"I

patience," resumed Shirley." I may liken thee unto a hound hunting change; thou hast taken fresh scent, and art following another chase. They were in the chapel-true; they were prayingtrue again. Verily, they resembled those prayers which the misguided Israelites offered to that Moabitish god before whom they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire. I have told you that there was a terrible storm and so loud, that we heard not the pealing of the organ, or the voices of the choir. Well the chapel was bright as the day with the lamps that were burning in it, as if blazing for some high festival, of which the Church of Rome has verily at least as many as days of fasting. At the altar stood the young Abbot of the monastery of De-la-pray;" the ruins of which, I may observe, are within half a mile of our castle, just verging on the park-forest. Every body,

Catholic and Reformed, knew his reverence, who had overcome all the temptations offered to him in the world, to devote himself to God after the manner of his pattern and friend Ignatius de Loyola."

The eye of the Secretary turned quickly on that of the Steward-fixed it steadily-producing a pain in the optical nerve of Shirley, similar to that which might have been the effect of actual pressure. Shirley met it with an expression of wonder, which seemed no sooner to reach the understanding of Lewen, than his glance was withdrawn, and his countenance regained its usual grave tranquillity.bbws A

"Your interruption has broken the thread of my recollections," resumed Shirley, unwittingly testifying to the power of Lewen's glance by assimilating its effect to that of a verbal remark, "The young Abbot of De-la-pray stood,

as I was saying, decked with all the pomp of a Roman dignitary! They were employed in inhuming alive a young creature whose vocation lay elsewhere; and, prithee, Master Lewen, was this defensible

Lewen replied only by an inexpressive smile, which Shirley chose to trans late as an acquiescence in that opinion which his query implied.

I : Even then," continued the Steward, ❝even as we entered, they held the pall over her as she lay on the pavement near the altar: we stood silent for a minute's space, and its descent was sus pended. The poor victim, roused by the interruption of the rites of her sacrifice, looked around her: my eye was on her: she half raised herself, pressing with her hand on the pavement. Never saw I a look, a face, so woe-begone as her's; all the misery of my Lady Joanna's future life never gave her eye so much

madness as it had when then it rested on my Lord; and a shriek burst from her scarcely-opened lips, such a shriek, ringing through the chapel, bounding from pillar to pillar, that supported the lofty vaulted roof, and drawing large drops of fear from my temples. It ceased; she fell again before the altar, and there was a moment's silence, as if we all expected the grave to give back its dead. My Lord was the first to break it. I shall not forget that night, whilst I have sense or memory left."

The Steward paused, oppressed by the vividness of his recollections. The face of Lewen was entirely shaded by his hand; when, after a short space, Shirley again recognised the countenance of his companion, its expression was placid as before, but it had deeper pale

ness..

"To pass over the convent scene as quickly as possible," he said, "I am

"

able to ascertain, by the present situation of the parties, that your Lord carried the novice from the sanctuary, and that the visitation terminated in the suppres sion of the monastery."

"Even so it was," returned Shirley. "My Lord brought my Lady to this very place, and he married her shortly, moreover, with the consent of her kinsfolk, and all her house." tea hapa

2

V With their consent? Entirely with their consent?" said Lewen, in a tone that vibrated slightly with surprise.

"It was thus," replied Shirley: "the irregularities of the convent were discovered to be such as must, if published, bring its superiorto condign punishment. Now, as that superior was, as I have told you, of the House of Marleyland, you will believe they were anxious that their nobility should not be contaminated by so disgraceful an exposure. It is easy to imagine what price my Lord set