Think, Delphine, what were my feelings during this harangue.

66

Well, madame la comtesse," resumed Claudine, "this is the very same man; there cannot be two such in the world, I'm sure. So he sends in for me, saying he was a friend of my lady's maid, and wished to speak to her. Give this letter to your mistress,' cried he, when she is alone;' and he looked so fierce and proud withal, my lady, that somehow he frightened me. I took courage, however, to tell him that I never delivered letters to madame la comtesse.

"I command you to be the bearer of this!' replied he, and your lady, when she has read it, will acquaint you, you have done well;' and off he walked, while the servants, who came crowding round to stare at him, slunk back, alarmed by the sternness and ferocity of his glances. To be sure, when he was gone, they were all bold enough; for they fell to abusing his looks and manner, and accusing me for having such an acquaintance, saying he looked like a thief, or something worse.'

Having dismissed Claudine, whose loquacity, once set in motion, it is difficult to arrest, I locked the door, and, with trembling hands, opened the letter. The sarcastic insolence of its comments on my marriage, and the menaces of exposing me to my husband, unless I shall comply with his conditions, I leave you to imagine; they are dictated in the most malignant spirit, and expressed in the most insulting language. He added, that he learned by the papers the nurder of my aunt, and hoped that I had nothing to accuse myself of in that mysterious affair-though the circumstance of all the doors and windows having been found secured on the inside looked somewhat suspicious.

Delphine, this man is a fiend! and such is the extraordinary malignity of his nature, that I sometimes almost entertain that superstitious dread of him which is described, in some of the German works, as being inspired by evil spirits who have assumed the human shape. He writes that, now I have become a great and rich lady, he

gives me notice that I am to consider myself as the agent who is to supply his exigences, and with no niggard hand; that he will permit me to continue unexposed in my present dignity so long as I find means to administer to his wants; but that, if I do not furnish him with a sufficient liberality to enable him to live in a manner befitting his birth, he will denounce and hurl me from my station, even though he himself perish in the deed.

Imagine my feelings as I perused this letter, which I instantly destroyed, lest it should ever be seen by mortal eye but its characters are fixed in my memory, never to be effaced; and I am conscious that I am entangled for life in the meshes of that web of crime which this monster has woven round me too cunningly even to admit of hope of escape.

He says he will call on my maid to-morrow, for an answer. I have placed a large sum-all the money I had with me-in a small parcel, and intrusted it to Claudine to give him. She looked surprised-impertinently so, I thought, as I delivered it to her; and I felt abashed and rebuked by the glance of my own servant. Oh, Delphine, to what humiliation am I reduced! and where will all this misery end? I shudder at the prospect!

Lord Annandale, when we met in the library before dinner, informed me that, on returning from his ride, one of the gate-keepers had told him that a very extraordinary and suspicious man had entered and gone to the castle, who, when questioned, replied, that he was a friend of the femme de chambre of la comtesse." Claudine must not permit strange followers, my love," continued Lord Annandale; "and it argues ill in her favour that she should have such an acquaintance as the man described; for old Winstanley, the gate-keeper, says, that if ever villain was written in a human countenance in legible characters, it surely is in his."

I felt the blood rush to my face, and trembled lest he should observe my emotion, while saying that I should prohibit Claudine from receiving such visiters. Should

Annandale see the wretch when he comes to-morrow for the answer! But why anticipate fresh evils, when already I am bewildered by the extent of my present

ones?

The kindness and affection of Lord Annandale, so far exceeding my merits, overpower me; because I but too well know how quickly they would be withdrawn, were he to be acquainted with what this miscreant could relate: yes, he would loathe, he would spurn me. I have now reached the goal to which my ambition has so long pointed a brilliant and noble establishment. To attain this object, I have stooped to deception, to treachery, which have been productive of results that would have arrested my schemes in their very commencement, could I but have anticipated them; for, unworthy as I am, never could I have persevered in my machinations, had I dreamt that they would have conducted the wronged, the innocent Augusta to her grave. But she sleeps well, and is at peace; while I am tortured by the unceasing dread of detection, and the stings of a conscience that knows no rest. This recollection never leaves my brain, where it is stamped in characters of fire; nor can I forbear repeating it again and again to you, who are the sole being to whom I can unburthen my oppressed mind.

