strength in the lines of the
lovely mouth, those rosy, curved lips, parting as if to say, "Be of good
courage! the battle may be sore; but victory comes at length. Trust, and
be not afraid!"

Then tenderly and reverently Griselda unfolded the yellow paper, to
which a ring was fastened with many clumsy stitches of silk, and read
the faint characters of the few lines which were traced there.

"I send you back the ring, as the tie between us is broken, Patrick.
Keep it for our child; she is in safety at Longueville Park. Do not
molest her; leave her to a better home than _you_ can give her. You took
her there by my request; leave her there. Before you read this I shall
be no longer on earth; but I have forgiven you, dear, as I hope to be
forgiven. Ours has been the wrong. Oh, do not let the child suffer!
Leave her in the place where I was born and bred, and fulfil your vow,
never, never to do aught which may turn her uncle's heart against her.
It is my last request--my last hope! Adieu, Patrick!"

These words were so blurred that they were illegible; and Griselda sunk
on her knees by the chair, and the tears, so long frozen, poured forth
in a flood till her full heart was relieved.

Graves, coming in an hour later, found her with her fair head bowed on
her arms, asleep. Youth had triumphed over sorrow of heart, and sleep
had come, as it does come, with gentle power to blot out for a time the
sorrows of the young. Graves's eyes filled with tears as she looked at
her, and, taking a quilted cover from the bed, she threw it over her,
putting a pillow under her head, and murmuring:

"Alas, poor dear! I fear the worst for her is _not_ over. May God help
her! for man's help is vain. I can only pray for her. I dare not wake
her--not yet--not yet!"

CHAPTER XIV.

BRAWLS.

Leslie Travers had received an answer from David when he called at North
Parade that day, which had puzzled him not a little.

"Miss Mainwaring could not receive any visitor," David was commissioned
to say.

"Was Miss Mainwaring ill?" Leslie asked.

"No, not that I know of, sir; but these are my orders."

Surely there was something behind David's calm exterior, and Leslie
turned away dissatisfied.

"She will be at the Assembly to-night," he thought. "I must possess my
soul in patience till then."

So he dressed, and went to the Assembly Room, arriving just as Lady
Betty stepped out of her chair, in a new primrose-coloured sacque and
sea-