"Now you are my own Nellie again. Retain ever that simple truthfulness of heart, that firm reliance on Almighty strength, and you have nothing to fear. Yes, we will go; Mrs. Everson will doubtless understand and excuse our abrupt departure. To-morrow I shall deem an explanation with her necessary."

"To-morrow," thought Nellie as they rode home in silence; "with what fond anticipations did I but one short hour ago, look forward to its approach! and now, alas! 'tis all a dreary blank to me."

Meantime Nellie and her strange history became the theme of many a passing jest and bitter, envious remark among those who had witnessed her sudden eclaircissement. Especially did Mrs. Everson and her daughter pour forth in no measured terms their indignation at the imposition which had been practiced upon them. That a lady of Mrs. Waters's standing should have introduced a girl of low birth into their society was almost past belief.

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She, too, must have been deceived by the artful creature," Cicely Willoughby exclaimed in answer to such a suggestion; "I can not believe she would knowingly insult us.”

"I have heard it remarked," said one with a slight sneer, "that Mrs. Waters has some very peculiar relations of her own; who knows but this may be one of them ?"

"That reminds me," added another, "of a clownish

g doctor who visited her some years since, and she unblushingly introduced as her sister's hus

remember him well," said a lady whose frank, Face mirrored her soul; "he was a man of strong sense, notwithstanding his bluntness, and one e relationship no one need blush to own. I wish y had many more such."

erhaps, then, you would not object to a person in Morrison's position being retained in society," rejoined a faded beauty.

certainly should not," replied the lady; "the I courage she has exhibited here to-night entitles O our highest respect and admiration whatever

have been her antecedents."

Excuse me," interrupted Mrs. Everson, who had heard the last remark; "but I think we are all in er of allowing our sympathies to blind our judg; we must not yield to momentary enthusiasm, as fess I was tempted to do this evening, if we would tain the good order of society."

In what do you conceive the good order of ety' to consist, Mrs. Everson ?" asked the other a quiet smile.

In every one's knowing and keeping their proper tion," Mrs. Everson replied warmly. "If, for nce, this Miss Morrison had been kept within her sphere, she would never have presumed to raise

her eyes so high, and we should have been spared the scene we have just witnessed."

"Nature has a nobility of her own," rejoined the lady; “and I think Miss Morrison may justly claim a high rank there, however at variance it may be with the artificial notions of fashionable society. What could be more queenly than her bearing to-night! what more noble than her ingenuous declaration of her parentage !" "You are almost as enthusiastic in her praise as Mr. Murray," exclaimed a beautiful girl, drawing near. have just been listening to his eulogy upon her immaculate goodness. Heigh ho! how nice it must be to become such a heroine!"

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"I

"A heroine, Aggie ?" repeated Mrs. Everson, turning quickly towards her; "I hope you do not dignify Miss Morrison with such a title. Say, rather, an impostor, a shameless adventurer."

"I do not believe your son judges her so harshly," the young lady archly replied.

"My son doubtless estimates her as she deserves," Mrs. Everson rejoined, glancing her eye uneasily around the room as she spoke. "Have you seen him lately, Aggie?”

"Seen him! Oh! yes, poor, disconsolate swain; he's in the conservatory bemoaning the loss of his lady love," was the mischievous reply as the fair girl glided away among the throng.

Mrs. Everson was too much a woman of the world

to suffer her equanimity to be disturbed in the presence of others. She therefore moved along with a calm, self-possessed manner towards the conservatory, but a close observer might have seen by the nervous twitching of her mouth, and the unnatural fire in her eye, that some sudden thought or fear had taken possession of her. Quietly and cautiously she proceeded, omitting none of the courtesies she so well know how to bestow upon her guests, until, at length, she came within the sound of her son's voice, where, unobserved, she could both watch and listen.

The ashy paleness of Walter's cheek, as he spoke in low, excited tones to his friend Murray, sent a pang through her heart. What if, after all, he should persist in his romantic attachment to Nellie, and thus bring disgrace upon their family name! What if, in his deep love for the beautiful girl, he should prove recreant to every principle of honor, and wed one so infinitely beneath him!

Thus thought and reasoned that worldly-minded mother as she looked upon her son, forgetting, for the moment, how deeply she had imbued that son's spirit with her own, and how fully his nature sympathized with hers.

A few words, however, which reached her quickened ear removed at once her fears, and brought a gleam of intense satisfaction to her face.

It was apparently in answer to some remonstrance

from his friend that Walter sprang to his feet and exclaimed passionately:

"Heaven knows I wish you were right, Murray, but your views would never be tolerated here. Society, habit, education every thing is against them, and I am not one to trample on such powerful opponents."

"Then you do not love her as you ought— as she deserves to be loved, Everson," Murray replied with deep feeling.

"God is my witness, Murray," cried Walter, laying his hand upon his heart, "that never dwelt a truer devotion or deeper love in man's heart than I have given to her; nay, I love her still!"

"And yet you will see her crushed before your very eyes and not hold out your hand to save her! You will spurn the noble heart you have won because, forsooth! you think her name more humble than your

own !"

"Spare your reproaches, Murray; they only add to the bitterness of this hour. Should you ever love as I have done, and see your idol torn from you by inexorable fate, you will know what I suffer now."

"Are society's laws, then, so inexorable that its Juggernaut wheels can not be staid? O Walter! Walter! will you cast her forth, a victim to such false codes? her whose love would purify and exalt any station on earth ?"

"No more! Murray! no more, I beseech of

you, if