There was so much feeling, such an apparent depth of sorrow in this sudden utterance, that I gazed at my companion in some surprise and more sympathy; she appeared to perceive it, and reseated herself.

At this moment the old clock slowly struck the hour, and the wind rising, began to moan from the hills, white clouds obscured the moon, a gust came sounding through the thick branches of the solitary yew, moving them towards us like huge arms against the darkening sky.

It was midnight.

"Have you no superstitious fears, Melanie ?"

The word came almost trembling from my tongue. It was the first time I dared to use it; but before that ancient churchyard, with my thoughts strung up to an exalted pitch, it was no time to take offence.

6:

"Why should I fear?" my companion replied; we have only evil spirits to dread, and they are shut up in the hearts of the living, not of the dead."

"Do you not believe in the reappearance of our friends again, at rare intervals, perhaps, and seldom to be seen; do you not, at least, think it possible ?" This time Melanie's voice was low and hesitating.

"It is not permitted to me to behold my guardian angel," she said; "but if in some terrible hour of doubt and trial I beheld hanging over me, pityingly, the well-remembered face of my lost mother, would not a sense of love beyond the grave sustain me;

why should I shrink to have the darkness of my life lighted up by some few slight glimpses of those whose endurance is over, who have entered into their rest? There are needs of all kinds in that great world, in which we are travelling, and to some who cannot lean much upon usual friendly sympathy, and whose way is far from clear before them, Heaven, in its tender mercy, may perhaps grant encouragement of this kind, glances of compassion from the eyes so dear, so revered, so confided in while they were yet with us on earth; shadowy welcome, and strange calm and strength from those whom we know we shall meet again when the term of our patient waiting, and all our distresses and fears are over! Let us thank God for all his mercies, and doubt not that these too are of them, though seldom known, though such visits may be few and far between."

Although before starting from Castle Cwrlach, I had taken the precaution carefully to study the roads upon a map, it now became difficult to pursue our course with any certainty. Every moment the sky grew darker, the moon and all the stars became totally obscured, and a storm of mingled sleet and rain came on with savage force from the mountains. The fold of a shawl was wrapped over Melanie's graceful little head, and tied securely down; my own cloak was more tightly drawn across my chest, and I strained my eyes to endeavour to discern through the increasing gloom, each turn of the road, and to steer our frail little carriage away from rocky banks and débris, and to prevent our plunging

over one of the precipices. No easy matter was it to drive with the rain and wind full in my face, and at last no possibility of seeing anything at all: hardly could the foliage itself be distinguished from the intense blackness of the sky.

Then the reflection forced itself unpleasantly upon me after all, how inconsiderate it had been of me to undertake the journey over roads totally unknown, and with a responsibility of the extent of which I was ignorant; but which pressed more and more heavily, causing me to redouble my precautions, and finally to get out and lead the pony, in spite of the assurance of my brave companion that we were fairly in the middle of the road, and that she had every confidence in our safety.

I barricaded her from the tempest with shawls, as well as it could be done, addressed reassuring words to her from time to time, both in French and English, and once placing my hand upon the side of the carriage, encountered her little gloved fingers, which were very cold; but they were warm when I released them.

The fresh pony they had given us, was a very poor one, he had long shown signs of distress, and now could hardly be induced to continue the journey at all. Poor animal, he could not understand the wild night journey, mile after mile, with no sound of wheels before or behind, no carriages to meet, and no inns to stop at; the violence of the wind at last moderated and the storm ceased, but the night still continued very dark; we had to halt again for some time the pony absolutely refusing to

move, he was completely used up with the roughness of the roads and the toilsome hills. Whether we had really again taken a wrong turn and gone miles out of our way over the hills, I never knew; but if the version of Mr. Seyton's coachman concerning the usual route was correct, we must have done so, for few roads in the British Isles could bear any comparison in ruggedness with those we passed over in safaty on that memorable night.

To continue to while away the time, and answer some of my fair companion's inquiries as to my own impressions of her native city, I narrated the adventures of one day and night in Paris, as they follow, the interruption to the relation being frequent, as the night wore on.

WITHOUT any recommendation, I had been fortunate enough to discover and put up at the Hôtel des Etrangers, and perfectly well satisfied with the comfort and attention there to be met with, finished my breakfast in the coffee-room at nine o'clock, and disdaining the assistance of a Commissionaire, set off shortly after to find out for myself the residence of Messieurs Maëss, Schnider et Cie. who had authority to place in my hands a small sum of money.

There was a delicious feeling of novelty in sallying forth for the first time quite alone into the wonderful streets of Paris. The apprentice boy of old in England may have dreamed of the glories of London, half crediting the assertion that its streets were literally 'paved with gold,' but even to this day the heart of the grown man, if he has