"That is a great pity. I think it cannot be your wish to live in such isolation." "It is just my wish," she interrupted, with a certain haughtiness. My experience is already sufficiently wide to make me have no desire for company.

"So young, and already such a misanthrope-afraid of the world," I remarked.

"I am not so very young. I have turned twenty-six; and some of my years may safely be counted as double, just as for soldiers during war-time. You may speak to me as though I were a woman of forty. I have her experience of life. But tell me, what did you take me for at first sight for an apparition of the wild huntsman?"

46

An apparition! Certainly not; that is too ethereal. I thought you a sad reality, a forester who suffered from toothache."

She seemed piqued for a moment, her cheeks colored, and she bit her lips. "That is rude," she said at last, and glanced at me with scintillating eyes. "You wished me to be sincere, and assert you can endure it," was my rejoinder.

"You are right; and you will find that I have told you the truth. Stretch out your arm, cousin; there is my hand: I think we shall become good friends."

"That is my sincere desire, cousin; but do not be generous by halves. Allow me really to shake your hand, and not that coarse riding-glove.

"You are fastidious," she said, shaking her head, "but I will let you have your way. Here it is."

The next instant a fine white hand lay in mine, which I held a minute longer than was absolutely necessary. She did not seem to perceive it.

"But call me Frances; I shall call you Leo. The endless repetition of cousin is so tiresome," she said cordially.

"With the greatest pleasure;' " and I again pressed the hand that now freed itself at once.

No, truly; she was not ugly, even when she had done all she could to make herself look as displeasing as possible. It is true her features were sharp and irregular, but

Yes, general; I have already carried up the travelling-bag of Meneer van Zonshoven.'

"Indeed! Have you brought a carpetbag with you?" asked the general, smiling

Well, what shall I say to that, uncle? Was it very indiscreet of me to count on a few days' hospitality if I were well received?

Of course not-of course not, my boy!" he exclaimed cordially. "As far as I am concerned, a change will be very welcome to me, only try to be good friends. with Frances."

"Freule has ordered me to show Meneer van Zonshoven his room," said the faithful Frits, to apologize for following us.

That is just what I wished to tell you, Leo. Please excuse me for not going up with you myself." And he parted from me as we reached the great hall.

Frits turned to the left, went up the large oakenwood stairs that led to the first landing of the left wing, and conducted me just into that part which had given me the impression of not being in a very habitable state. Nevertheless it was an apparently well-furnished room that Frits opened for me, in which, before all else, a large, old-fashioned bedstead, with redsilk hangings, attracted my attention. For the rest, I had to grow accustomed to the darkness that reigned here before I could distinguish in what style it was papered, because, from habit, they had only half-opened one of the shutters, although there were three large windows. Frits asked me if I had any orders to give. I directed his attention to this matter, and begged him to let me have more light. He did not

and Frances, who entered rather flurriedly, sat down next to him; and there, in truth, she was in the same washed-out violet jacket that she had put on instead of her riding-dress as soon as she came home. Her beautiful hair had been put up, with more speed than grace, in a silk net that hung down heavily under this rich burden. A discolored kerchief was fastened loosely round her neck, so as to hide its slim shape and whiteness; even a simple clean collar was lacking, to give to this neglected toilette an appearance of freshness. I certainly could not expect that she should adorn herself in that short space like a princess in a fairy ballet; but such utter negligence of dress seemed, in my opinion, to bode so little good, that after I had glanced at her for a minute I turned away my head with a look full of disappointment and discouragement. The naughty girl must have seen something of my disappointment; for she smiled maliciously, and fixed her large blue eyes on me, as if she would say, Make yourself easy; I do not mind a bit what you think of me." For the rest, she fulfilled her duties as hostess with exemplary.zeal and great dexterity. She served the soup, carved the meats, and even changed our plates-for Frits seemed to consider his duty done when he had brought in the courses. The two gentlemen, and I according to their example, had to submit to this arrangement, and so she had really enough to do. But you will say that a dinner for three persons, with an unexpected guest, and in the country, in a lonely castle, among people who acknowledge themselves qu'ils sont pris au dépourvu, and who, above all, are living en gêne, could not require so much waiting; and you would be right. I had thought just the same; but at De Werve everything goes as it should not go, or at least as people would not have expected that it would.

