"Those cyphers to which I just now alluded were too remarkable to be ever forgotten: there is one more particularly which I could not forget; it resembles the letter g, and was constantly used to denote his Grace the Duke of??

"Proceed, my lord," said Lady Jane, impatiently: "I need not to be reminded of that."

"It was necessary that you should clearly recollect it, to understand the nature of my present business. Lady Jane Lorn is unable to discontinue the use of this dangerous cypher in ordinary writing; and this particular g is constantly recurring."

If your lordship would condescend to be intelligible, I should have greater pleasure in listening to you," said Lady Jane, in a subdued voice.

"Your ladyship should be particularly cautious in the use of these cyphers; they may lead to detection where, I am sure, you would wish to escape it, if you have half that prudence and that knowledge of the world for which I give you credit."

"Please to be a little more explicit, my lord," said Lady Jane, unsuccessfully endeavouring at haughty composure.

"In plain terms, that letter with which your ladyship favoured Miss Argyle, is, at this moment, in my possession."

Lady Jane turned pale, and caught at the back of her chair to prevent herself from falling.

"I gave your ladyship credit," said Lord

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Montague, "for a vast share of ability in the designing of your projects, and of perseverance in the execution of them. "This letter," drawing it from his pocket, "is a master-piece of eloquence, but in some parts liable to censure in that point in which many authors fail ; one assertion contradicts a former one, or one deduction disproves another. Your ladyship should be aware that such contradictions always render one suspicious of fable, and one cannot suffer one's self to be interested in that which one feels to be fictitious. The beauty of any fiction is the resemblance it bears to truth, and the power it possesses of leading the reader or the hearer from any idea of its falsity to the persuasion that it has occurred in real life."

"Insulting barbarian!" exclaimed Lady Jane" how dare you thus outrage me, how dare you assert that I am the writer of that letter ?"

"Your ladyship surely will not disavow so able a production of your pen: you will not suffer another to appropriate these flowers culled from the parterre of tropes and figures, these finely turned periods, these pathetic ideas which are constantly recurring!"

"What proof have you, my lord, that I am the writer of this imputed letter?" demanded Lady Jane, compelling into her service an appearance of calmness.

"Will your ladyship undertake to prove that it is not your writing " demanded Lord Mon

tague, fixing on her that glance which scarcely any mortal could withstand.

Lady Jane shrunk under it; she paled, trembled convulsive, and was again obliged to grasp her chair.

"Lady Jane," said Lord Montague, in a voice of earnest solemnity, "it is in vain for you to deny it; if I had not previously been ascertained of the fact, this confusion would convince me.-Denial or subterfuge is in vain. Here is a pen: write on the back of this letter, Lady Jane Lorn to Miss Argyle;' this will be sufficient for my purpose, and I promise you, that here the affair shall rest."

Lady Jane mechanically obeyed; she traced the sentence he had dictated.

"This will not do, Lady Jane!" he said, as he glanced over the sentence, and saw a proof of her wonderful powers of penmanship:-"I must have exactly the same handwriting as characterizes the letter."

Lady Jane looked at him with passionate indignation; she took the pen in silence, and obeyed him.

"That will do, madam: it will save me the trouble of another visit to your ladyship, and yourself the pain of receiving one from me."

"Man, abhorred, detested, and always dreaded!" exclaimed Lady Jane, secure from farther exposure by the promise of Lord Montague, and wrought to the highest pitch of passion:-"I repent of no part of that occurrence but detection! I regret only its ill success! foolish, fond woman, that Miss Argyle!

Are you not grateful for such proof of excessive affection? Go, and detail to her another specimen of the witchcraft that is in you, of the potency of the fascination you carry about with you! Go, and the curse of our fallen house sit heavy on you!

יי!

Lord Montague contemplated her in pity, and left her to the workings of her evil passions, and to the soothings of the lover who had so ably pleaded for her.

CHAP. XXII.

Si quis enim, nec zelotypus irascitur, nec pugnat aliquando amator, nec perjurat, non est habendus amator.

Not though thy form breathes each attractive grace,
And love sits throned in triumph on thy face;

"Tis that thy soul each finer impulse given
Bears stamped in fire the signature of heaven!

To Miss Argyle.

LUCIAN.

"I INCLOSE you, madam, the letter which you confided to me; you will see by the lines traced on the outside, to whom you were indebted for it. My own honour demanded the detection of the imposture; that satisfied, what remains? What ought to say to Miss Argylewhat ought she to hear from me?

Alas, madam! Isadora, of what have you suspected me ?-of crimes, from the very contemplation of which your shuddering soul must shrink-of seduction, desertion, baseness,

hardness of heart; and a catalogue of misdeeds so black, that the eye turns with horror from them.

"Is this the reward of a love so intense, so constant ?--alove that withstood indifference-time---a love, that never, for an instant, ceased to glow in my breast!--a love, whose first, last, only, dearest object, was always Isadora!

"Dearest of women, why have you driven me from you?---why have you suspected me of crimes to which my soul could never condescend? What plausible lie could calumny invent, that would, for a moment, have found entrance into my heart? I should have smiled at the vain attempt to stagger my faith in you! I should have laughed to scorn the efforts of the enemies of us both! But you, Isadora, you admitted the first ridiculous accusation that appeared against me; you suffered the darts of an anonymous assassin to separate us? You---but why should I thus enumerate? ---what right had I to calculate on a love which was scarcely avowed---the existence of which I scarcely dared to suspect?

"Deprived, Isadora, of those parents whose wisdom might have counselled me, and whose affection would have formed for me a tie with humanity, which till lately I never knew, I was early thrown on the great theatre of the world, with a pulse throbbing with animation at anticipated delights---a heart bounding with exultation as it contemplated the alluring variety displayed before it---and a capacity for love, for passion, which formed a part of my very

nature.