beauty, but cast in a softer mould-a tall, fine form, lustrous blue eyes, and the most perfect features. She became the undisputed toast of the county. Educated at a convent, with a view, it was said, to taking the veil, no sooner did her personal charms develope themselves, than secular feelings took possession of her mother, and induced a very opposite determination with regard to her future fate.

From the period of her marriage Mrs. Drewitt's natural ambition had received strong stimulants, in her frequent collision with persons of superior rank and fortune, and, dazzled by the nameless charm, which real high breeding exercises over its circle, with a mistake natural to a vulgar mind, she erred as to the source of the spell she felt, but did not understand; and set up wealth as the standard of worldly excellence-the desideratum of life. Every other consideration merged in this, and in her heart she determined to make her daughter's beauty subservient to its attainment. Calculating the chances in her favour, from a comparison of her own early circumstances, she struck a balance greatly in favour of the former's birth, and education, and decided, that if wanting these a lieutenant had fallen to her share, Mary had a right to look for much higher rank; and, in her imagination, she booked her for a colonel, or at least, a captain.

In a short-a very short time, after leaving the convent, Mary Drewitt began to listen, with no slight degree of interest, to some such hints as the following:

"Did you observe, Mary, those splendid diamonds Mrs. Admiral Plunket wore last night?"

"Perhaps," said Mary, with a little of the leaven of envy in the suggestion-" perhaps they were paste."

"The admiral's wife wear paste!" exclaimed Mrs. Drewitt, in a tone that threw away the supposition as preposterous.

"And why not?" continued Mary; "do you remember the story Mr. Roberts told us of the Duchess of D-'s diamonds, who pledged them to pay her gambling debts, and always wore paste of the same form that were never detected?"

"Pshaw! what has Mr. Roberts' story to do with Mrs. Plunket's diamonds? They are real, I can tell you; for Mrs. Secretary Ellis told Mrs. Captain Twiss that she never saw such elegant jewellery, nor such a power of it, as Mrs. Plunket has; Lady Clinton's was nothing to it. Wasn't that same necklace the show of Cork, when it was sent to be reset. What luck some people have," she continued, looking towards the door, as if afraid of some one's being within hearing, and dropping her voice, as she added, "for you know she was no lady."

"Nor ever will be," rejoined Mary, a little spitefully.

"Well, but that's neither here nor there, Mary Drewitt," interrupted her mother; "she has that that's better to her than being born a lady-hasn't she money and rank both? and what more does she want? Is there a wish of her heart ungratified? Look at her fine carriage and horses, and her elegant plate and furniture, besides her wardrobe, that every one says is splendid. Take up a newspaper, and if there's a ball at M'Doughal's, or any public fête, I'll engage the first

on the list of lady patronesses will be Mrs. Admiral Plunket; doesn't she take precedence of Mrs. La Touche and Mrs. O'Hara, in spite of their fine airs and high blood? Oh, faith! my dear," concluded Mrs. Drewitt, with the tone of one who has convinced an opponent, "though there's no doubt rank is a very grand thing, wealth is a better; and the woman that meets with both, as Mrs. Plunket has done, is, I promise you, fortunate."

Now, Mary well knew that birth, parentage, &c., was a sore subject to mamma, so she wisely held back her own opinions, merely retailing, in the mischief of her humour, a remark of Mr. Roberts, that whatever opinion people formerly entertained of Mrs. Plunket, she could now buy "golden ones."

Mr. Roberts was a young man of large pretensions and small means. It is true, his father held a high official situation under the existing government, but with so much integrity, that, what with the expenses of a large family, and an old-fashioned prejudice in favour of keeping his tradesmen's bills paid punctually, he had little left to forward his children's fortunes but the interest his valuable services had won for them. To this gentleman Mr. Drewitt was under certain obligations that made civility to his son a matter of course; and the young naval officer, whenever his ship was in harbour, contrived, much oftener than Mrs. Drewitt thought necessary, to present himself in her drawing-room, or to make one of their party in their morning walks. Nevertheless, it was not her policy totally to reject him, because she had a theory, that nothing so stimulates a lover as the knowledge that another besides himself is in the field, so she contented herself with a system of espionage that entirely precluded anything like an interchange of sentiment between him and her daughter, and contrived to play him off against an ancient Sir Felix O'Conner, who sported a cab, and laid claim to one of the thousand and one Castle Conners existing in the terra incognita of Galway.

