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and the interview with the Queen of Song, had quite effaced the memory of the kick; en route, too, he had, by adroitly dwelling on his skill in removing all cutaneous disorders, redness, &c., (by his Georgian bath and Athenian cream), and of reducing all corpulency, by a method peculiar to himself, persuaded Sir Peter that he could remove a certain plebeian redness of face, and correct a slight tendency to obesity, which the knight beheld with real alarm.

Behold him now privately engaged, as the medical attendant of the rich Sir Peter!

Mr. Lindsay had risen, and Ellen took upon herself the painful task of revealing all.

At first the shock was very great; but, when he had seen Julian, his fears for his life were calmed, and his deepest grief seemed to be the, in his opinion, unjustifiable combat he had engaged in, for, without any Pharisaical glory in himself, or harsh judgment of others, there was much real piety in Mr. Lindsay's heart. However, he reserved those opinions for the season of Julian's entire recovery. He fervently blessed God, and thanked Ellen. He readily

ratified her promise to Jobb, but, shrewd in some things, though simple in others, he fathomed the character of the man, and hit upon a good expedient for promoting Julian's rapid recovery. He promised that, on the very day when Julian should be pronounced quite well, Mr. Jobb's son should obtain a mercantile appointment, and Mr. Jobb himself receive, besides his charge, a hundred pounds as a pre

sent.

The recovery of the patient was miraculously rapid.

CHAPTER XL.

"Affection is the tyrant of a woman, and only bids her to the banquet, to suspend a cutting sword over her head, which a word, a look, may call down, to inflict the wound that strikes to the death, or heals but with a scar."

L. E. L.

It was on the evening of the day, (the events of which we recorded in the last chapter) that a letter marked "private" was furtively put into Ellen's hand by Ruth, who had been for some time on the watch for her, and who intercepted her as she was leaving Julian's room, to proceed to her own.

Ruth said it had been given her by a ser vant, who had asked to see the young lady'smaid, and had made her promise to give it privately to Miss Ellen Lindsay.

Ellen's nerves had been too much shaken by recent events, not to quiver with alarm at

any mysterious communication. She took the letter to her room, and, perceiving it was in a female hand, she opened it at once. It was elegantly written in French, and may be thus translated.

"I have known too much of misfortune not to have a fellow-feeling for the unhappy. The anxieties of the heart I can sympathize with, for they have well nigh broken my own. And I would fain, even at the risk of appear ing bold and presuming, (which to a sensitive woman is no trifling risk) save you, the young, the trusting, and the good, from the slow torture of a causeless jealousy. I am La Zelie, the unhappy cause of your cousin's duel. Having fought for me, the world, of course, gives him to me as a lover, for the world cannot understand that a man can be noble-minded enough to defend a slandered woman, unless she has some peculiar claim upon his protection. This, I solemnly swear to you, lady, I have not.

"Your cousin has been my friend, because I was friendless, but there has never been any

question of love, or even of flirtation between us. From all I can gather, some (gentlemen, nay, noblemen, they have much right to the title!) indignant that a foreign singer should reject the advances of English lords, took upon themselves to speak most slightingly of me. Lord Dartwich declared that he should not have been repulsed, if another were not too highly favoured. Your cousin, as my sole friend, as intimately acquainted with my feelings and mode of life, dared to proclaim himself the champion of a foreign girl, whose profession exposes her to slander and attack. He insisted on Lord Dartwich's recalling his expressions, or meeting him the next morning. They met, and you know the result.

"I fear that the world will now believe your cousin my lover, but he has taught it to believe in silence. My mind is much harassed by this affair, but duty compels me to proceed in my career, and calumny is always, with women, the price of publicity and success.

"As your poet says-Slander is the echo

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