ms of tolerable intimacy,
"dear,"--a habit that sometimes misled persons as to the degree of
interest he felt in his companions--"what CAN there be in that
pocket-handkerchief to excite tears from a mind and a heart like yours?"

"My mind and heart, Mr. Shoreham, are not as faultless, perhaps, as
your goodness would make them out to be. ENVY is a very natural feeling
for a woman in matters of dress, they say; and, certainly, I am not the
owner of so beautiful a pocket-handkerchief--pardon me, Mr. Shoreham; I
cannot command myself, and must be guilty of the rudeness of leaving
you alone, if----"

Mademoiselle Hennequin uttered no more, but rushed from the room, with
an impetuosity of manner and feeling that I have often had occasion to
remark in young French women. As a matter of course, I was left alone
with Betts Shoreham.

I shall conceal nothing that ought to be told. Betts Shoreham,
notwithstanding her dependent situation, and his own better fortunes,
loved the governess, and the governess loved Betts Shoreham. These were
facts that I discovered at a later day, though I began to suspect the
truth from that moment. Neither, however, knew of the other's passion,
though each hoped as an innocent and youthful love will hope, and each
trembled as each hoped. Nothing explicit had been said that evening;
but much, very much, in the way of sympathy and feeling had been
revealed, and but for the inopportune entrance of Julia and myself, all
might have been told.

CHAPTER XV.

There is no moment in the life of man, when he is so keenly sensitive
on the subject of the perfection of his mistress, as that in which he
completely admits her power. All his jealousy is actively alive to the
smallest shade of fault, although his feelings so much indispose him to
see any blemish. Betts Shoreham felt an unpleasant pang, even--yes, it
amounted to a pang--for in a few moments he would have offered his
hand--and men cannot receive any drawback with indifference at such an
instant--he felt an unpleasant pang, then, as the idea crossed his mind
that Mademoiselle Hennequin could be so violently affected by a feeling
as unworthy as that of envy. He had passed several years abroad, and
had got the common notion about the selfishness of the French, and more
particularly their women, and his prejudices took the alarm. But his
love was much the strongest, and soon looked down the distrust, however
reasonable, under the circumstances, th