and was the joy of her fond parents' hearts, and an unceasing source of interest and occupation to them.

Sometimes tears of delight would suffuse Geraldine's eyes, as she contemplated her lovely infant at her breast, thanking her for the nourishment it was receiving by its meek gaze fixed on her countenance; at other times the delighted father would watch the little creature as it tossed on the carpet, and wreathed its soft arms around the graceful neck of Bianca, the Italian greyhound, whilst the gentle animal bowed down its pretty head and licked the child's fair round shoulders in fondness.

Then, how beautiful did it look in its rosy rest, the fairy form reposing in the little cot, the miniature hand placed under the delicate cheek, the long lashes bedewed with the tear shed on the threshold of sleep, and the full, coral lips, slightly opened, emitting a calm regular breathing.

And every night before she retired to rest,

the young and lovely mother knelt beside the cradle of her heart's treasure, and prayed for blessings on its future life-she prayed that if sorrow should ever dim those bright eyes, should that pearly drop be the forerunner of floods of bitter tears, the affliction might be sanctified to her; she asked not exemption from grief for her child, that had been a fruitless request; but she asked that the pangs of remorse might ever be strangers to its bosom: she prayed that when her own hour was come, and she was called away from its side, she might still be allowed to act as its guardian angel, to ward off dangers, to whisper consolation, to impart holy hopes, and to lead her in the paths

of peace.

As Geraldine knelt beside her sweet child, with her lustrous eyes raised to heaven, and her transparent cheek glowing with the blush of fervour, and her fair hands crossed on her bosom, and her long, golden hair shaken back from her calm, holy brow, you might have

deemed her already the guardian angel she

longed to become.

Geraldine would then rise from her knees fortified and refreshed, and lay her head on her pillow in peace. Such are the blessings of religion, in Madame Cottin's eloquent words:

"Ah! qu'elle est bien ce qu'il faut au cœur de l'homme! qu'elle en connait bien toutes les faiblesses et les misères, cette religion qui nous empêche de trop aimer les jouissances fugitives qu'il nous faut perdre tôt ou tard! dans les temps de prospérité, quand tout nous rit, que les jeunes espérances et les vaines illusions enflent notre cœur d'une folâtre allégresse; enfin, lorsque nous sommes prêts à oublier que les félicités humaines ont un terme, la réligion pour nous sauver du désespoir où nous plongerait un si dangereux oubli, ne cesse de nous rappeler que tout passe, et de nous montrer comment tout finit; mais si elle est ainsi utile et salutaire aux jours du bonheur, aux jours plus nombreux de l'adversité, qu'elle

est tendre et touchante !

C'est là qu'elle

deploie toute sa puissance; c'est là qu'elle trouve contre le malheur, des paroles et des promesses devant lesquelles il se dissipe; c'est là qu'elle s'éleve jusqu'au ciel pour y puiser, dans le sein même de Dieu, des consolations pour l'homme; et celui qu'elle a pu laisser insensible quant, prudent et sage, elle prevenait les longs regrets en arrêtant les fougues de la joie, ne peut lui résister quand elle console, lui réfuser son amour quand elle montre tout le sien, ni s'empêcher de pleurer avec elle quand elle pleure avec l'infortune."

The letter which Geraldine had addressed to her father never reached its destination; owing to the rapidity with which he travelled, and some mistake in one of the numerous directions, it was lost.

In the mean time Colonel Arbuthnot moved from place to place with his invalid son chasing the phantom health, which still lured him on. But consumption had fastened its fangs too securely in his constitution to be shaken off. It

is a melancholy sight to meet in the fair countries of the south, poor, emaciated creatures, who have been brought from their own far homes to lay their bones beneath a foreign soil! It is sad to see them attempting to struggle against the destroyer, and hear them tell you with their hoarse voices, that they feel much benefited by the change. It is sad to watch the fever of excitement on their haggard countenances, and the ghastly smile of forced spirits as they are dragged about from sight to sight, in the vain hope of arousing their sinking energies! And thus the deluded parent or husband hopes on against reason, till, suddenly, the cherished one drops before his eyes into the grave, and he alone wonders at what all others have long foreseen.

Thus it was with young Horace Arbuthnot. After a weary pilgrimage through Italy, his over-excited life was extinguished almost instantaneously at an obscure inn near Naples, whither his father was hurrying him with a speed which proved fatal. Thus deprived of his