ve a great mind to declare I will not enter your party. How would
you like that?"

"I am not in the least alarmed, brother dear, that that threat will be
carried into execution, for the very good and sufficient reason, that
you would thus punish yourself worse than me. But if I stand talking any
longer, my invitations will not be written in season, so I must defer
our very edifying conversation till another opportunity,"--and, humming
a favorite air, the lively girl danced gaily out of the room.

Arthur, left alone, stood for a moment musing, half amused and half
vexed with his sister. He scarcely had ever mentioned Agnes's name, and
yet, he could not conceal from himself that he felt an interest in her,
beyond that he had ever experienced for any other woman.

"Absence is love's food," so poets say, and Arthur proved the truth of
the observation. While spending his college vacations at home, he had
often met with her before; and, even then, she charmed him as no other
woman ever did, but when report told of her engagement to Edward
Lincoln, honor forbade him any longer to cherish hopes which he had
allowed to tint with their bright hues his dreams of the future.

He had shunned her society as far as possible from that time while at
home, and striven, while at college and during his year's sojourn in
foreign lands, to banish her image from his remembrance, and vainly
imagined he had succeeded; but the flame, though it may be dimmed, was
by no means quenched, and was ready, at the slightest encouragement, to
burst forth with renewed vigor.

But we have digressed. Mrs. Bernard's drawing-room presented a picture
of comfort and elegance as Agnes entered it on the evening of Ella's
party. A few select friends were gathered there, all apparently
perfectly at home, and amusing themselves without restraint, according
to their diversified inclinations. Some were examining the choice
engravings that lay scattered on the tables; others were standing in a
group round the piano, admiring some new music which Ella had that day
received; while the elder members of the party were gathered round the
fireside, enjoying its cheerful blaze, and merrily discussing the events
of the season. Innocent amusement seemed to be the rule of the evening,
and Agnes, though she had left home unusually depressed in spirits, felt
a glow of pleasure thrill through her heart as she contemplated the
scene, and responded with her usual sweet, though, la