on, well grounded or not, that another
sees and understands the secret impulses of his dishonourable heart."

"I cannot blame you, or any one else, Mr. Marchdale," said Henry, "that
you did not give utterance to your secret thoughts, but I do wish that
you had done so."

"Nay, dear Henry," replied Mr. Marchdale, "believe me, I have made this
matter a subject of deep thought, and have abundance of reasons why I
ought not to have spoken to you upon the subject."

"Indeed!"

"Indeed I have, and not among the least important is the one, that if I
had acquainted you with my suspicions, you would have found yourself in
the painful position of acting a hypocritical part yourself towards this
Charles Holland, for you must either have kept the secret that he was
suspected, or you must have shewn it to him by your behaviour."

"Well, well. I dare say, Marchdale, you acted for the best. What shall
we do now?"

"Can you doubt?"

"I was thinking of letting Flora at once know the absolute and complete
worthlessness of her lover, so that she could have no difficulty in at
once tearing herself from him by the assistance of the natural pride
which would surely come to her aid, upon finding herself so much
deceived."

"The test may be possible."

"You think so?"

"I do, indeed."

"Here is a letter, which of course remains unopened, addressed to Flora
by Charles Holland. The admiral rather thought it would hurt her
feelings to deliver her such an epistle, but I must confess I am of a
contrary opinion upon that point, and think now the more evidence she
has of the utter worthlessness of him who professed to love her with so
much disinterested affection, the better it will be for her."

"You could not, possibly, Henry, have taken a more sensible view of the
subject."

"I am glad you agree with me."

"No reasonable man could do otherwise, and from what I have seen of
Admiral Bell, I am sure, upon reflection, he will be of the same
opinion."

"Then it shall be so. The first shock to poor Flora may be severe, but
we shall then have the consolation of knowing that it is the only one,
and that in knowing the very worst, she has no more on that score to
apprehend. Alas, alas! the hand of misfortune now appears to have
pressed heavily upon us indeed. What in the name of all that is unlucky
and disastrous, will happen next, I wonder?"

"What can happen?" said Marchdale; "I think you have now got rid of the
greatest evil of al