in our endeavours to bring him out a little.'

'Lord Montfort needs no prompting, Count. We are all alike interested in
Captain Armine's welfare.'

'I wish you would try to find out what is on his mind,' said Count
Mirabel. 'After all, men cannot do much. It requires a more delicate
sympathy than we can offer. And yet I would do anything for the _cher_
Armine, because I really love him the same as if he were my brother.'

'He is fortunate in such a friend.'

'Ah! he does not think so any longer,' said the Count; 'he avoids me, he
will not tell me anything. _Chere_ Miss Temple, this business haunts
me; it will end badly. I know that dear Armine so well; no one knows him
like me; his feelings are too strong: no one has such strong feelings.
Now, of all my friends, he is the only man I know who is capable of
committing suicide.'

'God forbid!' said Henrietta Temple, with emphasis.

'I rise every morning with apprehension,' said the Count. 'When I call
upon him every day, I tremble as I approach his hotel.'

'Are you indeed serious?'

'Most serious. I knew a man once in the same state. It was the Duc de
Crillon. He was my brother friend, like this dear Armine. We were at
college together; we were in the same regiment. He was exactly like
this dear Armine, young, beautiful, and clever, but with a heart all
tenderness, terrible passions. He loved Mademoiselle de Guise, my
cousin, the most beautiful girl in France. Pardon me, but I told Armine
yesterday that you reminded me of her. They were going to be married;
but there was a _contretemps_. He sent for me; I was in Spain; she
married the Viscount de Marsagnac. Until that dreadful morning he
remained exactly in the same state as our dear Armine. Never was a
melancholy so profound. After the ceremony he shot himself.'

'No, no!' exclaimed Miss Temple in great agitation.

'Perfectly true. It is the terrible recollection of that dreadful
adventure that overcomes me when I see our dear friend here, because I
feel it must be love. I was in hopes it was his cousin. But it is
not so; it must be something that has happened abroad. Love alone can
account for it. It is not his debts that would so overpower him. What
are his debts? I would pay them myself. It is a heart-rending business.
I am going to him. How I tremble!' 'How good you are!' exclaimed Miss
Temple, with streaming eyes. 'I shall ever be grateful; I mean, we all
must. Oh! do go to him, go to him directly; tell