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CONDUCT.-A TALE OF TRUTH.

(Continued from page 137.)

During the forenoon, an acquaintance or two called to pay a friendly visit to the young couple, and the day turning out unfavourable, Egerton persuaded them to stay to dinner. Julia did the honours with her accustomed grace: she was not absolutely cheerful herself, but she left no means untried to promote the hilarity of her guests; and so far were these efforts crowned with success, that when the party broke up, her visitors pronounced their entertainers to be the most enviable couple in the district. Egerton was not only surprised, but perfectly charmed. "You have behaved like a good girl to-day," said he, throwing himself, in the evening, on a sofa by her side, and drawing her to him in playful dalliance, for the purpose of bestowing a salute. To his astonishment, Julia quietly, but promptly and firmly, withdrew herself, and before he could renew his attempt or ask an explanation, she quitted her seat, and taking a chair at some distance, said, "I have been waiting for this moment all day, Egerton. Whilst you were only polite, I had no opportunity of speaking; but now that you would receive tokens of affection to which you have forfeited all right, my lips are opened. Egerton, how I have loved you, how happy I have hitherto felt in bestowing every mark of tenderness upon you, I need not repeat; but how I can loathe the endearments of a wretched adulterer, you have yet to learn. Pardon me, I did not wish to be hurried into such strong expressions. All I meant to say was, that you have pressed my lips for the last time." "Julia-why I am thunderstruck!" exclaimed Egerton. never can be serious! But I see how it is: you watched all last night, and are not yourself to-day. Come, in the morning you will be better;-let us to bed."

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"You

"To bed?-to my grave first!" cried Julia, with great energy. Egerton, I tell you we are man and wife no longer. Those whom God hath joined together, are connected by links which poverty, nor distance, nor death itself, can snap asunder, and over whose rivets the strongest of temptations are powerless. You have shown that the ceremonies of man alone bind you to me; and by that Being whose Name I have just pronounced, I will not continue a connection evidently unsanctified by Him!"

The intensity of purpose which shone through the impassioned manner of Julia, while in the act of speaking, convinced Egerton that this was no fitful display of womanly caprice, but the expression of a fixed resolve an inflexible determination beyond his power to shake. Yet, in his despair, he had still power to grasp at one straw, although nought was left him but dissimulation. "Indeed, indeed, Julia," he

exclaimed, "you are acting on a false supposition. With agony I confess that I have erred a thousand times, bnt I was last night as true to my marriage vow as you were. Business, as I then said, caused my absence; and if you persist in doubting me, I will make it my care to procure documents which must bring you to conviction."

"Let me first shew you a document which has brought me to conviction," returned Julia. "There are times, Egerton, at which an observance of conventional restrictions is a mockery of all prudence, and when I last night rescued this paper unconsumed from the fire, I read it without a feeling of shame. Avow the act, without a fear of censure; you are no stranger to its contents."

As she spoke, Julia placed the letter which Stratford had received from Charlotte into his hands. It was scorched and smoked, but every character remained legible. Her possession of it was easily accounted for; the interest of both parties had been too great during the execution of her innocent stratagem to permit them to notice that the fire was gradually burning dim and hollow, and that the coals on the top had caked without igniting. When Stratford, therefore, threw the fatal paper on the grate, it rested amidst the scarce-warm mass without material injury. Julia detected this a short time after he had sped upon his guilty errand, and more in the hope of finding that he was really innocent, than with the desire to confirm her suspicions, she made herself its mistress.

Egerton scarcely glanced over one sentence before he threw himself upon his knees for pardon. "I am the vilest of men, Julia," he exclaimed, "yet let this humble posture, this contrition, these tears, plead for your forgiveness. It is an angel whom I have offendedlet then the mercy of one be extended towards me. You cannot, most beloved girl, think that I would or could again err. You shall in future, be my beacon-star; and should I once more turn from its directing ray, may I perish in the whirlpool of my own miscon

duct."

