"Do you think so meanly of me, as to imagine that a few days intercourse with a stranger, totally unknown and unrecommended, could inspire " "My dear Matilda," interrupted Miss O'Reilly, “far be it from me to impute to Mr. Montfort presumptuous designs, or to accuse you of undue encouragement; still do not start at the voice of a friend, a few years older and more experienced than yourself. Hitherto you have been happy-placed safe from the reach of danger, by your rank, your fortune, and the counsels of a fond and watchful mother; that you may still continue so, I only repeat to you the caution you so often gave me last summer, in the course of our perilous, though delightful, rambles among the mountains of Wicklow-Take care!” CHAP CHAPTER III. Glittering in beauty and in innocence, SOUTHEY'S Roderic. WHILE such was the prudent advice of Miss O'Reilly, what were the reflections of Montfort, the unconscious object of it? The occurrences of the last few weeks had been highly favourable to his designs and wishes; but now he had advanced to a certain point, he was at a loss how to proceed." At length I revisit you," he cried, “Ireland! land of my nativity-land to which every wish of this beating heart so long has pointed! But how do I visit you?-how long to remain undiscovered and and unknown? Will the distressing thought eternally pursue me, of what I ought to be, and what I am?" While these emotions passed rapidly through the mind of Montfort, other interests occupied sir Charles and lady Louisa Southwell." When are we to send for Geraldine?" the baronet demanded. "Her education must, by this time, be pretty nearly finished." 66 Certainly," answered her ladyship; “and had not circumstances occurred to prevent me, it was my intention, two years ago, to have withdrawn her from Mrs. Melmoth's. Last winter I hoped to have seen Matilda brilliantly established, and then” Oh, doubtless the pretensions of my poor little Geraldine ought not to clash with those of Miss Southwell-I comprehend that maternal policy." "There was no occasion for it," replied lady Louisa, angrily colouring, "if Ma tilda had been less difficult in her choice." "A la "A la bonne heure, lady Louisa-you were of opinion that proper pride, as you term it, had not been sufficiently instilled in Miss Southwell's mind, and have therefore, of late, infused rather more than the necessary quantity of that ingredient. If that pride should happen to retard her establishment in life, we must forgive the gods.' Doubtless, on meeting with her equal, it will yield to a more interesting sentiment;" and sir Charles bowed himself out of the room, humming, Si le Phénix échappe au pouvoir de tes feux, "Unfeeling man!" cried lady Louisa Southwell, bursting into a fit of tears she had with difficulty restrained in his presence; "it is thus that, under a mask of foreign levity, you conceal your indifference for the wife, the daughter you have injured yet are you not this moment demanding * Belleveau. demanding a new sacrifice of me? How many fruitless ones have I already made! Was it not to shield your family honour -to spare your feelings (you, who have no consideration for the anguish of mine), that I originally consented to receive and foster one who may indeed prove a rival to my own daughter-to protect and countenance the child of But away with idle retrospections! The sacrifice to be acceptable must be complete;" and, in obedience to sir Charles's intimated wish, lady Louisa prepared to recall, from the banishment of an English finishing 66 school," Miss Geraldine Southwell. Now, reader, I fancy you feel a presentiment, that in these magical letters is contained the name of my real heroine, and that Matilda Southwell has only figured on the stage as a prelude to the introduction of the principal personage. Matilda is too uninformed and too heartless to be the heroine. For though wealth, rank, and beauty, are sufficient to com mand |