that question, answer!" he said, and his voice rose to the shrill vehemence of agony. There was a moment's pause; it elapsed, and the Page rushed from the apartment.

CHAPTER VII.

I was

"But thou dwellest in the soul of Malvina ! My sighs arise with the beam of the east; my tears descend with the drops of night. a lovely tree in thy presence with all my branches round me. -The virgins saw me silent in the hall; they touched the harp of joy. The tear was on the cheek of Malvina: the virgins beheld me in my grief. Why art thou sad? they said; thou first of the maids of Lutha! Was he lovely as the beam of the morning, and stately in thy sight?" Ossian.

THE melancholy of the Lady Blanche Evelyn, which had been so apparent as to attract the observation of the Page, who saw her only at distant intervals, was little likely to escape the penetration of that father whose affections and

whose pride were concentrated in her, neither, perhaps, the less strong because there existed no other point in which they centered.

The Earl had observed with pain, that sorrow engloomed her mind at a period, when it might have been expected, that her heart would expand with all the joyousness of youth and health and prosperity. He sought not to intrude into the sanctuary of his daughter's thoughts, from curiosity, or any motive so little dignified. He desired to comprehend the origin of her distress, in order that he might relieve it.

The idea of her alienation from the Countess, naturally suggested itself to him as the probable cause of Blanche s unhappiness. He recurred to it in her presence, and in doing so, mentioned the circumstances that might alleviate it, and afford consolation. Blanche listen

ed to his arguments with attention, and she repaid his efforts by her smiles. But the melancholy that succeeded his silence, convinced him, that he must search deeper for the origin of her

sorrow.

The Earl recalled the events of his own life, and he remembered the violent passion which had left its trace on every subsequent scene of the whole. Then he contemplated the beautiful figure before him, blooming in all the slight youthfulness of seventeen; he appreciated her loveliness with paternal pride, and even that scarcely overrated it; he felt that she was a being formed to love and to be loved; he knew, that in the domestic circle of the Duke of Suffolk she might have seen many flowers of chivalry, the pride of their nobility, who were worthy of occupying her. And would she not be sought? Was not the heiress of

Arding, with her princely dower and her high hopes, an object to excite the ambition of the best and the bravest ? She loved, therefore; and could she love hopelessly?

The heart and the pride of the father repelled the suspicion. He resolved to seek Blanche, and to prevail on her to elucidate the point.

"This should be a mother's task," thought he; "but thy mother, my poor child, refuses to perform her maternal functions! And how shall I touch on such a subject with the delicacy and tenderness required by thy young and susceptible mind?"

Living in those habits of unlimited. confidence with his chaplain, which were sanctioned by the manners of the age, the Earl determined to rely on his counsel even in this exigence.

Russell listened to the communication with deep attention. He ardently