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have held out longer is uncertain, but loyalty eventually enlisted him, and he came forward in favour of Lord Monteville. It was whispered that some pressing debts were unexpectedly discharged that morning, but this we assert is sheer scandal, for we have heard himself declare that his honesty was incorruptible. It is however certain, that his influence decided the election, and Lord Monteville was returned.

Never had Henry O'Hara before been exposed to the fascinations of peerless beauty. Between his mother and Lady Loftus a strong friendship and strict intimacy had existed; he had therefore necessarily been the playfellow of Lord Monteville and his sister; and when his lordship was sent to Eton, and afterwards to Oxford, Lady Constantia became his favourite companion. But his mother's death snapped the tie which had hitherto united the families of Loftus-Hall and Castle Carra, and he was removed to the University at that critical period, when puerility was passed over, and when the sweet child he had so long loved as a sister,

was ripening into loveliness and womanhood. His residence in Dublin had introduced him but little to the world; his father never joined the gayer of either sex, and of course Henry had no more general communion with female society, than if he had been still shut up in the gloom of his retired home. Nor was his visit to France calculated to supply the defects of early education and secluded life. The con vulsion of the Revolution had then destroyed the established order of things; and, left to his own discretion, the military turn, so peculiar to his family, induced him to leave Paris for the Bormida, and follow the standard of the youth. ful hero who was leading the Republicans to victory. At Millesimo, Lodi, and Castiglione, he fought with Buonaparte as a volunteer, and continued serving with the armies of the Republic until family affairs recalled him to his native land.

Such was Henry O'Hara-no man knew less of woman the circumstances of his earlier years had debarred him from female society; manhood came, and still he had not felt the

witchery of the softer sex. Day after day now witnessed a ripening attachment-retirement fostered the growing passion; and a heart, hitherto untouched by "woman's love," was offered with enthusiastic devotion at the shrine of his fascinating mistress.

The woman who, with unbiassed affections, could coldly receive the homage of O'Hara must indeed have been insensible. Emily listened to his avowal of a first and faithful passion-she heard the ardent Irishman speak of emotions never known till now, and confessed that her feelings were not foreign to his own, and that her heart beat in unison with his. "Twilight grey" concealed the blush which burned on her cheek,

"As lips met hers, and touched and parted;"

and circling arms strained her to a breast, which before that rapturous hour had never felt the maddening throb of woman's.

April set in with all its inconstancy of weather; frequent and heavy showers had fallen during the day, but an evening of peculiar loveliness invited Miss De Clifford to walk in the pleasure-grounds. No visiter had dined

that day at the castle, and soon after the ladies had left the dining-room, a packet was delivered to Major O'Hara, which caused him to retire to the library. The Doctor had commenced a diffuse harangue on a disputed reading of Euripides, but Henry took the earliest opportunity of retreating, and left the Doctor and the Greek to entertain each other. That instinct which leads a lover to his mistress, soon placed him at Emily's side; all around them breathed calmness and repose-the rich green of shrub and forest-tree, refreshed by the alternate shower and sunshine of the morning, glistened in the red beams of a brilliant sun, now sinking in the distant waters of the lake in cloudless majesty. A few labourers loitered beyond their usual hour, engaged in rolling the walks, and O'Hara and his fair companion struck into a retired path, which led by the side of a mountain rivulet to Glandullogh. No spot could be more romantic than that which they had selected. The mountain stream, generally shallow and scanty, increased by the heavy rain of the morning, tumbled its volume of water over rock and precipice, foaming like mortal

passion, and, like it, its own violence hastening its exhaustion. Lofty pines and full-grown oaks shaded the dell, while holly and mountain ash, intermixed with luxuriant hazels, occasionally overhung the narrow stream, and concealed it beneath their leafy canopy. No, sound but the rushing waters, broken now and then by the whistle of the startled blackbird, disturbed the silence of the glen. The peasant's fears kept him at a distance, and the thrush and wood-pigeon here nestled in security, terror preventing the timid boy from traversing the haunted valley. The hour-the place, harmonized with the feelings of those who visited it-and Henry spoke with rapture of hours of future happiness. With vivid colouring he painted scenes of visionary bliss, while all of mortal trouble and disquietude was banished from the glowing picture.

"Yes," cried the enthusiast; "sweet Emily, we will often revisit this spot; and while nature changes its varying hue, our constant love will contrast with its mutability. Spring shall restore its desolated verdure, summer smile upon

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