compete openly; and with deep dissimulation, but unalterable hatred, he smothered his mortification as he best could, and determined to bring about a reconciliation, until time and accident would secure a safe but tedious revenge. Manus Blake, open and unsuspicious to a fault, was easily gained over; he believed that all were sincere as himself, and freely offered his assistance to reconcile those who in love and ambition had been rivals, and mediate between an artful scoundrel and an ingenuous and confiding brother.

The approaching solemnity afforded a good opportunity to heal the feud and re-establish friendly feelings. Donovan and his wife were accordingly invited to be present. By both, the invitation was joyfully accepted. Different feelings influenced them;-with Harriette, reviving love; with her husband, undying hatred.

Already this ill-assorted couple had discovered that happiness attends no union heartless and hurried as their own. Donovan's vanity was flattered by the beauty of his wife-but beyond that, he had no tenderer feeling. With Harriette, a deep aversion, almost too powerful for concealment, succeeded the hour of madness which tempted her to give a hand to one whose character she despised, and whose person she detested. For a time, a gay equipage and showy ornaments amused her, while visiting and change of scene diverted an uneasy mind from thinking; but these had ceased to interest: ennui came on, reflection maddened, and her passion for Cæsar Blake, indelicate, criminal, and unholy, returned with additional violence, as if the obligations that bound them both increased it; when even to think was unpardonable, and hope was at an end.

It was twilight when my father entered the ivy-covered archway of his paternal domain. March had come in with a lion's violence: the trees groaned in the storm-a deserted dog was howling mournfully-an owl flitted heavily pastand a hare crossed the avenue before him. Cæsar Blake would have been freer from superstition than his countrymen, had he regarded these ominous appearances and sounds without emotion. He spurred on rapidly, and at the hall-door met his brother and his ancient enemy returning from the stables.

Donovan anticipated an interview, and was well prepared for it. With apparent openness he at once entered into explanations; and so artful was his address, that my father was cheated into a belief of his sincerity; and to all appearance, amity was renewed, and past differences forgotten.

Harriette, "the married woman,' was first in the drawingroom, although the gallant colonel had persuaded himself that the business of the toilette would make her the last to enter it. Their meeting, and their tête-à-tête, it is unnecessary to particularize. Cæsar thought his accomplished cousin had never looked so beautiful-while every smothered feeling in her breast rekindled with increasing violence. The omens that marked his journey were forgotten; he was excited, flattered, almost possessed, and circumstances, trifling in themselves, assisted. For the first time he wore a colonel's uniform, for the first time he heard his new title echoed in the gay festival. Caution, fear, and prudence were lulled to sleep; all around was gay and reckless merriment. The heir was in due form brought to the font; my father and the seductive Harriette were the sponsors; the holy rites were followed by the banquet; the wine flowed gloriously; music was heard in the hall; the dance succeeded; all was mirth and gallantry; and Ellen, the gentle, devoted, and adoring Ellen, was half-forgotten; and Harriette, all worthless as she was, usurped her place. Reader, censure not Cæsar Blake too hastily; let the wisest struggle with the temptation that assailed him, and let Platonists prate as they please, the stoutest resolution may fail, and even a philosopher discover that human nature is but weak; and maugre the sophistries of schoolmen, a man's a man for a' that!"

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The night wore on; the happy parents of the heir appeared removed beyond the cares and sorrows of humanity. Donovan improved his advantage, and showed himself so solicitous to eradicate every latent spark of past unkindness, that my father began to fancy he had judged him with too much severity. Yet Donovan never hated Cæsar Blake with half the intensity before, that the admiration his wife lavished on his enemy elicited now. That very evening, a disgraced servant of the Blakes, whom he had taken into his service, in tipsy loquacity apprised him of what he had never known before; and he registered in heaven an oath of deadly vengeance. blacker heart, a more tortured spirit than his, never occupied a human habitation: yet his laugh was loud, and he appeared the happiest of the happy. But while his manner exhibited well-dissembled confidence and mental tranquillity, he watched with a tiger's patience every look and action of his doomed rival; and before the gay throng separated, he had seen enough to confirm his worst suspicions-his wife loved Cæsar Blake!

A

CHAPTER XIII.

GUILT AND MURDER.

Oh! too convincing-dangerously dear,
In woman's eye the unanswerable tear!
That weapon of her weakness she can wield,
To save, subdue--at once her spear and shield,
Avoid it-Virtue ebbs and Wisdom errs,
Too fondly gazing on that grief of hers!
What lost a world, and bade a hero fly?
The timid tear in Cleopatra's eye.
Yet be the soft triumvir's fault forgiven:
By this, how many lose not earth, but heaven!
Consign their souls to man's eternal foe,

And seal their own, to spare some wanton's woe!

*

*

*

Whose bullet through the night air sang,
Too nearly, deadly aimed to err?

Corsair.

Bride of Abydos.

