nd of the next waltz he asked her if
he might venture to solicit an introduction to her father.

"Oh, certainly," said she. "What a selfish girl I am! this is terribly
dull for him."

The introduction being made, and Rosa being engaged for the next three
dances, Mr. Falcon sat by Mr. Lusignan and entertained him. For this
little piece of apparent self-denial he was paid in various coin:
Lusignan found out he was the son of an old acquaintance, and so the
door of Kent Villa opened to him; meantime, Rosa Lusignan never passed
him, even in the arms of a cavalry officer, without bestowing a glance
of approval and gratitude on him. "What a good-hearted young man!"
thought she. "How kind of him to amuse papa; and now I can stay so much
longer."

Falcon followed up the dance by a call, and was infinitely agreeable:
followed up the call by another, and admired Rosa with so little
disguise that Mr. Lusignan said to her, "I think you have made a
conquest. His father had considerable estates in Essex. I presume he
inherits them."

"Oh, never mind his estates," said Rosa, "he dances like an angel, and
gossips charmingly, and IS so nice."

Christopher Staines pined for this girl in silence: his fine frame got
thinner, his pale cheek paler, as she got rosier and rosier; and how?
Why, by following the very advice she had snubbed him for giving her. At
last, he heard she had been the belle of a ball, and that she had been
seen walking miles from home, and blooming as a Hebe. Then his deep
anxiety ceased, his pride stung him furiously; he began to think of his
own value, and to struggle with all his might against his deep love.
Sometimes he would even inveigh against her, and call her a fickle,
ungrateful girl, capable of no strong passion but vanity. Many a hard
term he applied to her in his sorrowful solitude; but not a word when he
had a hearer. He found it hard to rest: he kept dashing up to London and
back. He plunged furiously into study. He groaned and sighed, and fought
the hard and bitter fight that is too often the lot of the deep that
love the shallow. Strong, but single-hearted, no other lady could
comfort him. He turned from female company, and shunned all for the
fault of one.

The inward contest wore him. He began to look very thin and wan; and all
for a Simpleton!

Mr. Falcon prolonged his stay in the neighborhood, and drove a handsome
dogcart over twice a week to visit Mr. Lusignan.

He used to call on that g