No," said Hervey; "but he mentioned her name.

I fear it is very far off my prospect of seeing her. It will be long, very long, before I can even promise myself the hope of being in a position to marry."

"Well," said Sharman, "do not be down-hearted-you will soon pass your examination; you may have money enough to propose to any girl."

"Then I must study very hard," said Hervey; "for the Calcutta examination is a very difficult one; but nothing is to be got in this world without trouble."

"Except," said Sleeman, a woman's affections; for the easier you take them the sooner you'll find them yield to you."

Hervey said, "The civilian has asked me to his house at Chowringhee; but, under the circumstances, I do not think I shall trouble him much.'

"These civilians," said Sleeman, "are like princes of all the land-they live in mighty state; but, for my part, I think they are so much tied up with their numerous duties, that I should not at all like their line of life."

"No," said Hervey, "you would not have much leisure time for knocking the balls about; but, I wonder, how the man manage to leave his work up the country, and come down this way to the Presidency. That was what I thought of often, when he was here; but, of course, I did not ask him the question."

"Well," said Sharman, "perhaps he is doing duty for some other man who is at home on leave, and has asked him to come and do it temporarily until his successor arrives. If such be approved of by Government, it is a case that often occurs; but I, for one, am surprised at any man wishing to come to Calcutta. It is all very well for the Calcutta merchants, who are, as we all know, realising no end of wealth; but to sit all day under a punkah in Calcutta, and have only the few minutes of fresh air, which a morning's or an evening's drive on the course gives you, is what to me no amount of coin would make tolerable."

A few days after this conversation, there was a mail in from England, and Hervey got a letter from his father, which told him, among other things, that Eliza Wilson was going in company with another lady who was about to rejoin her husband in India-out to Calcutta; that report said that she was about to be married to Mr. Sharman. "But," said Captain Hervey, "one thing is certain, that she is to sail in September.'

"Oh!" said Clarence Hervey, when he had read thus far. 'She is now on her voyage - this is news indeed! From this man's appearance at Calcutta now, it seems as if the last part of the news were true."

Visit to the Isle of Amsterdam.

ERCANT

W YORK

As usual with him he told what he thought to Sleeman. When the latter heard him out, he said,

I tell you what you must do; never say a syllable of your
tions to this civilian, or yet to any one else; he lives here Tike a
man who is monarch of all he surveys.
His home is in great

state, and he is quite sure that all is plain before him; he has no
doubt of the business. Of course, he did not think it worth while

to tell you of his plans; but that makes it quite justifiable for you to have your own. When you hear of her arrival go straight to the vessel, plead your cause before her, and if you are refused you are refused; but there is nothing like going straight to the mark. 'Faint heart never won fair lady.'

"It will be fully two months," said Hervey, "before she can arrive at Calcutta, so I shall have some time to think about it I know that she did say that she would have no one else but me; but there is no saying what changes time can effect, I have heard that her mother has made a second marriage, and perhaps her home is not a happy one."

"Women," said Sharman, "are such slaves that they dare not do what they feel inclined to do. Perhaps it is all the better that it should be so. They are also very cruel to one another. There are many cases like Lady Ashton and her daughter, in the bride of Lammermoor."

Mrs. Markham was a cousin of Mr. Dowling, who had lately left her husband in India. She had resided out there with him ten years. They had no children. In her youth she had been a belle; but to her India, so favourable for the accumulation of wealth, was fatal to the bloom of beauty, and when she arrived in England, although with as much aptitude for flirtation as ever she had at the time of her marriage, or, indeed, at any time, yet she found her admirers failing off, and for the first time began to doubt her powers of attraction. But the doctors had prescribed a visit to En land, and having almost an unlimited supply of wealth she not only took the voyage, but, after staying in England some time, indulged herself in travelling about to the different places of general resort on the Continent. Such places are now, and were then also, a sort of Elysium on earth to single men and to admired belles, and even to travellers of a philosophic turn of mind are not without their charms. But to middle-aged ladies, without their natural protectors, they all become weary. However, she found herself quite restored to health previous to her second return to England. She then began to have thoughts of rejoining her lord and master in their home in the east. Mr. Dowling heard of her intention to return, and told his wife of it. This happened some

little time before Mrs. Dowling wrote the last letter to Mr. Shar

man. They planned together the possibility of inducing Eliza to go out to India in company with Mrs. Markham. It appeared to Mrs. Dowling that it might be easily managed. She said one day to her daughter, "You know, now, Eliza, how often I have told you of the very great affection which Mr. Sharman expresses in his letters to me, when he speaks of you and how very much I do hope you may respond to it. It appears to me now that there is really no objection on your part."

Eliza said, "But I have often said that I thought I could never realise any feeling of love for him, and I scarcely think that I ought to accept his offer merely out of gratitude.

"Well," said Mrs. Dowling, "there is a lady, a cousin of George's, who is going back to Calcutta soon; she is an exceedingly kind person. She has not been in England lately, but has just now returned from her travels on the Continent. She will come, I hope soon, on a visit to us, for I have agreed with George to ask her. She will tell you plenty about India, and I will not press the matter further now.