THREE days passed, and hospitable rejoicings continued with unabated spirit, in honour of the long-denied blessing of an heir, which had now been vouchsafed to the lord of Castle Blake. Many of the guests remained; while those who were obliged to leave, were succeeded by a fresh supply of visiters. My father had fixed the third morning for his departure; but a stag was to be enlarged, from which a fine run was expected, and the colonel yielded to the earnest solicitation of his brother, and consented to extend his visit to another day.

On what trifles do the gravest occurrences of life depend! My father had promised faithfully that on this day he would be at Castlebar, and he had resolved to redeem the promise. Accordingly he combated the entreaties of his host, mounted his horse, and actually commenced his journey; but, unluckily, he cast a shoe, and stopped at a smith's shop to have it replaced. During this delay, the cart with the deer came up, attended by a numerous field. Again he was pressed to join the hunters; the prospect of a gallant run and the badinage of the company overturned his resolutions, and he consented.

There was also another departure from Castle Blake, and that was Mr. Donovan's. Business of moment called him to Galway. The distance was long, the roads heavy, and he

left with a declaration that he should not be home till next morning.

Cæsar Blake, when he changed his intention of returning, despatched his servant to apprise his lady. Ellen was anxiously expecting him; she had dressed with unusual care; and her baby's cot, gaily decorated with ever-blowing roses, was placed upon a sofa in the drawing-room. The day to her seemed interminably long; she gazed upon the slumbering child, she looked at the progress of the time-piece: she went to the window, the shades of evening were falling fast; and, as yet, her lord appeared not. Something had made her melancholy she was still weak and nervous, it might be her husband's absence, it might be her father's marriage; and her eyes filled as they turned upon the darling pledge of pure and hallowed love. Ah! who can imagine a mother's feelings as she looks upon the first-born of an idolized father?

"How lovely he appears! his little cheeks,
In their pure incarnation, vying with
The rose-leaves strewn beneath him.
And his lips, too,

How beautifully parted!

He smiles and sleeps! Sleep on

And smile, thou little young inheritor

Of a world- -Sleep on and smile!

Thine are the hours and days when both are cheering

And innocent! Must the time

Come, thou shalt be amerced for sins unknown,

Which were not thine nor mine? But now sleep on !—

His cheeks are reddening into deeper smiles,

And shining lids are trembling o'er his long

Lashes

Half open, from beneath them, the clear blue

Laughs out, although in slumber. He must dream-
Of what?-of Paradise! Ay! dream of it,
My disinherited boy! 'Tis but a dream!"

"Hark! a horse stops. It is himself, thy own loved father, boy!" and Ellen flew with open arms to meet him. Alas! it was but the messenger to extinguish hope, deferred too long already.

The lights were blazing in Castle Blake, the dressing-bell had rung its second peal, and Harriette Donovan appeared in all the pride of beauty. Never had she looked lovelier, for never had she taken more pains to render her charms irresistible. She was dressed splendidly; her magnificent black hair contrasting artfully with the string of pearls that

secured it, while the sparkling necklace found its brilliancy eclipsed by

"Corruscations from a lightning eye."

Her tall and voluptuous figure moved over the carpet with that natural grace that art attains not, as she sought the distant sofa where she observed her cousin. Dinner was announced. Harriette leaned upon my father's arm; and, "like a blooming eastern bride," occupied the next place at table.

Alas! Cæsar Blake, there is one at home, weeping over an infant's cradle, whose chaste and holy tear is worth all the "wreathed smiles" that ever played round the rosy lips of the dangerous beauty "who sits beside thee!"

That morning the deer had made a gallant run; the pace was severe, and those who had ridden hard now drank deep, and, gradually dropping off one by one, sought their respective dormitories, and the table was deserted long before the usual hour. The ladies, also, from the late revelry of the preceding night, were inclined to seek their pillows; soon, therefore, the drawing room was deserted, Harriette disappeared, and my father retired to his chamber.

There he found a brilliant wood-fire sparkling in the hearth. He threw his coat aside, put on his dressing-gown, and with the indolence that a hard ride induces, stretched himself luxuriously upon a sofa, in quiet, dreamy listlessness, gazing upon the ruddy blaze. He thought of Ellen, and his heart smote him. Was she awake? or was she dreaming of him? No-at that lone late hour she was kneeling before her God, imploring protection for a sleeping babe, and invoking blessings on an absent husband!

Cæsar Blake was slumbering; a smart ride, a free carouse, a brilliant wood-fire, lulled his faculties into repose, and in a state of half-unconsciousness, in fancy, he was with Ellen and his child. A lip was softly pressed to his! was it a dream? He unclosed his eyes, and Harriette Donovan, "the married woman," was leaning in voluptuous déshabille over the sofa! Harriette!" he exclaimed, "is any thing wrong? Have you not retired? why are you at this hour waking?"

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You

Waking! Cæsar-" she replied wildly, "how can one so wretched as I expect to sleep? I have lost you. slighted, derided, and deserted me-and yet I love you-for I cannot subdue feelings that are unconquerable !"

Harriette, Harriette, this is madness!"