table. Every word was read over again, his brows
gradually contracting as he proceeded.

"There is some spirit about the girl; more than I had thought. My
going back was a foolish blunder. But the best will have to be made
of it. Not a whisper must come to Mr. Markland. That is a settled
point. But how is the girl to be managed?"

Lyon mused for a long time.

"Dear child!" He now spoke with a tender expression. "I have laid
too heavy a weight on your young heart, and I wish it were in my
power to remove it; but it is not."

He took a pen, as he said this, and commenced writing an answer to
Fanny's letter:--

"DEAREST ONE:--Tell all to your mother; but, in doing so, let it be
clearly in your mind that an eternal separation between us must
follow as a consequence. I do not say this as a threat--ah, no! Nor
are you to understand that I will be offended. No--no--no--nothing
of this. I only speak of what must come as the sure result. The
moment your father learns that I was at Woodbine Lodge, and had an
interview with his daughter, at a time when he thought me far
distant, our business and personal relations must cease. He will
misjudge me from evidence to his mind powerfully conclusive; and I
shall be unable to disabuse him of error, because appearances are
against me. But I put you in entire freedom. Go to your
mother-confide to her every thing; and, if it be possible, get back
the peace of which my coming unhappily robbed you. Think not of any
consequences to me--fatal though they should prove. The wide world
is before me still.

"And now, dear Fanny! If our ways in life must part, let us hold
each other at least in kind remembrance. It will ever grieve me to
think that our meeting occasioned a ripple to disturb the tranquil
surface of your feelings. I could not help loving you--and for that
I am not responsible. Alas! that, in loving, I should bring pain to
the heart of the beloved one.

"But why say more? Why trouble your spirit by revealing the
disturbance of mine? Heaven bless you and keep you, Fanny; and may
your sky be ever bathed in sunshine! I leave my destiny in your
hands, and pray for strength to bear the worst.

Adieu.
L. L."

There was a flitting smile on the lips of the young Englishman, as
he folded and sealed this letter, and a look of assurance on his
face, that little accorded with the words he had just written. Again
he took up his pen and wrote--

"MY DEAR D. C. L.:--Faithful a