firmed, when she saw the frequency with which the Duke, as they stood tarrying at the halfopened gate, pointed with his finger to different quarters of the palace, as if in explanation of some facts relative to its inmates; and when she perceived the sort of respectful incredulity which the stranger's countenance assumed, and the ve hement sincerity with which the Duke reiterated apparently, some former assertions, until, by reason of the stranger's at length bowing and assenting with equal order and superior rapidity, Caroline imagined he was at last, in reality, convinced by her father, and was now anxious to remove from his mind any kind of offence incurred by the crime of having presumed to entertain his own opinion, (though he might now be disposed to hold a different one,) when it was contrary to that of the reigning Prince or Duke of Wolfenstein. The door was finally closed, and both the Duke and the unknown disappeared.

As Caroline crossed the park to regain her chamber, her mind was lost in a mazy labyrinth of vain conjecture, doubt, and difficulty. "Who the stranger was?" was one of the first questions she asked herself. But" what it was her father was about to remark in regard to Barham," was the most important one. Thus all her plans of secret seclusion were destroyed by this unwelcome violation of the solitude of her tower. Had her father been into the upper chamber, and detected there, her harp and her music, her books and her drawings? Suspense on this point might be satisfied, and therefore was intolerable. She

resolved to return to the place, and be satisfied upon that head. In truth, it was a romantie adventure; one, therefore, by no means the less pleasing to her on that score! Accordingly she ascended the tower to examine her apartment. It was untouched: she, (must I write it, ladies?') on recrossing the lower chamber, looked with exceeding vigilance for any fragment of paper, which, (as it was the custom of the Duke, her father, to tear up his letters first, and then to answer them) might in part explain the mysterious visit of the stranger. On this occasion, forgetful of her usual fears and caution, she even ventured to look into the well.. Finding, however, neither torn paper, nor forgotten letter, nor broken seal, she once more quitted the tower, moralizing with the amiable inconsistency of all the lovely daughters of Eve, on the folly and impropriety of curiosity.

The next morning, while the Duke was at the hunt, Caroline took care to have all her "petit" furniture removed from the tower, to another, but older favourite retreat of her's; one which she had frequented from earliest infancy. It was called the Bower. This great object she managed to accomplish, not without shedding a few tears at the sad necessity of the thing, with the aid of the same faithful servant who had conveyed them to the tower.

At dinner that day, Madame S. and the Margravine B-made many insidious and sarcastic remarks on the "peripatetic" amusements of Caroline she returned a sensible answer to the

spirit in which they had been directed against her, and sighed at the remembrance of the beloved object which had caused them.

CHAPTER V.

It is now time to return to our friends, Lord E. F. and Colonel Barham; of whom, very possibly, the reader by this time may be curious to hear. The story of the fisherman was perfectly true; they had engaged his boat, and had proceeded to Bremen; from whence, with all imaginable dispatch, they made the best of their way to England. Nothing occurred in their short voyage from one coast to the other, worthy of record. Upon arriving in London, Lord E. F. waiting one day upon Lord, and holding with him almost his last conference relative to the political state of his own unfortunate country, heard for the first time, and with inexpressible surprize, that it was at that moment under de bate in the Council, who should be selected as the illustrious partner of the P of W; and that the general sentiment hitherto, had been in favor of the daughter of the Duke of Wolfenstein. Lord Edward mentioned the popular rumor to which we have already adverted, and expressed his amazement that such an intention should have been talked of two or three years before. The Minister, however, satisfied him, that with