quick, I long to see that, though the Queen of Song to others, you are dear little Zelie to me. Julian will be here presently

66

Why, I do not want to see him so soon again!" she answered, sullenly.

"I am very particularly engaged, sweet Zelie, and he has promised to drive you and Mrs. Chester out."

"Where are you going, Alphonse ?”
"Into the city."

"You are not going to the Lindsays?" "I may be obliged to leave a card there; but do you think I would let Julian drive the Queen of Song abroad for the first time among her adoring subjects, if I could contrive to do so myself."

"Then you do not wish to see the Lindsays?"

"I! what a child you are, Zelie! what can two dull, uninspired, doll-faced English girls be to one accustomed to Zelie?"

"And you will return to dinner?"

"If possible. But mind you invite me formally before Mrs. Chester."

Zelie rapidly completed her toilet. Julian, Villeneuve, and Mrs. Chester were surprised when they beheld her. The pale, drooping girl was no more. There was triumph on her brow and in her fine eyes it flushed her cheek with the very tinge her complexion so needed-curved her generally mournful mouth - raised her fine head-was seen in her erect figure and firmly graceful step-even in the care bestowed on her black tresses and her morning-dress, you saw the being who, having risen to a lofty standard, was not inclined to fall from it again.

She received Julian's and Mrs. Chester's congratulations with graceful courtesy; but when De Villeneuve came from an inner room, and spoke of her triumph almost as a stranger might have done, she trembled her voice grew husky with emotion, and tears filled her eyes. Perceiving this, De Villeneuve requested a moment's tête-à-tête with Mrs. Chester, and Zelie walked to the window to conceal the tears, which, child of passionate impulse as she was, she sought not to suppress.

Mrs. Chester was fat, fair, and forty, with an aquiline nose, large, round, pale blue eyes, a thin-lipped, smiling mouth, a double-chin, and a short figure; she was fond of wearing a turban, or a turban-cap; she spoke rapidly, and her manner was at once quick and coaxing. She was a great advocate for etiquette. Her husband had been a man of ancient family, but no fortune; no one could exactly find out what she had been before she was Mrs. Chester, but yet she had a great contempt for "nobodies," and talked of pedigrees as if she could produce a very long one herself. As almost every thing is marketable in England, so, her husband leaving her nothing but a good old name, she turned that to account, and had been much sought after, in consequence, as chaperon in families, who had no importance but that they derived from their purses. Her high-flown advertisements had struck De Villeneuve; he desired Zelie to engage her. Mrs. Chester hesitated 66 "Any public character she never had chaperoned-what would the terms be?" Zelie named double what

VOL. I.

K

she had been used to receive.

still, but less than at first.

She hesitated

Zelie added an

other fifty pounds to her salary, and Mrs. Chester was secured.

After a short interview in another room, De Villeneuve returned, and, going up to Zelie, who still stood with her back to Julian, weeping bitterly, he fondly embraced her. Zelie struggled, and exclaimed, in Italian, "Leave me-you forget yourself."

"No, dearest sister," he said, still embracing her; and then, drawing a chair, he seated her on his knee. "I have thought it best to let our dear, kind Mrs. Chester into our secret; she has sworn to keep it; she knows now that you are my half sister; and, therefore, when alone with her and Julian, we can be quite unrestrained; so now be happy, darling! I can come in and go out when I will the back way, and give my little Zelie a kiss without shocking Mrs. Chester."

"Of course you can," said that lady; "only, as no one else knows this save Mr. Julian Lindsay, for the sake of appearances and eti

quette, you must be very cautious. Poor dear! it must shock her little heart to be treated like a stranger by her own brother!" and Mrs. Chester went up and embraced Zelie. "Don't sit on his knee, love, for fear of the servants coming in and appearances are every thing in this world....of course, realities must be attended to also; but that's between oneself and one's conscience; the world can seldom judge about them, but every lynxeyed servant can fritter away the reputation of those who don't pay proper attention to appearances. Ah! she's my dear little charge, and I'll take good care of her."

Zelie did not understand much of this rapid jargon, but she saw the expression and manner were kind, and kindness went straight to that warm young heart. So Zelie was all smiles and sallies during breakfast.

After breakfast, De Villeneuve left Julian with his sister, and went out on his "allimportant business," which was nothing more than to gaze at Ellen's soft face, and drink in the music of her sweet and noble sentiments;