In fact, it was no more than their usual dinner; and yet there was an abundance and a variety of food, and an evident effort after dainty dishes, that would have allowed it to pass quite well for a dinnerparty. We had, besides the soup, a roasted joint and choice preserved vegetables, surrogate of the primeurs,' the captain expressed himself; then partridges in aspic, and a dish of poulet au riz, with which alone we could have managed quite well; and young cabbages with

as

baked eels, of which the captain said playfully that they had only gone into his net for my sake. As plat doux we had a pudding with a wonderful sauce, in whose interest Frances was called into the kitchen; and, further, a complete dessert.

The different kinds of wine furnished by the captain, who acted as butler with really too much liberality and variety, completed the luxuries of the table. The wines were of the best brands, and our host, as well as his aide-de-camp, took care that I did not overlook this feature. With apparent gratification he pointed out to me the quality and date of each specimen; and although I did all I could not to appear too indifferent, and to excuse my moderation with the habits of abstinence to which I had been used since my youth, I saw plainly that my want of enthusiasm in this respect disappointed them a little.

But neither the crockery nor the tablelinen was in keeping with the splendor of the courses. The first, of French china, dating from the same period as the furniture and the gold leathern tapestries, had evidently suffered a good deal from the rough hands of time and servants, and was not only cracked and riveted and incomplete, but whatever was lacking had been supplied by ordinary ware, which enhanced the splendor, but, alas, also emphasized the deficiencies of the other. The large damask table-cloth, that represented the marriage of a Spanish infanta, had certainly been in use as long as the china. It was exceedingly fine, but worn, and had not always been mended with good results. As regards the silver, certain signs exchanged by Frances and the gentlemen, and the speed with which she sent the forks and spoons into the kitchen and ordered them back, showed me that the dozen was far from complete. On the other hand, there was an abundance of beautiful glass, to which the captain directed my attention lest I should overlook this feature, adding, however,

་

I do not attach great value to such things. Many a day in the campaign I have drunk beer out of a milk-measure, and champagne out of tea-cups; and I did not enjoy it the less for that."

Provided that the cups were not too small," interrupted Frances.

66

But the general,' continued Rolf, without noticing the remark—“ the gen

eral is so fond of beautiful things that he would prefer not to drink Yquem if it were poured into a sixpenny glass; and while our major (I mean Freule, the commanderin-chief) always manifests the greatest indifference in this respect, I have charged myself, once and forever, with the care of the general's wine-cellar."

I could do nothing else than compliment him upon his zeal; but at times there was something in his manner of giving the general his title that did not please mea tone of sarcasm calculated to offend the old man, although he did not seem to feel the pin-prick. He was thus, in a way, reminded of the inferiority of his means to his rank, which probably roused the jealousy of his former companion-in-arms. Any other person would have risen from his chair with indignation, or have revenged himself by a sharp repartee; but it seemed that van Zwenken lacked moral courage, or that he inclined his head to the blow from a desire for rest.

Frances felt more deeply, and was not willing to be so patient. In her vehement way she did not fail to retaliate.

..

Fie, captain!" she interrupted. "You should not proclaim so loudly that you act as quartermaster here. Are you afraid lest Meneer van Zonshoven will not observe how great are your merits? But, you see, if every one in this house would follow my régime, and content himself with our crystal-clear spring-water, your zeal and care for the wine-cellar would be perfectly superfluous."

I had noticed that she drank nothing but water.

I left the captain sitting with the cognacbottle before him. He said he needed this spirit to guard against the chill caused by eating fruit. I looked for a moment at the general, who evinced vocal proof that he was enjoying profound rest; and then walked as softly as I could towards Frances, trying to make my cigar invisible. She raised herself from the sofa, evidently a little troubled at being taken by surprise in a disconsolate mood; but she composed herself almost immediately.

"You can safely continue smoking, cousin, if you wish to have a talk with me," she said, and at the same time she tried to smile.

"I am not in the habit of smoking in the presence of ladies."

แ

'Nonsense! I am not so fastidious; you know that quite well. Shall I make you some coffee? The people yonder do not take any; they continue smoking and drinking till-"

I interrupted her with,

"I want nothing else but to talk confidentially with you for a quarter of an hour. Will you grant me that favor?"

66

Certainly; it will give me great pleasure. Take that easy-chair and sit down opposite to me; that is the best position for a talk."

I did as she bade, and she continued, "Tell me, first of all, do you now understand why I do not like receiving company?"

"Perhaps. I venture to suppose that you wish to simplify the way of living, and that the gentlemen do not approve of it. Consequently you wish to avoid the expense occasioned by receiving guests.

