not to be taken alive. Her foresight of this danger had dictated Helen's recent conduct, and stillfilled her bosom with anxiety, though she now exhibited such a perfect self-possession, that not even the keenest observer would have suspected any thing had recently occurred to disturb the placid, ordinary current of her feelings. It was far otherwise with Adeline, whose attempts to conceal her confusion by a forced, giggling, and affected nonchalance, would have suggested the idea that she was playing a part, and had something to hide; but that the general oddity and flightiness of her demeanour were too well known to entail any particular observaupon that which was conceived to be nothing more than the whim of the moment. From the conversation of their brother, the chances of escape for any of the concealed rebels seemed to be forlorn, and almost hopeless. Spies and scouts he stated to be thickly planted in every while the shore and ore and sea, all along

tion

direction; whe

that part of the coast, were strictly invested by patrolling parties, and armed skiffs or shallops, which had already arrested several of the better

sort, for whose heads he declared he would not give a pinch of snuff, since it was well known that the vengeances of the King would be specially directed against the officers and gentry. Although this information left them more at a loss than ever how to dispose of Reuben without ensuring his certain destruction, both sisters -were relieved from a portion of their anxiety when the Captain and his troopers took themselves off, for any thing seemed preferable to a discovery and fracas in their own house, and the hope of safety and concealment to all parties was at least fortified for the present by the disappearance of the soldiers.

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Je Helen, however, was well aware that this was only a momentary respite for their unfortunate protegé. She knew Lady Crockatt and Mrs. Chatsworth too well to imagine that they would observe their pledge for any protracted period, even if they did not instantly violate it. Besides, they were under no promise of secrecy as to what they had seen and heard in the summerhouse; and (a whisper, a hint, a gesture, might be sufficient to direct attention to the spot, and

J

occasion was discovery. On Reuben's account, therefore, on her own but more especially on Adeline's, whose blind, romantic passion appeared to gather force from its obvious absurdity under the present circumstances, and to be stimulated into enthusiasm by the hourly increasing dangers of its object, she became convinced that their inmate ought not to be suffered to remain another day within the precincts of Harpsden Hall. Every thing might be lost, nothing would be gained by delay, and she resolved to seek an interview with him at once, to point out to him the predicament in which he stood, to suggest to him whatever precautions might increase the chances of his escape, and to request that he would withdraw himself forthwith, and seek some more secure asylum until he could accomplish his flight beyond sea. She accordingly summoned Adeline, communicated what had passed in the painting-room, and requested that she would accompany her to the closet, for the purpose of dismissing their visitant.

Reuben, in the meanwhile, remained in his marrow sanctuary, a prey to contradictory emo

tions that were at once grateful and distressing. The conversation which he had overheard bad filled him with the most exalted notions of He len's magnanimity in sacrificing her own most cherished feelings, and even her good fame with the world, to her generous protection of an utter stranger; while her affectionate devotedness to her sister, when by the utterance of a single word she might have transferred from herself to Adeline all the supposed criminality attached to his concealment, rendered it doubtful whether she had conferred upon her, or upon himself, the more important and inappreciable service. He was equally at a loss whether most to admire the noble-minded heroism of her conduct, or the gentle, feminine, and yet resolute calmness of her deportment, of which he had formed his opinion, without the testimony of his eyes, from the sweetness of her voice, attuned to a singular accordance with the mildness and be nignity of her sentiments. In proportion, howe ever, as it delighted him to think that a highborn female, who united such grandeur of sonk to so much suavity of temperament, should have

voluntarily constituted herself his protectress and preserver, it humiliated, it stung him, to reflect that he might be the means of entailing defamation, danger, and unhappiness upon the highly-gifted being who had treated him with such unexampled generosity. Bitterly did he regret that he had not sooner withdrawn himself from the premises, and though he was sensible that his doing so now would not exonérate his benefactress from the unworthy suspicions to which an unfortunate combination of cir cumstances had subjected her, he determined to fly from the house at all hazards, lest she should become more deeply, and perhaps irre trievably compromised by his presence.

Just as he had formed this resolution the sisters tapped gently at the door of the closet, and requested that he would join them in the painting-room, a summons which was of course in stantly obeyed. All fright and flutter, horror and heroics, Adeline apostrophized the fates, both in French and English, declaring that the arrival of Lady Crockatt and her companions Was un contre-tems inoui, that the treatment her