My nerves are so shattered that I am in a state of continued agitation; my health fails, and the tender interest its decay excites in my husband melts my hitherto stubborn heart. I find myself constantly contrasting his negligence to one, who was so infinitely, so immeasurably my superior in all respects, with his unvarying kindness to me; and this reflection inflicts a new pang, by reminding me that, had he been left free from my vile plots, he might-nay, he must have become sensible of the value of the rich treasure he possessed.

Now that I know him better, I am convinced that, were he aware of the injustice of the charges against the honour of Augusta, he never would forgive his own credulity, nor cease to execrate the wretch who prac

tised on it. I often turn from his glance of affection, as a criminal does from the eye of his accuser. Oh, Delphine, this state is insupportable! yet it was to attain it that I became the guilty creature I am.

I dare not venture out while this wretch remains in the neighbourhood; the sight of him would, I do believe, destroy me. I can write no more, for my head throbs with pain; to-morrow I will resume.

I hardly dared ask Claudine to-day if she had delivered the parcel; she said she had, and "hoped madame la comtesse would prohibit that strange and fearful man from coming again, as some of the men-servants had made such disagreeable observations on his visits."

While she was yet speaking, Lord Annandale tapped at the door, and entered, looking discomposed and offended.

"I must ask you, my dear Lady Annandale," said he, "to insist on your femme de chambre's paying more attention to your commands in future; for again has her very suspicious-looking and disreputable acquaintance been seen here, and withdrawing, as I am informed, from another interview with her."

I saw that Claudine, though not comprehending more than a few words (my husband having spoken in English,) was about to disclaim the acquaintance, and avow the truth; so, though I trembled with emotion, I made a desperate effort to control myself, and desired Claudine to leave the room. She obeyed my mandate, but reluctantly, and in tears, and evidently most impatient to justify herself to my lord. As soon as she had withdrawn, I told him-though how my inventive powers could act at such a moment I now wonder-that the man in question was a near relative of Claudine's; that he had been unfortunate, and came to see her for the last time previous to leaving England; that she, poor thing, had felt acutely his distress, but had promised me to receive him no

more.

Lord Annandale was immediately pacified, pitied poor Claudine, and offered some money to assist to pay her cousin's journey to Italy. Nay, he wished to speak to her himself, feeling sorry at having spoken harshly on the subject; but I dissuaded him from this proceeding.

So here am I again, Delphine, entered into the crooked path of untruth; and compromised, to a certain extent, before Claudine, who will naturally see that there is some mystery attached to this man's visits which I dare not avow, and the odium of which is cast upon her. All this weighs me down, but I feel there is no escape; a temporary respite I may purchase, but heaven only knows how short that respite may be, or how soon the recklessness of this monster may provoke some fearful esclandre.

I have had a most painful and humiliating scene with Claudine. She wept passionately, complained of being disgraced in the eyes of my lord, her reputation blemished in the opinion of the servants, and of being treated with insolence by that "terrible mauvais sujet," as she justly pronounced my evil genius to be.

I had much difficulty in pacifying her; was compelled to humble myself to accomplish it; and the gift of my gold Briguet repeater scarcely seemed to console her for the accusation of being a friend of him in whose hands my fortune, fame, and life, are placed. This it is, Delphine, to have committed one crime! To what endless subterfuges and humiliations does it not lead! but all this infamy and peril I must bear; and never henceforth can I assert the due authority of a mistress over a servant in whose custody is the fatal secret, the slightest reference to which could, at any moment, blanch the cheek, and baffle the self-possession, of her guilty and degraded mistress.

Adieu, chère amie! votre

CAROLINE.