making himself. That's natural. But now, then, Rosalie, how do you expect to get along in this world if you and Mark are married? You may know that he has no way of supporting you, and your guardian would see you both in the bottomless pit before he'd advance a cent of your fortune. Come, stop blushing and trembling, and answer me, my dear. I like people to be practical. What do you expect to do?"

"I do not know, uncle; I wish to leave it all to Mr. Sutherland. I have so much confidence in his judg ment and in his regard for me, that I feel perfectly sure he will never draw me into any evil or suffering." Always faith in Mark! Suppose he should be going away in a few days, and suppose he should wish to marry and take you with him?"

แ

"In that case, I should wish to go, dear uncle. Have you done with me now, sir?" asked Rosalie, really distressed by the length and closeness of the examination to which she had been subjected.

"Yes, you may go!" answered the old gentleman, rising, and holding the door open for her to pass. And Rosalie left the study.

He

In the lower hall she saw Mark Sutherland. came to meet her, drew her arm within his own, and then they both walked into the garden.

"Well, dear Rosalie, do you know that I shall probably leave here in the course of a week?" "My uncle has just hinted it to me. Where do you

go?"

"Back to the village of S- , to take possession of an established office about to be vacated by my friend Lauderdale, who is coming on here, upon an erraná of which you are already apprised, my dear Rosalie.”

"Yes, I know mamma and Mr. Lauderdale will be united next month."

"Well, dear Rosalie ?"

"Well ?"

"I am going away in a week—must we then part?" "Not unless you wish to go and leave me behind, Mark."

"Wish to leave you behind! In leaving you 1 should turn my back upon my guiding star, my inspiration, my life!"

"Then I accompany you, Mark."

"Your friends, Rose, will they not raise serious opposition?"

"No! I have neither father nor mother, and there are no other friends who have any wish to rule me, or any interest in doing so. My young step-mother is going to break the conventional tie between herself and me by marrying a second time; and with her own. heart under the gentle influence of happiness, she will not be disposed to wring mine. As for my uncle, his son has brought a wife home now, who will be the mistress of his house, and he no longer requires my presence in that capacity. Indeed, I might even be considered in the way. And neither am I disposed to take a second place in a household of which I have hitherto been at the head. And that reminds me that I am at the head of it still, and that the duties of the position press upon me every hour-even now," said Rosalie, moving to go.

He caught her hand to detain her.

"Stay-do not leave me just yet. And so, my dearest Rosalie, when I go forth you will accompany me?"

"I have said that if you wish it-yes, I will accom. pany you."

"God bless you, dearest Rose!" burst from his lips with impassioned fervour. "But, my dear girl-my fairy, fragile girl-do you know what women in the far West have to encounter? hardships from which the most robust shrink; hardships from which the strong and beautiful India shrank; and will my pale, frail Rosalie dare them? and can she bear them ?"

"India, with her glorious physique, is still a delicate daughter of the sun; she is like a gorgeous, brilliant exotic, that can bloom only in a luxurious conservatory; while I, with my wan face and fragile form, am yet a child of the wind-a wood-anemone, that only withered in a Southern hothouse-that will flourish and thrive in the wilderness."

"Heaven grant it may be as you say, dear Rosalie! It is impossible for me to give you up, to leave you; yet when I think of all you may have to suffer in being my companion, my heart is filled with anxiety and trouble. What did you say, dearest? Your sweetest words hide under low tones, just as the sweetest violets lurk under thick shade. What were you murmuring?"

"Only that I should not suffer half as much in meeting anything with you, as I should-as I should”—"Well, dearest ?"

"In being left behind," said Rosalie, dropping her head upon his shoulder, as he caught her to his heart, and exclaimed, in a sudden burst of emotion

"You shall not be left behind, my darling! my darling! By all my hopes of earth and heaven, I will never, never part from you!"

For a moment her head had rested on his breast in peace, and then she began to grow restless and twisted. herself out of his embrace.

"Where now?" he asked, rather impatiently.

She looked at him with a comic expression of countenance, and said:

"It is a mortifying necessity to confess, but the truth is, the ham has to be taken out of soak and put on to boil for dinner, aud I have got to see it done; also there are gooseberry tarts and lemon custard to be prepared for the dessert, and I have got to go and do it. I wonder if uncle and cousin St. Gerald, who both love their palates, (low be it spoken,) will ever get anything fit to eat when the gorgeous Mrs. India takes my place!" and so, laughing and escaping, she ran off.

CHAPTER XVIL

PROGNOSTICS.

"With caution judge of probability;

Things thought unlikely, e'en impossible,

Experience often shows us to be true."-Shakspeare.

THE World-honoured and time-honoured bard whose lines are quoted above habitually looked beneath the mere plausible surface of possibility, and from the deep insight thereby gained, often put forth oracles at opposition to the usual routine of thought and expectation, yet which the eternal experiences of life continue to endorse as truths.

Were I writing a merely fictitious narrative, it would be in order now (after the custom-sanctioned manner of story-tellers) to describe the cruel opposition the lovers met from tyrannical parents, guardians, &c. But I am writing a true story-in this particular at least, "stranger than fiction"-and so have no such events to relate.

It happened as Rosalie had predicted-she met no serious opposition to the current of her affections. And if we look into the causes of that leniency on the part of her guardians, we shall not find their nonresistance so unaccountable, after all.

Left without father or mother-without near relatives or natural protectors, except a youthful stepdame, now too entirely absorbed in the contemplation of her own marriage, and an old uncle, to whom until two years past she had been a perfect stranger, Miss Vivian was thus not the first object of interest to any one around her.

It is true, that when Rosalie made known her purpose to Mrs. Vivian, the lady opposed the contemplated marriage with entreaties and tears; but finding that entreaties and tears only distressed the maiden without shaking her resolution, the young step-mother felt neither the right nor the inclination to attempt the arbitrary control of Miss Vivian's destiny. In yielding her final consent, the sweet-lipped lady said, amid falling tears-"Oh! were he well established, Rosalie, there is no one in the world to whom I would resign you with so much pleasure and comfort, as to him whom you have chosen. And well I know, and deeply I feel, that even now, from this low point of life with you by his side-with you for an incentive