Julia stood like a new-hewn statue of Attention, as Egerton, in the most abject tones, gave utterance to these sentences; but as statuelike was the heed she awarded them. When he had finished, and merely passed her fair hand across her forehead, as if to warn away the approaching shade of weakness, and then said, "I have spoken!'

"But you spoke in anger, my own one; you spoke while yet under the torture inflicted by my crimes."

"I spoke with my earliest love for you strong upon my heart; I spoke the result of reflections induced by fervent prayers for guidance. I sought counsel from the Almighty, and He it was who inspired me so to speak."

"This is cruel, barbarous! a cheat of your own fancy. Heaven would never separate two persons whom it has once united."

"Your conduct has already shown that Heaven had no hand in our union. I made that remark only a few moments ago."

"Let us, then, Julia, enter into a new league," cried Stratford, pas

N. S. VOL. XXXVI.

BB

sionately. "Let us, at this solemn moment, plight our troths to each other, and let my future actions prove that God has, indeed, this time, brought us together. Come, take me once more to your arms, and pour the balm of consolation into my bosom!"

"I will listen to you as long as you have words to utter," returned his resolute wife; "but to all you can say, my answer shall be the same we part for ever. If we dwelt in distinct planets, our separation could not be more total."

Up stairs?—I will go to him myself.-Stratford !-ruin !-destruction!-where are you?" Such were the sounds which at this moment so inopportunely broke upon the discourse. They were uttered by Mr. Meggott, who, with bewildered looks, now rushed into the apartment. Oh, my friend!" he exclaimed, unmindful of the position in which he found his partner; "all is lost! An explosion has taken place in the collieries, which, by giving entrance to a subterranean lake, has utterly destroyed every compartment of the mine, and laid the whole of our property under water. Half a million will scarcely repair the damage done. The loss of human life is also frightful. But read," he added, thrusting a letter into Egerton's hands,—“read, and satisfy yourself of the extent of the calamity."

Stratford took the paper, but a film passed over his eyes, and he stood, as if stupified by the intelligence. Meggott, perceiving this, strove to cheer him, although almost heart-broken himself. "Come, rouse thee!-rouse thee, man!" he exclaimed, shaking Egerton by the shoulder. "Take your own time over it; meanwhile, I will call the proprietors together, and see what is to be done. You shall be sent for when required; but I would advise you, in the interim, to look well to your banker's book; money alone can save us, and you must not part with a single sixpence, unless absolutely required.' As he concluded, Meggott bestowed a smile, which was meant to be one of encouragement, upon Julia, and then, without further ceremony, departed.

It was a full hour, from the time he left the room, before either Egerton or his wife spoke, so paralyzing was this reverse of fortune in its effects. The former broke silence first. "Our prosperity has received a heavy blow, Julia," he said, "yet the most painful thought I have, is that connected with your resentment. But for that, I could now have sought for solace in your arms, and forget my ills in each commiserating word and look. But I know your exalted nature; affliction encompasses me, and that circumstance will not alone make you think me sufficiently punished, but also transform an offended wife into a paraclete and a comforter!"

"I sadly needed a comforter last night, Egerton; but he closed his ears against my complainings, and shut his eyes to my tears."

"Good God, Julia! do not freeze me in this way. Remember, that were we now to separate, and the cause be made known, you would, in addition to exposing me to the defection of all my friends,

steel their hearts against affording me that pecuniary assistance, for which, in my present extremity, I must apply.”

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Why need you do that? I have not been a very extravagant wife; and you cannot be without a considerable sum in the hands of your banker."

"You forget, love, that it is not a month ago since I purchased the shares which poor Wells and Harris held in our mines while they lived."

"You did so; it had escaped my memory. But you received your rents only two days ago, and those amount to no trifle."

A burning blush now spread over the features of Egerton; but rising superior to the attacks of a false shame, he replied:-"It is with self-indignation, Julia, that I acknowledge having parted with the whole of that sum, and more added to it, for the purpose of liquidating the debt of —, I cannot name her."

"Had you always been as candid, how much misery might have been spared us!" said Julia, wiping away the first tear which she had shed during the interview. Recovering herself, she added,―" There is one resource more-your father."

