rden by moonlight, and
seeking by a mode of divination common in Germany to ascertain his
truth, which is by plucking one by one the petals of a flower, saying
alternately, "He loves me, he loves me not;" and then, by the result of
the last-plucked leaf, deciding which fate is accomplished. Cashel first
explained the meaning of the trial, and then taking a rose from one of
the flower vases, he said,--

"Let me see if you can understand my teaching; you have only to say, 'Er
liebt mich,' and, 'Er liebt mich nicht.'"

"But how can I?" said she, with a look of beaming innocence, "if there
be none who--"

"No matter," said Cashel; "besides, is it not possible you could be
loved, and yet never know it? Now for the ordeal."

"Er liebt mich nicht," said Olivia, with a low, silvery voice, as she
plucked the first petal off, and threw it on the floor.

"You begin inauspiciously, and, I must say, unfairly, too," said Cashel.
"The first augury is in favor of love."

"Er liebt mich," said she, tremulously, and the leaf broke in her
fingers. "Ha!" sighed she, "what does that imply? Is it, that he only
loves by half his heart?"

"That cannot be," said Cashel; "it is rather that you treated his
affection harshly."

"Should it not bear a little?--ought it to give way at once?"

"Nor will it," said he, more earnestly, "if you deal but fairly. Come, I
will teach you a still more simple, and yet unerring test."

A heavy sigh from behind the Chinese screen made both the speakers
start; and while Olivia, pale with terror, sank into a chair, Cashel
hastened to see what had caused the alarm.

"Linton, upon my life!" exclaimed he, in a low whisper, as, on tiptoe,
he returned to the place beside her.

"Oh, Mr. Cashel; oh dear, Mr. Cashel--"

"Dearest Olivia--"

"Heigho!" broke in Linton; and Roland and his companion slipped
noiselessly from the room, and, unperceived, mixed with the general
company, who sat in rapt attention while the Dean explained that
painting was nothing more nor less than an optical delusion,--a theory
which seemed to delight Mrs. Kennyfeck in the same proportion that it
puzzled her. Fortunately, the announcement that luncheon was on the
table cut short the dissertation, and the party descended, all more or
less content to make material enjoyments succeed to intellectual ones.

"Well," whispered Miss Kennyfeck to her sister, as they descended the
stairs, "did he?"

An almost inaudible "No" was the repl