inflame his passions and minister to his vain. hopes, have been furnished.

Well aware of this necessity, Dunbar contrived, covertly, to remind him, from time to time, that Arundell's share in the late rebellion, and close connection with Lord Argyll, had obliged the king to slacken the haste with which he was proceeding to bring the matter of the barony forward before his council; thus invariably coupling the image of his absent son with irritating and humiliating feelings; making it impossible for him to forget how much of family honours had been squandered by one degenerate, as he deemed it, from family cha

racter.

To quell the hot anguish of such thoughts Sir Fulk gave himself with no small degree of ardour to the duties of his place, and of hospitality. He was gratified by the numerous attendance on his first great entertainment, which a general invitation to the gentlemen of the duchy had produced. His halls were crowded with themselves and their retainers; and once more the ivied walls of the old house shook with the sounds of decent mirth and honest rejoicing. Colonel Trevanion went his rounds from the

banquet of the landlords to the feast of

their tenants; he gave loyal and patriotic toasts; shook hands with his inferiors,gracefully saluted their wives, —and sung, with a light grace all his own, snatches of popular songs, glass in hand, by their

side.

But some smiles were hollow there; some hearts heavy ;-some thoughts far away with the banished and rightful heir. One eye was raining down tears, and that was in a distant chamber; - the weeper was poor Aura. Sir Fulk himself only played the part of cheerful courtesy ; but he was self-condemned to it, and proud dedetermination enabled him to carry it through. The servants, who remembered Arundell, moved about in silent seriousness; those who did not, wore joyous looks. The night was far spent before the entertainment ended.

The fatigue of previous preparations for this numerous company had worn out Miss Trevanion's small stock of strength before their assembling commenced; and afterwards the sounds of merry-making from hall and kitchen, not only pierced her to the heart whilst she was up, but prepared her a sleepless pillow when she retired to rest.

When her father came, therefore, to see her late on the following morning, he found her reduced again to that state of miserable depression which seems to put the sufferer equally beyond the reach of reasoning and reproof. He, too, had lain on a bed of thorns; and softened towards her excessive dejection by his own reflections, had come in a disposition to handle her heart's wound tenderly.

Instead, therefore, of severely reproving or coldly disregarding her evident abandonment to revived misery, he tried to interest her by some details of the preceding evening; selecting such as were most likely to please that family pride which was, in truth, latent in her breast; and reminding her, that until she could make an effort to appear at the head of her father's table, he must be denied the pleasing society of ladies. Seeing these topics failed to bring a single gleam of pleasure into her eyes, he altered his tone, and urged her to say, if there were any change of place she could fancy, -any amusement likely to raise her broken spirits, -any gratification in his power to bestow, that might restore her to some interest in life.

Miss Trevanion at first answered only by oppressive sighs; her eyes glazing with tears, till their moisture brimmed through the thick dark lashes that seemed longer and darker than ever, from their contrast with the pale cheek upon which they rested: but at length awakened to a faint hope of the only possible good she had often wished for, yet still despairingly, she answered in a low voice," that from her incapacity of entertaining new acquaintance, as most of the Cornish ladies were to her, she had small means of distracting her thoughts; that she missed the occasional meetings with her early friend Miss Hungerford, which she used to have when her strength enabled her to walk far enough; and she thought if she might be allowed to receive her at Treverderet

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Sir Fulk withdrew his hand from its resting-place on her chair, and looking earnestly on her, said, with a changed countenance, "This is somewhat bold, Aura! Do you and this young gentlewoman carry on any sort of correspondence then?"

66

None, sir," Miss Trevanion replied, rather proudly; "I never had your war

rant for it."

"Good!" responded the knight; then

in a cheerfuller tone, " methinks it were fair huckstering to drive a bargain with you now, and to see whether your starving coyness to a certain worthy suitor for your favour may not be bought off by your father's sacrifice of his private feelings. It was my resolution never to admit a Hungerford under my roof-" Here he paused.

Miss Trevanion's raised complexion sunk at once; too well aware of what her father meant, she did not speak. She had more than once since her return home met the stern rebuke of his eye at her hasty avoidance of her cousin's assiduities, and she had not courage at this critical moment to dare the question of what he wished her to do. Sir Fulk stood regarding her altered appearance for a few seconds in silence; then hemming away either a sigh or an angry burst poor Aura guessed not which suddenly left her.

And where was Colonel Trevanion before, and during this scene between the father and daughter? part of the foregoing time he had vainly given to one of his many attempts at fathoming Mr. Becket, and of cautiously awakening vanity or ambition in Susannah Hollis. Colonel Trevanion was deeply