Lord Frederic groaned; but, rousing himself to a desperate fortitude, he supported himself; and, waving his hand, the Colonel proceeded"The dignity of her conduct in repulsing me, the ignominy with which she treated me, roused all the bad passions of my heart, and I swore to be revenged; need I tell you I was so ?—I found means to blast her reputation; I found means to convince the Earl, your father, of her guilt; and I succeeded in separating her from you."

Lord Frederick sunk upon his knees, he lifted his eyes to Heaven, 'he clasped his hands, but he could not speak; and once again the Colonel proceeded.

Take, then, once more to your arms, restore to your heart, this inestimable jewel; and, oh pardon, and pity the wretch who would have destroyed her!"

"Take her to my arms!" exclaimed Lord Frederic, wildly; "take her to my arms!Oh God, oh God!-Oh Eleanor, my Eleanor ! take thee to my arms, thou suffering angel!Oh God, that it were possible! She complained not of my injustice, she offered no defence, but, sinking into silence, suffered martyrdom on earth, to become an angel of purity in heaven! Oh Eleanor, my Eleanor, my life, my soul, my wife, I have murdered thee !??

A convulsive sigh, a loud shriek, alone announced that the wretched Mapletort understood his words; for, in that awful moment, the ethereal spirit quitted its earthly tenement; and all that remained of the being, who had once

bloomed in manly beauty, was a co'd and loath.

some corse.

Captain Cummeline flew to the assistance of the surgeon, who was endeavouring to raise the deceased; but life was entirely gone.

Lord Frederic, still on his knees, knew not 'the event-he heard, he saw nothing. Eleanor, his murdered Eleanor, was present to his imagination; and, in a low and inarticulate voice, he was imploring her to hear and pardon him.

Captain Cummeline, at length, perceiving his situation, and marking the vacancy of his eye, ran to his assistance; he took his insensible hand; he conjured him to be calm, and assume the fortitude of a man.

"Fortitude! fortitude! talk not," cried he, wildly," of fortitude to me!-my wife, my murdered Eleanor, where is she? Oh Eleanor, my Eleanor, hear, pity, and pardon me! Is it I? was it I? could it be? impossible!"

"Recollect yourself, my friend," said Captain Cummeline, soothingly; "recollect yourself; look at poor Mapletort, cold and insensible. Come with me, and leave this scene of horror."

Lord Frederic gazed vacantly around him, shook away the arm of his friend, and again talked wildly to himself—"I, that would have died, to render her happy! I, that-Oh God! Oh God!-yes, I, who loved her more than my existence, was it, could it be I, who wounded her, murdered her! Smile not, my beloved; smile not upon me; I deserve it not, for thou knowest I persecuted and forsook thee: and is this the end of my sufferings? have I borne all

patiently, borne all, and for this! Oh Eleanor! Eleanor !"

He then rose from his knees; and walking silently to the foot of the bed, gazing on the inanimate Mapletort, he clasped both hands, and exclaimed "Oh that I too could cease to feel! Ye libertines, ye men of this world, ye who steal into the sweet retreats of domestic felicity, ye who lay waste the soft flowers of innocence, and blight the early bud which time would have ripened to perfection, look at this scene; to this complexion ye must all come; ye cannot put off the inevitable fiat of the Most High; ye must answer for it. Oh that I too could rest and be quiet!"

Captain Cummeline again spoke to him, again intreated him to quit the room; conjuring him, for his own sake, to reflect.

Lord Frederic groaned audibly—“ Reflect! I cannot reflect; reflection unmans me. I tell you what, Cummeline-from the moment I first knew that murdered angel, to that dreadful, direful one, which separated us for ever, my heart. never knew a wish beyond the blessing of her affection; all that life could offer, all the terrors of death rested upon her-upon the wife I have murdered. Not even her supposed infidelity had power to wean me from her; my soul still clung to the memory of past happiness, and Eleanor, my lost Eleanor, was the constant vision of my dreams."

Captain Cummeline and Mr Sladden now both interposed; and, finding argument fruitless, they forcibly tore him from the spot; and, con

ducting to a remote apartment, strove to calm his wandering thoughts; but all their efforts were vain, and they were obliged at length to confine him, while Mr. Sladden drew a considerable quantity of blood from his arm. A faint

ing fit, which succeeded the operation of bleeding, rendered him entirely quiescent; and Captain Cummeline, determined, not to leave him till he had seen the event, seated himself by the bedside; while Mr Sladden joined the numerous assembly below, for no one dared quit the spot till the necessary investigation had taken place.

CHAP. II.

The still moon

Arose--they saw it not--cheek was to cheek

Inclined, and unawares a stealing tear,

Witness'd how blissful was that hour, that seem'd
Not of the hours that time could count. A kiss
Stole on the list'ning silence.

SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.

Ar the end of two or three days Lord Frederic entirely recovered from the bodily malady which these extraordinary events had created; but the composure of mind, which he had so long struggled to attain, was, in a moment, completely destroyed; the image of Eleanor, sick, wounded in spirit, sinking prematurely to the grave, incessantly haunted and pursued him; and he felt it as a kind of sacrilege to her memory, ever to know a second choice; his half-engagement with Cary appeared staring him in the face, as an action of criminal indulgence; and he determined to make her acquainted with every circumstance of his past life, and demand from her a release from that contract, which every feeling of his heart now revolted from fulfilling.