had hastened to the spot with tender anxiety, but none save Mervyn had heard the exclamation of Aline, who was now seated, inhaling the restoratives brought for her use, and soon suffered herself to be led upstairs to her bedroom, where, having been left by Lady Adelaide for repose, she resisted the proposition of her maid, to allow herself to be undressed, and begged to be left quietly alone for a little while.

When the servant returned in a quarter of an hour, she found the door locked, and her young lady answered from within, that she had undressed herself, and was in bed and inclined to sleep, and that she might not be disturbed, she had fastened the door. But even as she spoke, Aline might still have been seen seated, dressed, as the servant had left her, in a large arm chair, a letter in her hand wet with the tears which

had been falling fast upon it.

The maid again retired.

Again Aline perused the epistle. Let us read it also, though so doing, - poor, imprudent

wilful girl! may draw upon you more blame, win for you less pity from the wise and right thinking, than my partial heart would desire. But I must be just, and this story I humbly trust may be looked upon as a moral lesson to the young and thoughtless-would that it might warn one of such from the folly it sets forth!

The letter was written in Italian, and I pretend not to do it justice by my rough translation, but it ran thus

"SIGNORINA,

"Forgive my boldness in thus venturing to address you. Fear not. It is in no spirit of presumption, with no desire to remind you of what has passed between us, that I thus have dared; no, rather I write to implore you to forget the past, to let it not stand in the way of your welfare, your own happiness, the natural desires of your family concerning your destiny! And to be plain, I well know to what end their wishes tend.

"I know that your hand is promised to ano

ther-to Lord Mervyn! I see your trouble and perplexity, I hear of your tears.

"Alina! once more, only once more, let me call you by that sweet name, a sound my lips must not again presume toutter-Alina, let not the remembrance of my love trouble you, or draw forth those tears. Let it be to you as a forgotten dream. The Italian singer will depart to-morrow from your sight. Elsewhere will he pursue his vocation-perhaps never again return to England; but should fate bring him back to these shores, he will then be to you no more than he should ever have been, the humble cantatore on whom the ladies of the land may look, to listen, and admire, but never love.

"Ah, how weak, selfish, unworthy, unwise, did my sentiment for one so fair and gentle, render me !-What momentary presumption did it excite-I was in mercy punished as I deserved.

"I came here to the mansion of your parents -my kind, confiding patrons! with the vain,

treacherous hope that the affection, or rather the passing weakness of my lovely pupil, which in a moment of agitation she had betrayed, might, whilst dwelling for a blissful period beneath the same roof together, still form a dear but secret link between us.

"I am punished-God be praised, that so it has been! for what could have resulted from such love as ours, in our different circumstances and positions? To me misery, to you disgrace in the eyes of the proud world. I read my punishment in your averted looks, your embarrassed mien, your confusion, your avoidance of me-by the sight of the devoted lover, ever at your side,— permitted, if not encouraged-by the whispers of all around, that you are destined for one another. I saw the trouble, which, in my presence, such devotion on Lord Mervyn's part, in-. flicted upon you. Let it no longer distress you. I hear that you have refused him, and thus excited the anger of your friends. Presuming then to feel that I may, in some way, be connected

with your rejection of this honourable suit, I write to intreat you, fair, young, gentle lady, to allow no scruples, no self-reproach on my account, to weigh upon your conscience in this matter. I give you back your heart-ah! that you could restore me mine!

"Yes; bestow it on a worthier object, on that

young nobleman, who will at least raise you to the level which your birth, your nurture, doth demand.

"And let me comfort my repining heart, and reassure your tender pity, by the suggestionWhat, if the dream had been realized?-if fate, cruelly kind, had united us, and made you mine? Weak, weak heart, how it thrills with that bold idea! What, if so it had been-and the high born, high bred lady, had sunk to the grade of Carlo Angelo, who, to maintain himself, and wife, must barter his time, his health, nay, perhaps his life, for gold?

"What, if time had brought to her, repentance of her act-impatience at her position