When Eliza heard her mother speak thus she did not say any. thing further to her, but she shortly afterwards went to her room and began debating the matter to herself. She began to perceive that it would be in vain to combat the wishes of her parents; she felt that her destiny was, as it were, sealed that she should have to go; she even dreaded to stay. The manners, the character, the disposition of her step-father were detestable to her. When a girl takes a fancy, be it right or wrong, every little trifle, light as air, is turned and constrained into a corroboration of the said fancy; but she pondered long on her prospects. She dwelt very often on her thoughts of young Hervey, though it was a dream of the wildest kind to promise herself the hope of being united to him. Still, her native tact led her to suppose that there was something in their last hour of parting which was so heartfelt that he would be true to her. She said to herself, "If this lady were actually to invite me to go out with her, and I was to stipulate with my mother that, when there, I should do as I liked, perhaps the project might be tolerable; but who knows what sort of person she may be? I feel very wretched." She thought of her hopes and fears; she fell into a fit of musing. She wept, but knew that she had no mother who would dry her tears, no female lips to breathe responsive sighs to her, none of the endearment which girlhood delights in, no one who could say

"Terge il pianto, giovinetta,

Dalle guancia scolorita."

But the sequel of the brown study was that she should judge of the lady for herself, and if she was at all tolerable she would consent

to accompany her. "After all," she said to herself, "what can I do? My mother has just had a fine boy, and she thinks from morning till night of nothing but him. I do really believe she dislikes the sight of me. My step-father I never could like; he knows it. I could not assume the semblance of affection to him. His soul is wholly given to gain. We could not mingle one cordial feeling."

Mrs. Dowling did not long delay in sending the invitation to the Indian lady; and Mrs. Markham, who was staying in London, had not then the slightest objection to go down on a visit to the country, now that the autumn was beginning to set in, and London was hot, dusty, and of ill-odour, and the carriages decreasing in number, and beginning to leave the Park for other me localities; and the lordly houses in the West-end, one by one, becoming deserted, and the hotels less crowded with fashionables,

CANTILE

and abandoned to become the haunts of inveterate habitues of RY

confirmed bachelors; and the young ladies longing to how
their sea-side costume would look, and the men of business thinkingK.
more of Margate and Switzerland than the City and the Stock
Exchange. And the legislators of the nation were tired at last of
attacks, retorts, recriminations, and philippics against each other,
and the rulers of the nation were rejoicing in more balmy and less
smcky atmospheres than Buckingham Palace or St. James's; and
even the labouring classes and artisans were hailing the time that had
come round for taking their holidays; and though the City's hum
still reigned in the queen of cities, and it still had its concourse, as
it will ever have, until the time that precedes the advent of the
much-talked-of New Zealander-yet, the waning crowds had lost
their swelling immensity, and the streets, denuded of their grandest
equipages, were only traversed by the vehicles whose inmates were
intent on business. So Mrs. Markham, whose whole being's end
and aim was amusing herself, was rather glad to get Mrs.
Dowling's invitation, and went two or three day's afterwards
according to appointment to Woodville Cottage.

It would be a very difficult matter to say why vacant-minded people, who are rich, and even well-educated, but without the resources afforded by mental culture, or, the best of all for soothing the temperament, the peace which accompanies a thorough conviction of the truth of religion, are those who seem to enjoy life less than any others. Does not every day's experience show this? Such persons go to musical parties, to operas, to concerts, with the object of showing their own dresses, and seeing how others are dressed; they have not even the mind to enjoy themselves, but stroll through the pictures of the Royal Academy, or the variety of a grand exhibition with the listless ennui that they show

when driving in the Park, and seem to think it a horror to seem pleased or exhibit emotion on any occasion. Such persons, though the envy of many who are unblest with their means of enjoyment, are, in point of fact, in a condition that is wholly incurable.

Mrs. Markham had gone the round of all the scenes of amusement, both abroad and at home, and when she found herself in a somewhat secluded country place, she was new to the situation, and felt it a sort of charm to listen to the remarks and the conver. sation of little Eliza, as she called her.

Mrs. Dowling had no soul for anything but the baby boy; and as Mrs. Markham was one of those who, the ladies say, did not understand children, she was left very much to the society of Miss Wilson. She soon saw that this amiable and charming girl was, as it were, lost in the house of which she ought to have been the ruling genius. She was thoughtful, kind, intellectual, and, so far as music went, accomplished. Mrs. Markham chattered about the different places she had just left, and described her sensations in flying from one scene of gaiety to another in Paris; in commenting on the grandeur of scenery in Switzerland; in driving from one gallery to another to see the pictures, and in viewing the statues, churches, palaces, works of art, studios, museums, ancient sites, buildings, ruins, and innumerable sights to be seen in Italy; in visiting the different resorts of the rich and gay throughout Germany: the crowds, the charms of life, and dissipations of gambling at Baden-Baden, Homburg, and elsewhere. Mrs. Markham liked to talk, and Eliza really did not dislike to listen.

The pungent remark which Rochefoucauld makes with regard to few men being good listeners-even the best listeners being barely patient to the speaker, and watching, always, an opportunity of bringing in their opinion, is much more applicable to men than women; for many of the latter are models of patience, and hearken most diligently; but, indeed, in this case, Eliza was very much interested, and, besides, she felt half inclined to cultivate this Mrs. Markham; but, gradually, as Mrs. Markham got to be accustomed to the laughing blue eyes, the soft winning voice, the intelligent sinile, which welcomed her recitals, she began to love the being who responded so sweetly to her. She became a new source of joy to her; she had become blase of most other sorts; and she had not as yet given herself up wholly to scandal. Compassion, also, the offspring partly of pride, and partly that sort of good nature which few ladies are devoid of, pleaded strongly in favour of the charming girl. The charm of the house, in her eyes, was the society of this girl.

Mr. Dowling was as civil to his cousin as he could possibly be;