more. My grief knew no bounds, and with many unavailing tears her remains were committed to the silence of the grave.'

THE HOUSE ON THE HEATH:

A TALE OF REAL LIFE.

PART II.

-E'er I could

Give him that parting kiss, which I had set
Betwixt two charming words, comes in iny father,
And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north,
Shakes all our buds from growing.'-Cymbeline.

'Scarcely was my aunt entombed,' continued Blanche, 'before Adolphus, hearing of her death, hastened down to Devonshire, and tried to prevail upon me to elope with him, saying that if I returned to my father's, he should not be permitted to see me again.

'I told him that such was the influence of Mrs Reeves over my father, that if I were to marry Adolphus she would induce him to cast me off for ever, and that then it would not be in my power to bring him the fortune I had a right to expect.

'He declared that my fortune was no consideration with him, that it would be a happiness to be permitted to toil for me. I was just on the point of consenting to his proposal, when my father, who had been sent for to attend the funeral of my aunt, but who did not receive the express till it was too late, appeared be

fore us.

You may imagine our consternation and the scene that ensued.

'My beloved Adolphus was again banished from my presence, and after the affairs of my aunt were settled, I was immediately hurried off to London.

'On opening the will of my deceased aunt, it was found that she had left all her property to me, and though not large, it would have been, with the addition of Maitland's own and the profits of his profession, sufficient to have supported us both, not only comfortably but in elegance; and I still flattered myself with the hope that the period would yet arrive when all opposition to our union would cease. But in this I was mistaken. My father had already disposed of me according to what had ever been a favorite wish of his, that of adding aggrandizement to his wealth, by uniting me to some titled personage.

'A candidate for my fortune soon presented himself in the person of Lord Oakley, a nobleman of twice my own age, who had already squandered away a handsome property on the pleasures of the turf, the billardtable, and other disgraceful, fashionable, and expensive follies and amusements, and was now pretending to reform, that he might be able to retrieve his broken fortunes by a marriage with some heiress, whose vanity and whose father's pride might be gratified and dazzled by the grandeur of his family connexions.

'The manners and person of Lord Oakley were both alike disagreeable to me. They would have been so under any circumstances, but loving Adolphus Maitland as I did, his addresses were hateful to me,

and notwithstanding the persuasions of my friends and the heavy denunciations of my father, I resolutely refused him.

'I had not seen Adolphus for several months, but felt still assured of his love from the letters I received from him by stealth. All on a sudden they ceased, and I knew not what to think of it, when one day Mrs Reeves informed me that he had sailed for the East Indies. This I considered as an infamous calumny on the integrity of my lover, and therefore did not credit the report, thinking it impossible that he could go to such a distance, and for a length of time, without either writing to, or making an effort to see me. But I was not long left in suspense. The papers of the day announced that the son of the late gallant Captain Maitland had gone to Madras to obtain some property that had been left him by an uncle, who had been in the British East India service, and had fallen a victim to the climate.'

'I was disappointed beyond measure, and felt mortified and indignant at this palpable neglect, not to say baseness, on the part of one from whom I had received such unequivocal marks and professions of love and everlasting attachment. After the first stunning effects of the blow were over, seeing there was no other alternative, at the earnest supplication of Lord Oakley and my father, I accepted his Lordship's hand.

'Soon after my marriage, my father died, and had not been dead three months before Lord Oakley threw off the mask assumed only to deceive, and renewed his former habits of gaming, horseracing, &c.

But