"For Heaven's sake!" whispered he, "be silent. There is that eternal dun again. I shall pay him next week, when that cursed pamphlet is done. But the door is closed, so are the windows; if he hears nothing, he will think I am not at home."
The actress put her finger upon her lip; and so susceptible is an imaginative temperament of an outward impression, that, for a moment, Walter forgot every thing but how well the pretty attitude and the arch look would have told on the stage. But a loud single knock at the door recalled him to the full humiliation of his position. The colour rushed to his face, and then left him deadly pale, while he held his breath lest it should betray him. The young actress was at first inclined to, laugh; but there was a wretchedness in the expression of Maynard's countenance which subdued even her reckless gaiety; knock after knock sounded heavily upon the door, still heavier did they sink on his spirit who sat crouching and miserable within. A probation of long and shameful years must be
