her voice being husky and tremulous. Charlie, thinking he had misunderstood the question, replied, "I beg your Ladyship's pardon, I believe I have not heard you correctly, or whether you asked if some Mrs. Stuart accompanied me." Bella turned her streaming eyes upon him, half doubting and half believing her ears, and earnestly enquired whether he was really married to her cousin Catherine. The young Advocate at once satisfied her that he had not yet had that fortune, but in return asked his interrogator whether her noble husband, Lord Lundy, was at the castle. It was now Bella's turn to be surprised, and replied that she never had, or wished to have, the honour of receiving that title.
We will not attempt to describe the happy meeting of the restored lovers, but rather draw a veil over the joyful scene which ensued—the many explanations, the jealousies they suffered, the anxieties of mind, and lastly, the despairing state of their feelings on seeing the articles in the newspapers which extinguished their hopes and crowned their miseries. Solemn vows of constancy were exchanged between them, that no earthly power should in future interrupt the smooth current of their love.
Charlie was, however, sorry for the unintentional impression he had made on the heart of Catherine Forbes, through his partiality to her, on account of her being so like her cousin; and Bella was now made fully confident of her lover's faithfulness by his regard for her cousin, through the resemblance that existed between them. Such was the substance of their joyful union, as they sat side by side on a sofa, Charlie with one arm round Bella's tapering waist, with his other hand imprisoned on her delicate hands, drinking draughts of love from each other's eyes.
Bella related to her lover without reserve, and for the first time, her long and underlying love for him; how her father through the flattery of Lord Lundy, carried her away against her will to London; how his Lordship persecuted her while there with his addresses, particularly when he attained his majority, demanding her as his bride, after gaining her uncle's intercession, which com-
