from herself, that compassion might strongly influence his mind, and she would not think of binding him down by any engagement until his parents should arrive, and even then she would insist on his passing the winter with them in whatever place they decided on remaining, that he might have an opportunity of comparing her with others, and ascertaining the real state of his heart. It was in vain that Annesly attempted to Giulietta out of this resolution; she was argue firm. The old priest, when informed of the situation of affairs, was delighted at the prospects opening before his beloved niece, and every day Charles saw something new to love in this sweet girl. At length his parents arrived, and after overwhelming the priest with gratitude, and his niece with compliments, they carried off Charles to Como. Poor Giulietta! she saw the carriage drive from the gate, through hot, blinding tears; her heart died within her, as she felt as though happiness were not destined for her. She could not persuade herself that she was beloved, and the spirit of despondency, which so often accompanies real affection, crept into her bosom. The dejection which had so long weighed upon Sir Herbert Sedley's spirits, gradually faded away, and he began to feel, as he was wont, ere care and he became so closely linked together; that keen relish for beautiful nature, that disposition to be pleased with the merest trifles, and that evenness of spirits which proclaims a tranquil heart. All these returned, and he was more like the Herbert of seventeen than the Herbert of twenty-seven. Oh! what sorrow may be compressed into ten years! What oceans of tears may have coursed down the cheeks; what unnumbered painful sighs may have heaved the sorely charged heart; what blows, and stings, and stabs that poor heart may have borne! And yet, after all this, gleams of the original nature, bursts of irresistible buoyancy, will sometimes come, bearing down all before them, and sweeping away for a time all the barriers which grief had deemed so insurmountable. Strange strange heart that can bear so much, and yet, not only live on, but even remember how to be joyful! Sedley was mistaken in the nature of his own feelings towards Teresa, and the deeper they became, the less he distrusted them. We are too apt to fancy that, because we are resolved not to harbour dangerous emotions, such emotions will not dare to assail us; but we forget the exceeding weakness of our own hearts and the extraordinary subtilty of the enemy. Herbert saw Teresa St. John under the most interesting circumstances it is possible to conceive. Neglected and uncared for by her husband-yet treating that husband with unvarying sweetness and attentive kindness-compelled to associate with a heartless coquette, in the person of Madame de Bertin, yet bearing her flippancy and insolent airs of superiority with calm dignity and unruffled serenity. Her child appeared to have filled her heart, and compensated her for all other disappointed hopes, and when Sedley marked the expression of her soft eyes as she gazed on her infant boy, he felt that the deep, disinterested devotion of woman's heart was not a fable, as many have sneeringly declared. Teresa was perfectly unsophisticated in her ideas, having lived so little in the world, and many expressions, which fell from the lips of her more initiated companions, were quite incomprehensible to her. One day she had been reading, or rather trying to read, a popular and fashionable novel, intended to depict modern manners and feelings. At last, wearied by its vapid nonsense, she threw it down, and turning to Sedley, who, with his mother, had just entered the room, she said, "Can it be, Sir Herbert, that there are such characters and such conversations in real life as those I find in this book?-I cannot believe that young girls, just entering life, are ever such adepts in concealing their real feelings; and virtue must indeed be rare if these pages speak truth, since the hero and heroine alone possess a single good quality." if Sir Herbert listened with a look of interest to Teresa, and replied, "I should be surprised you could comprehend the language of the world, and I trust, for your own sake, you never may. These young girls, who are launched into the world at the ages of seventeen and eighteen to buffet with its anxieties and mortifications, are not, as you may imagine, endued with warm feelings and keen sensibilities, (I speak of the mass, woe for the exceptions!) but they have undergone a preparatory process, almost from their cradles, to fit them for the encounter, and when the moment arrives for their appearance on the grand scene of life, they enter encased in impenetrable armour." "And what can this hardening process be?" inquired Teresa, with astonishment. "of every "It is the stifling," replied Sedley, importunate feeling in its birth. One by one the natural and beautiful emotions of youth are |