e,
My heart was like a prophet to my heart,
And told me I should love."
_Tennyson_.

"DON'T you consider Fairlegh to be looking very thin and pale, Miss
Saville?" inquired Coleman, when we joined the ladies after dinner,
speaking with an air of such genuine solicitude, that any one not
intimately acquainted with him must have imagined him in earnest. Miss
Saville, who was completely taken in, answered innocently, "Indeed
I have thought Mr. Fairlegh much altered since I had the pleasure of
meeting him before"; ~258~~ then, glancing at my face with a look of
unfeigned interest, which sent the blood bounding rapidly through my
veins, she continued: "You have not been ill, I hope?" I was hastening
to reply in the negative, and to enlighten her as to the real cause of
my pale looks, when Coleman interrupted me by exclaiming:--

"Ah! poor fellow, it is a melancholy affair. In those pale cheeks, that
wasted though still graceful form, and the weak, languid, and unhappy,
but deeply interesting _tout ensemble_, you perceive the sad results
of--am I at liberty to mention it?--of an unfortunate attachment."

"Upon my word, Freddy, you are too bad," exclaimed I half angrily,
though I could scarcely refrain from laughing, for the pathetic
expression of his countenance was perfectly irresistible. "Miss Saville,
I can assure you--let me beg of you to believe, that there is not a word
of truth in what he has stated."

"Wait a moment, you're so dreadfully fast, my dear fellow, you
won't allow a man time to finish what he is saying," remonstrated my
tormentor--"attachment to his studies I was going to add, only you
interrupted me."

"I see I shall have to chastise you before you learn to behave yourself
properly," replied I, shaking my fist at him playfully; "remember you
taught me how to use the gloves at Dr. Mildman's, and I have not quite
forgotten the science even yet."

"Hit a man your own size, you great big monster you," rejoined Coleman,
affecting extreme alarm. "Miss Saville, I look to you to protect me from
his tyranny; ladies always take the part of the weak and oppressed."

"But they do not interfere to shield evil-doers from the punishment due
to their misdemeanours," replied Miss Saville archly.

"There now," grumbled Freddy, "that's always the way; every one turns
against me. I'm a victim, though I have not formed an unfortunate
attachment for--anything or anybody."

"I should like