ch was equally bestowed among her would-be
admirers. But beyond this all was calm and cold. Her heart had
imperceptibly slipped from her, and was now in the care of another, nor
would she wish it were otherwise. The future was before her and she was
willing to wait.

Let it not be imagined that Arthur Carlton was a lukewarm lover, coldly
prudential, or thinking it would be time enough to marry when he should
have obtained his Captaincy, and careless as to what trying position
Edith might be placed in, surrounded, as he knew her to be, by those who
would willingly wed her at any moment. Far from it. He loved her too
well to ask her to share at present the inconveniences incident to a
camp life, as experienced by the wives of subalterns, not that he
doubted she would yield up without a single regret the gay society and
splendid establishment of Mrs. Barton, and contentedly share with him
his home, be it ever so humble. But the thought of her having to make
any such sacrifice was to him one that could not be entertained for a
moment. He believed he knew her sufficiently well to trust implicitly in
her constancy, and await the happy time when he could in all honour
formally propose for her hand.

About a twelvemonth prior to the outbreak of the great Sepoy mutiny, it
pleased the authorities to change the scene of Mr. Barton's labors from
Chowringee, that Belgravia of Calcutta, to Goolampore, a military
station of some importance in the northwest provinces, or more properly
speaking in the Goozeratte country. This act of the Government, although
particularly objectionable to Mrs. Barton, was exactly what her lord and
master desired. His term of service would shortly come to a close, and
therefore, in his opinion, it became expedient, not only to retrench his
expenses, which he could not do at the gay Capitol, but likewise gather
in a few more of the loaves and fishes of office, which were said to be
found in greater abundance at a distance from the seat of Government,
besides Mr. Barton was in the decline of life, and felt that the harness
of office life did not fit so easily upon him while under the immediate
supervision of the Suddur Aydowlett, as it would do when removed from
its immediate influence. However, be this as it may, he was quite
content with the change, nor was he the only one to whom this change was
a sort of relief. The City of Palaces and its surroundings had become
distasteful to Edith; not that she disli