"I shall never let you guess again. After my grandfather had asked for his pension, and we took up our abode here at De Werve, it was urgently necessary to live more economically. Before then we had lived stylishly. His rank required that he, the commandant of a small fortified town, should receive all the dignitaries, as well as all his own lieutenants; and then (let me acknowledge it) we had both got into the habit of living in abundance, and of being hospitable; and consequently we nearly always had an open table, and there was always enough for some unexpected guests. Owing to dif ferent events, but most of all to painful family circumstances, our fortune within the last few years has shrunk so visibly that it was not possible to continue living in the same way. At that time grandpapa saw things as I did. To live less stylishly, and still remain in active service, was impossible; but here in the country we could do just as we liked. We did not want to see company, and we severed ourselves at one stroke from all parasites; and although it was a perilous experiment to go and live in a castle like this, with one man and one maid-servant, we resolved to do so. We further resolved to take only two or three rooms into use, as I did not mind doing a great deal of the work myself. Activity was a necessity to me. I counted on the kitchengarden, the orchard, and the farmyard, that in those days still belonged to De

Werve, to provide all our wants; and I secretly hoped that, living thus economically, I should be able to lay by some money, and one day to raise this castle from its state of decay.

"At first everything went tolerably well; we came in the summer-time; we both wanted rest badly; the splendid and varied scenery enticed us to ride and drive out; all combined to make us enjoy the solitude. But, alas, the autumn came, with its cold days and long evenings, when the general, suffering from rheumatism, could not mount his horse. Then weariness overmastered him like a plague, that I tried in vain to banish by music and reading. He was not fond of music, and he did not care for reading. He does not even like to see a book in the hands of those who surround him, except it be an illustrated book, such as are fit for a drawing-room table. When we had read the newspaper we had nothing more to say. Every evening we played some games at dominoes and piquet à deux. I could hardly do it any longer; but he never found it enough. There was no one here with whom we could converse. Those who are considered the great people are rough and uncultured, and above all belong to the burgomaster's party; the clergyman is not a man of our sort; and that which is called an interesting conversation is not to grandpapa's taste, although he always was par excellence the man for social life in a large circle. Now he missed all that he was used to, got fidgety and sad, began to languish, and was less and less satisfied with the simple way of living which I had instituted. I could hardly bear to see him so cast down without having the means of helping him. At that time one of his former comrades, who had also retired on his pension, but for the purpose of living comfortably upon his means, and enjoying life, invited grandpapa to spend some time with him. It would be a nice change, and he could thus breathe without trouble in an atmosphere more to his taste. This captain had taken a house at Arnhem, and lived splendidly, a member of the circle that gave the tone to the society of the town. Grandpapa felt quite at his ease there, and stayed the three winter months." "And you?"

"I stayed at home; no question about that."

The captain had already arranged the cardtable, and rang for Frits, to take away the tea-things. We took our seats, and the general fixed the price of the counters tolerably high, I thought.

It was as though the old man underwent a metamorphosis when he held the cards in his hands. His dull sleepy eyes glistened with intelligence and sparkled with enthusiasm. Every limb moved; the tips of his fingers trembled, yet still they held the cards firmly, and he inspected them with an eagle eye, to calculate with mathematical certitude what was lacking in ours. His pale cheeks flushed a deep red, his nostrils expanded or contracted according to the chances of the game, and the melancholy man, who usually sat with his head bowed down as though overburdened, was of a sudden seized by a spirit of audacity, of rashness, of foolhardiness, that not rarely procured him splendid successes, and reminded me of the saying, "Good luck is with the rash man." It is with the audacious player.

I put down my money on the table, and pitied the old man who played for the sake of money.

NIGHT.

[Joseph Blanco White, an English writer of poetry and prose, was born in Spain in 1775, and died

in 1841. He became editor of The London Review, and wrote many books, among which Letters from Spain (1822), Evidence against Catholicism (1825), and his Life

and Correspondence, edited by J. H. Thom (1845), are the most notable.

The sonnet which follows drew from Coleridge the

extraordinary praise of "the finest and most grandly conceived sonnet in our language;" and Leigh Hunt says of it, "It stands supreme, nor can we ponder it too deeply."]

Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew Thee, from report divine, and heard thy name,

Did he not tremble for this lovely frame,— This glorious canopy of light and blue? Yet, 'neath a curtain of translucent dew,

Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame. Hesperus, with the host of heaven, came, And lo! creation widened in man's view. Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed