ward voice. Then again addressing Mactalla....' Let horses be got ready for the Chevalier and me immediately, and do you hold yourself in readiness to attend us. I am resolved on beating up the quarters of Signor Trapanti this morning, if for no other purpose for that of plaguing him for his sins.'

The moment Mactalla withdrew to execute the orders of the Count, Osmond, who till then had pretended to be employed in looking over the books, hastily approached the Count.... And pray who is Signor Trapanti?' eagerly burst from his lips.

'An old superannuated rake, who, having no longer power to follow his vicious propensities, has turned misanthrope, and now rails at what he formerly pursued. His domain adjoins this, and his fortune is extremely large, and every year encreasing, as he is now as miserly as he was formerly profuse, insomuch that for some time past he has declined mixing in society.'

'Should he suspect the motive of the visit you are about paying him, may he not,' said Osmond, in a hesi tating accent,' be tempted to confine more strictly his lovely niece, and thus render still more unhappy her situation?

• We must manage matters in such a way as to prevent his having a suspicion of the kind. While you entertain the niece, I'll contrive to keep him employed.' Ah, my dear Count,' rejoined Osmond with a sigh, why should I attempt to pursue an object I can never hope to possess? My situation totally precludes my entertaining one of the kind. Would it not, therefore, be better for me not to....'

Stuff! stuff!' impatiently interrupted the Count; 'I will not suffer you to proceed in such a strain. On going this morning to Signor Trapanti's I am positively determined, and equally determined that you shall accompany me not another word, therefore, on the subject.'

Dd

CHAP. XVIII.

• But I must rouze myself, and give a stop
To all those ills by headlong passion caus'd;
In minds resolv'd, weak love is put to flight,
And only conquers when we dare not fight;
But we indulge our harms, and while he gains
An entrance, please ourselves unto our pains.'

DRYDEN.

WE are easily persuaded to do what we like, Osmond, therefore, having satisfied his scruples by the effort he had made to excuse himself from going whither his heart had already travelled (for that the fair stranger was the niece of Signor Trapanti, he had not a doubt, from what Mactalla had said,) allowed himself to be over persuaded by the impetuosity of the Count; and the horses being announced at the moment, they directly mounted, and set forward, attended by Mactalla.

Their ride was through delightful groves, along the banks of purling streams, so bespread with flowers, that it seemed as if Flora herself had just been wandering along them. A verd'rous wall' hid the dwelling of Signor Trapanti from casual observation. On penetrating this, Osmond beheld a spacious structure, but which from the alterations suspicion and spleen had caused the owner to make in it, infinitely more resembled the baronial residence of a chief of old, than the light and airy structures of the Italians.

As Osmond's eyes wandered over the gloomy abode, he involuntarily but silently exclaimed to himself.... Fit dwelling, indeed, for misanthropy; but ah, how unfit a one for youth, for beauty, for sensibility!"

I apprize you in time,' said the Count, while Mactalla was knocking at the gate,' that we are likely to be refused admission here; but having once commenced the siege, I am resolved on no account to raise it, without bringing the governor to comply with my wishes.'

Surely if once denied admission, you don't mean to persevere in demanding it?

!

• Indeed but I do. Patience and perseverance are not quite such great strangers to me as you may imagine.' An old withered porter, nearly with age grown double, but still with something facetious in his countenance, answered Mactalla's summons; and on learning the occasion of it, positively declared his master from home.

'Come hither, Sir,' said the Count, beckoning to him. On his obeying.... Can you look me in the face,' he added, and repeat this assertion?'

Yes, upon my veracity, my Lord, can I,' bowing profoundly low; the Signor and my young lady his niece went early this morning to Signor Thomaso's, the lawyer in Acerenza, on business of great moment.'

'Signor Thomaso! ah, I know him well....as great a rogue as the profession was ever blessed with. I once employed him in a law-suit; he took fees on both sides, and cheated me most horridly. I'll follow your master to his house, and if I don't find him there, or that he has been there woe be to you, old Cerberus.'

