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his affections did not appear sufficiently involved to afford an excuse for making Rosalinda his wife, forgot not the compassion due to a woman who loved him with that entire self-abandonment of which women are alone capable.

At first, Mr. Altamont had thought (perhaps he had wished) to find that she was an interested designing person; but the greater pains he took to sift her motives, and the more he observed her narrowly, the less he believed this; and he had himself too much truth of character, too much nobility of soul, to avail himself of such common-place unjust abuse, in order to detach Lord Mowbray entirely from her. But Mrs. Altamont, with that fine tact which belongs only to her sex, and with that quick and keen perception which supplies the place of more extensive knowledge of the world, which the opportunities of men afford to their stronger minds, had seen at a glance that the danger of Lord Mowbray's marrying Rosalinda no longer existed.

"Trust me," she said, "if ever I knew

what love meant, and that I do know it, you at least will not deny,-Lord Mowbray's heart is for ever engaged. Lady Emily Lorimer will be his bride, or bride will he never take. I conceive, therefore, that it is not of him we need think; but, however romantic or foolish you may accuse me of being, my heart, I confess it, bleeds for that unhappy mistaken woman, who has made wreck of her own felicity by giving the reins to an unrequited passion. If there is a sorrow upon earth which I commiserate, it is a woman's unrequited love. Think what conflicts must have been hers, ere she yielded to the slavery; what tortures of shame, of pride, and remorse! Whatever exaltation of imagination may, at times, make her glory in her debasement, there are others when she must be bowed and crushed beneath the weight of a self-contemning spirit. Delicacy and pride, the inherent principles of a woman's nature, are never violated with impunity. Poor, poor, Rosalinda! what will become of her ?"

"Well, well, I feel for her too," replied the kind

Mr. Altamont, with a tear trembling in his eye: "but charity begins at home; and our friend Lord Mowbray's honour and dignity must first be thought of; and if indeed he is, as you suppose, attached seriously to Lady Emily Lorimer, the very best thing he can do is to marry her as soon as possible."

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"Ah! you men," sighed Mrs. Altamont, "how little do you think on the crushed and humbled heart, when the voice of situation and circumstances demands your attention!"

"Come, come, Fanny, this to me-I will not allow you to talk so." And the soft reproaches that ensued were made amends for, by the still softer pressure to the heart of wedded love.

Shortly after this conversation, a notice was put in the public papers, that, owing to indisposition, the Rosalinda had withdrawn her engagement from the stage and forfeited her salary. What was to be done? was the ill-fated Italian to die in a strange land unaided? No! Mr. Altamont, not less prompt in decision than clear-sighted in counsel, determined to seek

her out, engage her confidence, and if he found her worthy of consolation and assistance, to afford it to her by every means in his power. He was warmly seconded in this resolve by his wife, who with those tender feelings so peculiarly her own, urged the fulfilment of this kind determination with the sincerest interest.

After some trouble, Mr. Altamont discovered Rosalinda in an obscure lodging in Pimlico. The late beautiful creature, the admired of the multitude, was now a lone forsaken being, faded in beauty, evidently in reduced circumstances, and in the rapid and untimely decline of health and strength. There was a simplicity in the dignity of Rosalinda's reception of him, which belongs in a peculiar manner to Italian women. With none of those factitious elegancies that characterize the French, nor the studied fascination practised by some other nations, they certainly possess a grace in their abandonment to Nature which supersedes all other feminine enchantment. It is the difference between a Grecian statue and an opera dancer; the drapery of an antique to the trimming of a milliner.

This failed not to produce its effect upon Mr. Altamont; and in some degree it abashed him. Conscious, however, of the integrity of

his purpose, he ventured, after some apology, to hint that he was acquainted in part with her history; and that he feared from the circumstance mentioned in the popular newspapers of the day, that she might be reduced to require the assistance of a friend; and then he volunteered to become that friend in a tone and manner which could leave no doubt of his sincerity and no suspicion of his motive.

Rosalinda, with perfect frankness, acknowledged her gratitude at finding such an unexpected blessing as a sympathizing friend in her hour of need; and while she declined all pecuniary assistance, gratefully accepted his proffered friendship.

Every time Mr. Altamont was in her society, he became more and more interested in her, and was mournfully convinced that he had no cause for apprehension as to the result of her influence over Lord Mowbray, since it was evident that a rapid decline was bearing Ro

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