to call her handsome, and yet she is; but 'tis a face one loves to look at, though it strikes less at first-she's very fair, long, golden hair." "Ah! a true English blonde! I shall prefer the other.”

"Then we have a young Scotch lassie; a Dian for stature, and a Hebe for bloom."

"And you, Julian, with this galaxy of beauty, are you quite heart-whole ?"

"Yes, one counteracts the other. When I am all but caught by Augusta's beauty, Ellen's sweet voice breaks upon my ear, and while I listen, Annie, the young Scotch girl, looks at me with a smile, which, full of unsophisticated interest, shows me the whitest teeth that ever glistened through the coral lips of a highland lassie."

"You said, I think, your cousins are not wealthy. I do so hate your purse-proud English girls! suspecting every man who pays them a compliment of a design upon their fortunes."

No, they are not rich, but my father will give each a handsome portion when she marries."

"So much the worse; for what you English call a handsome fortune, we should pronounce immense. I hope that knowledge does not spoil your cousins."

"I doubt their knowing it; but Annie Maxwell has not one sou. So, if beauty to please you must be penniless, let me recommend her."

"There is something so sweet and feminine in woman's dependence upon man," said Alphonse; "and the consciousness of wealth so destroys that feeling, that an heiress, had she every charm and grace under Heaven, would find it hard to win the heart of Alphonse De Villeneuve."

Alphonse, you are a noble fellow!" said Julian; "come, my cousins are no heiresses; and as for the pride of wealth, they pass half the year at their father's rectory, dressed as young country girls should be, making broth and red cloaks for the poor. And they have no idea of the value of money, beyond the purchase of a new bonnet, or some such finery."

"So much the better, Julian. I hear my

new novel and new drama font fureur, as we say at Paris. I hope ere long to repay you all you have so kindly lent.............in the mean time..............some unforeseen expenses ...Zelie's illness.....

"Speak not of it! dearest Alphonse, here! is this enough? if not

"Oh! that is ample. I am sure you must know, Julian, I would do the same by you. It is the sweet privilege of friendship to......"

Before the speech was concluded, they reached Mr. Lindsay's house.

CHAPTER X.

Conquest is the pride of woman:
Let her slaves be what they may."

Old Song.

Augusta was very anxious to shine in the eyes of the Count De Villeneuve, for she knew his influence with Julian. She wished, too, to make some impression on a man, handsome, noble, and a poet. She was seated at her harp when he entered, and the grace of her form and beauty of her person were strikingly displayed. Although she had been watching for an hour, she affected a pretty surprise at his approach, and said, as she extended her hand,

"I cannot greet the Count De Villeneuve as a stranger, since his works have made me

intimate with his mind, and my cousin's praises with his heart."

“I had rather,” replied the Count, “be judged by my heart than by my mind; the one has often erred, but the other never."

He smiled and bowed, and Augusta fancied she read in his eyes the power of her charms. But a graceful and beautiful coquette was nothing new to De Villeneuve. Such forms, perhaps not quite so perfect, and such faces, or, if not faces so lovely, at least expressions as arch and winning, were familiar to him in every Parisian salon. It was on Ellen his eyes rested with the delight with which Parisian eyes dwell upon something new-on Ellen, who had taken no pains to captivate him, and had not even thought it worth her while to change the morning dress, her still lingering indisposition excused.

She was lying on a couch, attentively reading so much so that she did not hear the friends announced. De Villeneuve's rapid glance recognised the book, a romantic tale of his, which he had given to Julian. Al