Osmond, apprehensive that their pursuing Signor Trapanti might be the means of involving the lovely niece in some unpleasant predicament, earnestly endeavoured, as soon as they had turned their backs on his mansion, to dissuade the Count from such a measure, but to no purpose; he persisted in riding on towards Acerenza, but was prevented entering it, by meeting the carriage of Signor Trapanti some little distance from it. into which on discovering whose it was, the eyes of Osmond instantly darted; but instead of beholding the face that had charmed him, he beheld in that of the young lady who occupied a seat in it, one he had never before

seen.

Upon my honour, my dear fellow,' cried the Count, on learning his disappointment, I am almost inclined to believe that it is an ideal being you have been speaking of all this time.'

I wish you could make me think so.'

'Well, well, we'll endeavour to prove whether 'tis so or not. Mactalla shall immediately be set to work.'

เ

No, no,' cried Osmond, but so faintly, that the Count plainly saw his opposition to the measure was but affect

ed. 'At all events,' added he, 'don't, I conjure you, mention the affair to the Marchesa or Lady Elizara; for I should be very unwilling to appear ridiculous in their eyes.'

'O rely on my secrecy; but at the same time permit me to observe, that your admiration of one beautiful woman could never make you appear ridiculous in the eyes of another.'

This day, as on the preceding one, a splendid party dined at the castle, and in the evening there was a grand display of fire-works on the lake; after which music and dancing filled up the principal part of the night.

The Count had earnestly entreated that his nuptials might immediately take place; but a conviction of the impropriety of such a measure, and the likelihood there was of its giving offence to the Duke de Molina, made the Marchesa, and of course Lady Elizara, deaf to all his solicitations on the subject.

To fill up the interval of expectation in such a manner as should somewhat beguile it of its tediousness to him, the Marchesa contrived a constant succession of amusements at the castle. For an instant, these never rendered Osmond forgetful of the fair and mysterious stranger. In defiance of prudence, and the arguments of reason, he still continued to dwell on her idea, and haunt the spots where he thought there was the greatest probability of meeting her, but to no purpose. Day after day wore away without seeing her again; nor was Mactalla, as he learnt from the Count, more successful in his researches after her.

At length the Duke de Molina arrived, and the morning after his lovely sister and her amiable lover were united in the chapel of the castle, and in the presence of a number of distinguished friends and relatives. From the chapel they returned in procession to the grand saloon, where a numerous assemblage waited to offer their congratulations, and participate in the festivities of the day. Nothing could exceed the splendor and gaiety displayed on this occasion.

Ere the congratulations which this joyful event gave rise to were well over, the Marchesa drew Osmond aside,

and insisted, in order she said, to keep alive the remembrance of it in his mind, and of course his wishes for the continuance of the happiness it occasioned, on his acceptance of a ring of considerable value, and a cabinet filled with precious antiques; after which the Count, with a positive threat of demolishing both, if not instantly taken by him, presented him with a gold box, enriched with diamonds, and containing his picture, and a highly ornamented and valuable watch and chain.

Osmond felt almost overpowered by the generosity and kindness of these noble friends; he thought they rated too highly their obligations to him: but at the same time, their having done so, by still further convincing him of the nobleness of their natures, heightened his regard and esteem for them.

Towards the decline of this joyful day, either owing to the languor over-fatigued spirits is apt to create, or to the pleasure he derived from sometimes having an uninterrupted opportunity of indulging his reflections, Osmond gradually detached himself from the gay and brilliant crowd that filled the palace and gardens of Acerenza, and wandered away to an undulating valley, shrouded by thick aspiring woods, and refreshed by a clear and wildly-devious stream. The delightful contrast which its tranquillity formed to the noise and bustle he had just left....no sound meeting the ear save the faint rustling of the trees, and the warbling of the birds that thronged them, together with the magnificence of the scene, tinted as it was with the crimson blush of evening, the warm glow which the setting sun pours over creation....awakened a soothing, a luxurious pleasure in the mind of Osmond....that serene delight, that ineffable feeling of benevolence, the parent of disinterested good will to others,' which the view of smiling nature never fails of exciting in a heart of sensibility.

Of him who could unmoved behold such a scene as this,' cried Osmond, his eyes delightedly roving over it, with justice it might be said....he's fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; let no such man be trusted.'

As he pursued his walk and his reflections together, his attention was suddenly caught by a beautiful green