Sir Felix was one of a genus not yet quite extinct, whose characteristics are so peculiar and distinctive, that when you know one, you are acquainted with the whole race. In person he was not unlike our Eighth Harry, of "portly stature, and goodly presence, with a right merry and comely countenance," and had been in his day "un homme de bonne fortune," still retaining the roué air and deep shirt-frill of George the Fourth's time. If bashfulness be a drawback to success, Sir Felix had nothing to complain of in this respect, for, judging from his appearance, modesty could never have stood in his way. I think I see him now, with his bold deportment and look of easy assurance, alternately shouldering the men and ogling the women, his hat not only thrown loungingly on one side, but turned up a little in front, so as to exhibit a profusion of hair, that, though a little grizzled, still retained its strong, wavy outline, and sufficient of its original hue to give a very favourable idea of what it must have been in days gone by. Then his eyes were large, blue, and humid, and in impudence of expression beat those of any car-boy on the quays of Dublin; while his complexion, without wearing the habitual purple of a Bacchanalian, was of a tender rosiness, truly Anacreontic. Nor let me forget, that, which was to his features what a palisade is to a parterre, or a chevaux de frize

to a military enclosure, a pair of full, large, well-pointed whiskers, but now, alas, most provokingly grey. The men nicknamed him "Old Bravo," while the women gave him the more poetical appellation of the "Evergreen;" for, like many other well-preserved antiquities, Sir Felix could only be ticketed, "Date uncertain"-his age being a mystery.

Such was the man upon whom Mrs. Drewitt fixed her maternal intentions; but never had her shrewdness been so much at fault, as in this little mental arrangement. In his younger days, Sir Felix had affected sentiment; and at this climax he very seriously inclined to matrimony, but finding his determination vibrate, he paused, and discovering that nothing but a fortune thrown into the scale could act as a counterpoise against such a sacrifice of freedom, he had visited watering-places, assembly-rooms, and race-courses, in the hope of picking up an heiress, but hitherto without success.

Alternately, as in the present instance, he had been the victim, and the pursuer. He had hunted and been hunted till he had become as knowing and as wary as a thrice-run fox. He knew an heiress by intuition, and a husband-seeker, by an instinct of self-preservation. He was, therefore, unapproachable, except like Danäe, through a golden medium.

However, the flattering attention paid by the baronet to everything in the shape of an invitation from the lieutenant, effectually lulled all doubt as to his ultimate intentions. A man, whose appetite was so good when he sat next Mary-who smiled so hilariously at all she said-who, in spite of his bulk, was indefatigable in the waltz, when she was his partner-and who stood to turn over the leaves of her music with the beatific, yet martyrly air, of one of those Indian devotees who hang on tenter-hooks, while they shower flowers on their admirers-he must have serious intentions.

Nevertheless, in spite of these very decided proofs of his being taken, the season was fast drawing to a close without the expected proposal from Sir Felix. But men, after having lived to a certain time of life bachelors, are always so shy, as Mrs. Drewitt remarked, and want so much "management!" She, therefore, determined to expedite the affair by facilitating opportunities for an eclaircissement; and to this end pic-nics and water-parties were contrived, and occasional drives to the different show-places in the vicinity. And on these occasions it was found that papa, mamma, sister Ellen, and some one else, just filled the jaunting-car, and so Sir Felix drove Mary in his cab. This was an outrage that even Mrs. Drewitt would not have perpetrated, had she not imagined Sir Felix to be fairly netted. Rumour immediately concluded the match; but the dear friends of the parties, who knew pretty well how matters stood, lifted up hands and eyes, and wondered how Mary Drewitt could act so imprudently.

MRS. PONSONBY'S "BORDER WARDENS.”*

A ROMANCE from one of our fair contributors claims kindly welcome at our hands. But let us glance at the story. The Lady Margaret Dalstone, tall, fair, and stately, inheritor of the broad lands of Dalstone, (although her mother still lives,) and a Catholic, has betrothed herself to Sir Robert Cary, the Protestant warden of the East Marches. This, notwithstanding her first love has been given, and her first vows pledged, to the gallant and noble Walter Leslie, who, led astray by a wily monk, has fallen into penury, from which the Lady Margaret, instead of relieving him, derives an apology for desertion.

The opposition of the Dowager Lady Dalstone, bigoted to the faith of her ancestors, is the only difficulty lying in the way of this part of the story concluding where it begins; and even upon this point, the decided, self-willed character of the young lady, leaves little doubt as to the issue; although she is sorely pushed by the above-mentioned monk, Father Reginald, who, attached to the heiress, almost without daring to acknowledge it to himself, neither wishes her to wed Sir Robert Carey nor Walter Leslie.

