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My dear Gertrude," cried he-"what is the meaning of all this? But I guess how it is-you have had a puritanical lecture from the very Reverend Edward Lyndsay, and I am not surprised you should weep at it, were it only from weariness."

But Gertrude still leant her head dejectedly upon her hand, and only sighed in answer. "By Heaven!” cried Delmour, passionately, " he shall answer to me for every tear he has made you shed."

"Beware how you add to the sorrow you have already brought upon me, Delmour," said Gertrude; I have forgiven much, and may forgive more, but I will never forgive insult or injury offered to Edward Lyndsay on my account."

Haughty and overbearing as Delmour was, he saw that, on the present occasion, he was not likely to obtain the mastery, and he was piqued to find that it required all his skill and eloquence to prevail upon Lady Rossville to keep her engagement, and join the party to Richmond. At length he prevailed; but she set out with a heavy heart. By degrees, however, the novelty and the gaiety of the scene-the beauty of the day-the

succession of lovely landscapes that met the eye as they glided along the music-the company --all combined to charm the senses, and Lyndsay was forgot!

CHAPTER XVII.

Something that's bitter will arise

Even amid our jollities.

LUCRETIUS.

Penso qual ne partii, qual vi ritorno.

METASTASIO.

THE London season was now drawing near a close, and Lady Rossville had run her full career of folly and extravagance. As bills came pouring in upon her from all quarters, she was startled at the magnitude of the sums she had expended, and for which she had now nothing to show but a parcel of gewgaws, which had ceased with their novelty to afford her any pleasure. She felt almost glad that Lyndsay was no longer her guardian, that he might not see the extent of her imprudence; for even Delmour was surprised when he heard how much she had spent in so short a time. As for Mrs St Clair, this discovery, joined to the disappointment of her other schemes, occasioned her a fit of the jaundice,

which put a stop to the Larkinses' dinner, and, as soon as she was able to travel, she was ordered to Cheltenham for the benefit of the waters.There they accordingly repaired, but not before it had been arranged by the lovers, that Colonel Delmour should join them in a short time.

At first Gertrude was pleased with the combination of picturesque beauty and fashionable gaiety, which are so happily blended at this celebrated watering-place; but a short time sufficed to dispel the illusion. The amusements wanted the life, splendour, and variety of the London parties, and the walks and rides were little resorted to; the supreme bon-ton of the idlers being to drive or walk backwards and forwards for about the space of a quarter of a mile of dusty street, and that without intermission, for two or three hours day after day, and week after week, and that with as much settled seriousness as though they were actually fulfilling the high destinies of · immortal beings.

“O, how canʼst thou renounce the boundless store Of charms which nature to her votary yields!"

But in vain would the minstrel have attempted to

sing the beaux and belles of Cheltenham off the

burning pavement, even while the dog-star raged, provided the libraries, and confectioners, and toyshops kept their places. What to them

"The warbling woodland, the resounding shore,
The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields;
All that the genial ray of morning gilds,
And all that echoes to the song of even."

But it was otherwise with Lady Rossville; her taste was not yet so vitiated as to take pleasure in the vapid pastimes of a watering-place, which, however they may amuse and relax the minds of the sick and the studious, can only tend to enfeeble those of the healthy and the gay. She sighed as she thought of her own fair domain,its woods and its waters-its flowers neglected and forsaken herself a queen there, while here she was one of a motley throng, with nought to recompense her but stare, and heat, and dust, and pressure. To add to her weariness and chagrin, Delmour had been detained in London on some regimental business, and was not likely to join her before her return to Rossville.

Mrs St Clair's aversion to Colonel Delmour had by no means diminished; but she found her