"Who has vowed, on my first act of infidelity towards you, to abandon me for ever! Now, Julia, reflect; by leaving me, as I said before, you will not only deprive me of your loved presence-loved amidst all my perjuries!-but you will abandon me to all the horrors of poverty; deprive me of the very means of retrieving my fortunes; take from me a name, since wedlock, without blemish; and, finally, win me a father's curse, and lose me a father's inheritance." Stratford now, once more, flung himself wildly upon his knees, and concluded by exclaiming, in frantic agitation, "My wife, my wife! have mercy upon me! My heart is bleeding for one kind look, and its cords are ready to break with anguish!"

"How I knelt, and how I prayed to you, when you were quitting me for another, I need not again recall," said Julia, with even more of sternness than she had yet assumed; but fortitude could support her no longer. Every sentence she uttered had been a dagger in her own heart, and every pang she inflicted upon Egerton, had recoiled upon herself, and almost driven her mad. To longer carry on such a conflict was impossible: and, bathed in a flood of tears, she raised her husband to her side, and exclaimed, "I should fear to ask for mercy from above, if I showed it not others; that I forgive you from my inmost soul, Egerton, let these emotions witness."

"Oh, blissful sounds!" cried Stratford. "You relent then? my saving angel, you relent?"

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Stay!" interrupted Julia; "my clemency is only limited. I consent to remain in your house, and to act in the presence of all who enter it as I have done before your visitors to-day; every duty of a wife shall be fulfilled: the most prying eye shall not see a division between us; but our heads at night rest not on the same pillow. You

start! Have I not have granted your prayer? Your father and friends will come round you, and your affairs will shortly roll on like the ocean, when a calm succeeds a storm."

"This is greater cruelty than ever," cried Egerton. "Besides, how are we to escape detection from the servants? Who is to stop their mouths, when the secret becomes known to them?"

"Leave that to my conduct. We can occupy apartments on the same gallery, and I will explain the matter to my old and faithful attendant (in whom, from boyhood, you have always expressed the greatest confidence), in such a way that you shall not incur the slightest blame even from her. She will have the sole care of our chambers, and I answer with my life the safety of our secret. Pray do not remonstrate with me any more. In the first place, it would be useless, and in the next, my spirits are unable to bear further harassing. Farewell, Egerton! In the day you shall never see me changed. In the evening, we will continue the separation which you commenced last night."

Julia departed, and neither entreaties nor argument were subsequently effective in making her change the resolution she had formed; yet the whole affair remained entirely unsuspected. It was at this period that I first formed an acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. Stratford; and though peculiar circumstances, quite unimportant as far as regards this history, threw me into the most confidential intercourse with both parties, I had not a conception of their being otherwise than the fondest of couples. I certainly never witnessed any interchange of those endearments which so frequently pass between husband and wife; but how seldom does a really sensitive man like to make any display of that kind in the presence of a third party? I might, perhaps, have noticed the paleness betrayed by Julia's cheek, had not the delicacy of her situation sufficiently accounted for any symptoms of

weakness or ill health.

In the mean while, Egerton became a prey to the most distracting feelings. Every time he looked upon his wife, every time he heard her named, he longed to be indeed the owner of such a treasure; yet her constant rejection of all his advances to that effect, roused, in her absence, sentiments of pride which were considerably useful in preserving him from any fatal attacks of that melancholy, to whose encroachments he might have proved liable, under circumstances. These, however, gradually wore off, and he began visibly to droop. At the commencement of his probation, the idea suggested itself of seeking pleasure abroad; but the sweets were tasteless, when no longer stolen ; added to which, he now felt a real disgust, a horror, at the sight of women of blemished character; and it is worthy of remark, that, after the morning on which he had lost his wife, he never once visited the cause of all his misery. What the result might have been, with a female of her violent temper, it is almost impossible to say, had she not, in about a fortnight from Egerton's defection, made off with a foolish young tradesman, who had recently come to the possession of consi