she had most admired, we have not thought them worthy of preservation. They contained no intelligence interesting to our readers, except that she had never encountered her runaway Arcadius, and that she had often seen Captain Gahagan, who was now with the camp which was forming at Hounslow, paid her a very marked attention upon all occasions, was really a most charming man, and wore the most brilliant and becoming dress-uniform she had ever beheld. In every suceeding letter Helen thought she could unequivocally perceive that the amusements, sights, and festivities in which she was participating, together with the continued want of intelligence respecting Reuben, were rapidly obliterating the impression he had made upon her heart, and which, frivolous as her cha racter might be, she had imagined to be of a much deeper and more durable nature. Rejoiced as she was at this discovery from her regard for Adeline's happiness, and her increasing conviction that Reuben had no intention of jus tifying the hopes he had awakened, she could not at all comprehend how her sister could subdue or forget a passion which she herself, with every possible wish and motive for its extinction, could not smother, without a mental struggle, the violence of which was attested to her own observation by its effects upon her bodily health. Every body, indeed, noticed her altered looks; and her mother frequently questioned her upor the subject, but she avoided the inquiry with a feeling of distress and impatience, rendered more remarkable by her usual placid amiability, resolutely refusing all medical advice, and frequently escaping to her own room that she might unobserved give vent to her tears. Had she been in a more cheerful mood she might not have been altogether unamused at the following letter which she received one day from Adeline : "MY DEAR HELEN, "Pall-Mall, Tuesday. "You desire me particularly to state whether I have seen him; but really one has so many adorers in this charming London, that you must be more specific in your inquiries, though Heaven knows you are generally precise enough in every thing. If you mean my Arcadius, I answer yes, mais attends! afin que je ne te fusse pas un poisson d'Avril—know, that it was only in a dream. A horrid bell woke me out of one of the most interesting conversations with him imaginable, and I had nothing left but to exclaim 'Heureux qui peut long tems rever, Un prompt reveil vient t'enlever, “In no other way have I stumbled upon my inconstant. And you tell me he has made no inquiries, forwarded no communications at home. Ainsi soit-il! May I die! Helen, if I will break my heart, susceptible, sensitive, tremulously tender as it is, for a fickle, perfidious -Eh! le volage! 66 Wednesday-I had written thus far yesterday, my dear Helen, but was obliged to break off, as we went to the play to see my dear Dryden's All for Love, or the World well Lost." Heigho! was there ever a more attractive title? Booth, the noble-looking Booth, acted Antony; the Cleopatra was the graceful, the majestic, the harmonious Oldfield ; and to you who know the trembling sensibility of my soul, I need not point out the striking parallel that many passages presented to my own situation, and the intense interest with which all my feelings must have been abandoned to the illusion of the scene. Helas! faut-il toujours gemir de ma tendresse? Vraiment, I believe I should have fainted away, but that just as Antony was about to fall upon his sword, my eyes encountered those of a fine, dark, militarylooking man in an adjoining box, who was contemplating me with an earnest and fixed attention. You, I know, ridicule, flout the very idea of love at first sight; but, my dearest Helen, you who are neither to be laughed nor frowned out of your own convictions, will you not acknowledge that a whole æra of impressions, a whole futurity of feeling, may be concentrated in a single glance. Oh! the language of the eyes is not compounded of letters, but every look is a speech, a book, a history, and I could not help reading in those of the stranger as distinct a declaration of love as if he had knelt at my feet, and made a formal demand of my hand. Tu ris, mechante, mais un jour tu sauras! Captain Gahagan was in the house, and I presently discovered that he had noticed his rude stare; for he left his place, and seated himself between me and the stranger, as if for the purpose of protecting me should his infatuation lead him to any ruder manifestation of his homage. Few as were the glimpses I ventured to obtain of personage of him, I ascertained that he was a military aspect, and what I should call altoge You know how ther an original-looking man. I doat upon originality! "Well, my dear Helen, we withdrew as soon as the tragedy was over. Captain Gahagan was in attendance to protect me to the carriage; and though I have no doubt the stranger was stationed somewhere to intercept us, or at least to steal a passionate gaze at me as we passed, it so happened that I saw him no more, and we reached home without accident. Ah! I |