to you, he will praise your writings; but woe betide the author who offends him.

"Ha! you are getting up a look of defiance," continued Lady Selina with a smile; "you think it beneath your genius to be dependant on reviews. Alas! poor boy, you have yet much to learn. Your cousin, or brother-inlaw, or whatever he is, Sir Frederick Renton, is not above ingratiating himself with the critics: see his compulsory civil looks, and how he endeavours to appear as if he were listening; and that his whole fate depends upon the sharp words Mr. Withers utters. And there is the witty Mr. Hazelford, who makes speeches in the House of Commons. But I hate that man, and wonder even why he amuses me, for his wit is so business-like: there is no spontaneity in anything he says. His sharp sayings come out with a sort of clock-like regularity, and he dissects the characters of his friends with anatomical precision.

"I had much rather a person should be

naturally dull, than studiously amusing," continued Lady Selina. "Now you may judge for yourself, as Sir Frederick is going to introduce you to him; so good-bye till the second waltz." Hubert found that Lady Selina's description of the formidable orator was very just; and as he listened to the conversation carried on between him and Frederick, he remarked, that there was so little life in Mr. Hazelford's face, or consciousness in his eyes, that it almost seemed to Hubert as if he beheld some wonderful piece of machinery, wound up for the occasion to produce bon-mots.

While they were talking, Mr. Sparkleton joined them, of whose wit Hubert had often heard, and then the conversation took a more bitter turn, as the rival wits seemed to vie with each other in the ill-nature of their remarks and the keenness of their satire.

Many brilliant things were said; and Hubert felt that his judgment and good taste would become dazzled, and his better feelings

perverted, if he were often subjected to the deteriorating influence of such men.

The flashes and cross-fires of their satire, for some time seemed to glimmer before him; and although like rockets they had dazzled his imagination at the moment of their appearance, yet they afterwards left the sky of his mind darker than before.

It was late, or rather early, when Hubert and his cousin quitted the ball, and the morning sunshine glared in Hubert's eyes, and seemed to him for the first time unwelcome. He had danced three times with Lady Selina, and Frederick complimented him, as they walked home, on his success.

Yet Hubert felt displeased with himself and the whole world, although he scarcely knew why, for he had liked Lady Selina better on further acquaintance, and there was something in her honesty and brusquerie that he felt was very fascinating.

"Surely that was Mr. Derwent," inquired

he anxiously of his cousin, as they passed a haggard face that looked away quickly, as if unwilling to be seen; "and why will he not look at us ?"

Sir Frederick smiled; and there was something in the expression of that smile that made Hubert's heart sink. He scarcely liked to admit it to himself, but the suspicion flashed across his mind that his father-in-law had been gambling.

Hubert's affection for his mother was one of those deep feelings that sometimes grow up unconsciously and unobserved in reserved and silent children, a love that is all the holier from the hidden sanctuary in which it is enshrined.

Hubert had never ventured to speak on the subjects in which he was most interested to her, nor had he perhaps thought that she would comprehend him, yet she had always been the principal object in his hopes and wishes.

To win her admiration and love, he longed for fame and success: for her comfort,-to

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ensure her peace and happiness; he felt that he could make any sacrifice.

And as he now thought of her pale face, and shuddered at the prospect of the misfortunes which were probably hanging over her head, a sickening sensation came over him, a mixture of contempt for himself and for his foolish admiration of Lady Selina Hardcastle, and for his gratification at her evident approval, and he felt quite a disgust at what Frederick had called his complete success. How utterly contemptible it all appeared, as he now thought of his anxious and suffering mother!

END OF VOL. II.