honey be detected and carried off, will not the agony of disappointment outbalance all the pleasures of hope ?"

"I know not-I care not. I am surrounded upon all sides with wretchedness and perils. Do not, therefore, dear Agatha, do not in pity seek to deprive me of the only solace that offers itself to my bewildered and afflicted heart ?"

Although Edith's companion deeply felt the necessity of weaning her, if possible, from an attachment that could only aggravate her unhappiness, she would not persevere after such an affecting appeal; and indeed a high-minded sense of delicacy, when she referred to the embarrassing predicament in which she herself was placed, as the unintentional rival of her friend, withheld her from obtruding any advice that might hereafter be thought to have emanated from selfish or jealous feelings. Turning the conversation, therefore, to that subject in which herself and her own family were more especially implicated, she said-" Believe me, dear Edith, that even if you had not made this communication to me, no regard to my own danger, what

ever may be its magnitude, would have induced me to counsel your marriage with the infamous Seagrave. Never could I purchase my own life by sacrificing the happiness of yours; and in so saying I am confident that I speak the sentiments of my revered father, and of our holy kinsman." Nor could you yourself, anxious as you must naturally be to extricate your family and friends, entertain any such thought, without a crime, without contemplating perjury, even could your heart be conquered to such an act of self-immolation. No; we will work out our deliverance by less dishonourable means, or, if we must perish, we will fall like Cæsar, decorously and honourably. May I summon my parent and Father Bartholomew to assist us with their advice, concealing from them, of course, as I shall from all the world, that your marriage to Seagrave is impossible, since you have no longer a heart to bestow ?"

A willing consent being given to this proposition, the parties mentioned were introduced into the apartment, when the ancient Priest, after having heard the whole statement, ex

claimed "The days of visitation are come! The days of visitation are come! Did I not say they were at hand, when the picture of St. Agatha fell from the wall in the little cell; but ye smiled, as if ye would have said in your hearts, the Prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is mad? But I do not fear the contest that is to come, nor do I regret our past conduct. When Lot had received the two strangers under the shadow of his roof, he offered rather to give up his own family to destruction, than surrender those who had sought his protection; thus, too, did the old man of Gibeah conduct himself towards the Levite whom he had sheltered. Lot and his family were preserved for their hospitality; the Benjamites, who would have maltreated the wayfaring guest, were given over to destruction. We have done our duty as Christians our trust is in the Lord let us await his decrees with patience and resignation, and doubt not, my daughter, that he hath the power and the will to deliver from the snare of the wicked all those who obey his Gospels."

"Well and truly spoken!" cried Mr. Shelton" and were a similar case to recur tomorrow, my conduct should, in every respect, be the same. For myself I fear nothing; that I am anxious, upon Agatha's account, I will not deny, and, for her sake, I shall adopt whatever measures of precaution may suggest themselves to our maturer deliberation. Think not, therefore, of us, my dear Miss Colyton, dismiss us altogether from your mind; you have done every thing that was required in apprising us of our danger, and may now exclusively consult the wishes and the interests of yourself and of your family. I positively forbid your making the smallest sacrifice of any description out of a mistaken regard for our safety."

"Did I not tell you what would be their sentiments ?" said Agatha, justly proud of her noble-minded relations.

"You are every thing that is good and magnanimous," exclaimed Edith, "and I only regret that I can make you no other return for your kindness than by my gratitude and my prayers."-In this strain was the conversation

maintained for a short space longer, when Edith, having arranged that they should mutually inform each other of what might occur at their respective residences, bade her generous friends farewell, and returned to Orchard Place, relieved in her heart by the confidential communication she had made to Agatha, and encouraged to face her impending difficulties by the fortitude and religious trust evinced by every member of the Shelton family.