Lucie loitering among a tuft of trees, which grow near the
water's edge, at a short distance from her path. Believing she had come
out to seek her, Mad. la Tour approached the spot where she stood; but
Lucie's attention was wholly engaged by a light boat which had just
pushed from the shore, and rapidly neared the vessel of Arthur Stanhope,
which lay at anchor below the fort. She could not identify the only
person which it contained, but a suspicion that it was Stanhope,
instantly crossed her mind. Suppressing her vexation, Mad. la Tour
addressed Lucie;--she started, and a crimson glow suffused her face, as
she looked up and met the eyes of her aunt, fixed inquiringly on her.

"You are abroad at an unusual hour this evening, Lucie," said Mad. de la
Tour, without appearing to notice her confusion.

"Yes, later than I was aware," she answered, with some hesitation; "I
have been to Annette's cottage, and was accidentally detained on my
return."

"Accidentally!" repeated Mad. de la Tour, with a look which again
crimsoned the cheek of Lucie; "you were not detained by any ill tidings,
I trust, though your tearful eyes betray emotions, which, you know, I
love you too well to witness, without a wish to learn the cause."

"How can you ask the cause, dear aunt, when we have just parted from so
many friends, whose absence, and probable danger, cannot but leave us
anxious and dejected!"

"You were not wont to indulge a gloomy or anxious spirit, Lucie; and why
should you _now_ yield to it? Nay, but an hour or two since, you parted
with apparent composure from all; and what has since happened to
occasion this regret? and why should you conceal it from me, who have so
long been your friend and confidant?"

"From _you_, dear aunt, I would conceal nothing; you have a right to
know every thought and wish of my heart; but"--

"But what?" asked Mad. la Tour, as she hesitated; "answer me one
question, Lucie; has not Mr. Stanhope but just now quitted you?"

"He has," said Lucie, deeply blushing, though her ingenuous countenance
told that she was relieved from a painful reserve; "and now all is known
to you,--all,--and more, perhaps, than I ought, at present, to have
revealed."

"More, far more, than you ought ever to have had it in your power to
reveal!" said Mad. de la Tour, in an accent of displeasure; "and it is
for this stranger that you have slighted the wishes of your natural
guardians,--that you have rejected the love of on