come at once fair to the eye and wholesome to the taste. It is thus
with love. In the wild, sterile heart of Alfred Bernard it had taken
root, and poisoned all his nature; but yet it was the same emotion which
shed a genial influence over the manly heart of Hansford. If it had been
otherwise, there were some as fair, and many far more wealthy, in his
adopted colony, than Virginia Temple. But she was at once adapted to his
interests, his passions, and his intellect. She could aid his vaulting
ambition by sharing with him her wealth; she could control, by the
strength of her character, and the sweetness of her disposition, his own
wild nature; and she could be the instructive and congenial companion of
his intellect. And all this rich treasure might be his but for the
existence, the rivalry of the hated Hansford. Still his ardent nature
led him to hope. With all his heart he would engage in quelling the
rebellion, which he foresaw was about to burst upon the colony; and
then revenge, the sweetest morsel to the jealous mind, was his.
Meantime, he must look the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it;
and curbing his own feelings, must, under pretence of friendship and
interest for a rival, continue to plot his ruin. Alfred Bernard was
equal to the task.

It was with these feelings that he sought Virginia Temple on the eve of
his departure from Windsor Hall. The young girl was seated, with her
lover, on a rude, rustic bench, beneath the large oak where Bernard had,
the evening before, had an interview with the unfortunate Berkenhead. As
he approached, she rose, and with her usual winning frankness of manner,
she extended her hand.

"Come, Mr. Bernard," she said, "I have determined that you and Major
Hansford shall be friends."

"Most willingly, on my part," said the smooth-tongued Bernard. "And I
think I have given the best evidence of my disposition to be so, by
aiding feebly in restoring to Miss Temple an old friend, when she must
now so soon part with her more recent acquaintance."

"I am happy to think," said Hansford, whose candour prevented him from
suppressing entirely the coldness of his manner, "that I am indebted to
Mr. Bernard for any interest he may have taken in my behalf. I hope,
sir, you will now add to the obligation under which I at present rest to
you, by apprising me in what manner you have so greatly obliged me."

"Why, you must be aware," replied Bernard, "that your present freedom
from restra