But the Lady Margaret still loves Walter; and on journeying north, with her affianced husband, the rejected lover, prompted by Father Reginald, and aided by the Scottish warden's followers, attempts a rescue; in which he falls by the hand of the amorous church militant. Lady Margaret's old feelings gain, on this occasion, the ascendancy, and manifest themselves in all their strength; and that, too, at a time when, according to a relic preserved in the museum of Kirk Leetham, the betrothed lands, rather than united hearts, had caused to be carved, on an aged elm, the affecting inscription :

"We pray thee, Tree, bear to distant ages, this record of the bows of two

dear lobes."

Far different is it with the Scottish borderers; one of whom, Geordie Bourne by name, is as brave as a lion, and swift as a hawk. Geordie is beloved by Rona, the beautiful wife of an English yeoman, and the neglected child of poor old Adam Hetherton, the warden's secretary. The Scots make a descent upon the yeoman's home, and Rona's husband is hanged upon his own tree; but she still clings to her disastrous love. Geordie himself, after many a hair-breadth escape, is caught, and Rona, despite of shame, shares his prison with him. But Geordie is hanged, and Rona dies a helpless maniac.

These singular events are painted with considerable force, and deep interest is imparted to an enduring, although guilty love, by the passionate eloquence of a woman's unfeigned sympathy. The Romance proves that the interest attached to border feuds is not entirely exhausted; but we confess we do not think the subject well chosen, and are confident that the accomplished authoress of the "Border Wardens" is capable of much higher and purer efforts. We are glad to hear she has another work in preparation, the date of which is much nearer our own time. In this she will be more at home.

* The Border Wardens: an Historical Romance. By Mrs. Ponsonby. 3 vols. 8vo. J. Mortimer.

50

THE PAINTER OF CHIHUAHUA.

BY PERCY B. ST. JOHN.

PART II.—THE CERRO DE TUCUMCARI.

As long as the Apaches, whom he had instantly recognised, were in sight, Pierre Lenoir remained still, and then leaving the daughter of the governor of Chihuahua to her fate, he shouldered his packet, and returned towards the town. On gaining, in a fainting state, the governor's mansion, which he observed was lighted up on the occasion of a festival, he demanded instant admittance to Don Emanuel, and was presently afterwards conducted to the banqueting chamber, where, casting at the governor's feet the bundle, and taking off his sombrero, he sank exhausted on a seat.

Some twenty gentlemen of the first rank were seated round a table, plentifully supplied with such good things as the country afforded, -namely, mutton-broth, stewed and boiled mutton, sheep's blood, chickens and eggs, chile guisado, frijoles, and fruits. Restored by a glass of wine, Pierre, whom several present recognised, told his story; and at its conclusion the agonized father started from his chair.

"Listen to me, your excellency," cried Pierre, firmly; "the Apaches are far away; but trust in me, and your daughter shall be restored you, and these vagrant Indians punished. I ask three months to do the deed, and ample means of commanding the services of the Comanche Indians, my brothers and friends."

"Five thousand dollars are at your command," rejoined Don Emanuel, eagerly; "and five thousand more shall be your own reward, if you restore me my child."

"Pardon me, your excellency," replied the painter, proudly, "I seek a far greater reward. I am a caballero like yourself; my father is a rico, a wealthy planter in Louisiana; I am his eldest and only child; and though an insatiate love of roaming has taken me away, he will gladly acknowledge me whenever I return. Your excellency can verify my statement. If, therefore, I free your daughter, and she be not an Indian bride, I ask her as my wife."

"What is your plan?" inquired the governor, after a few moments' reflection.

"I should start from hete, your excellency, and make the best of my way to Santa Fè; thence I should seek the Comanches, with whom I have lived many years, and with the promise of valuable presents, induce them to attack the Apaches, and rescue your daughter."

"Be it so, then," replied the governor.

Early on the following morning, Pierre Lenoir, mounted on a sturdy nag, and leading a second, while a footman ran by his side, left Chihuahua. Those who had witnessed his arrival in the governor's banquet-room, on the previous evening, would not have recognised him. Ample food, comfortable quarters, and the enthusiasm and excitement of his task, had made another man of him. His appearance was every way that of a Mexican. In place of pantaloons he wore the calzoneras, with the outer part of the leg open from top to bottom, the borders trimmed with tinkling filigree buttons, tinsel lace, and cords; braces not being worn, the chaqueta, or jacket, was connected