eyes, and replied, "I have seen the gentleman before."

There was something in her manner which awakened the curiosity of Sir Pelham, and he replied, "It is pretty evident that he has seen you before. Poor fellow! he seems quite dejected at your coldness; he is a very fine-looking young man-how have you managed to steel your heart against him?"

Oh," replied Ellinor, anxious to remove his suspicions, "he is no admirer of mine, I assure you; perhaps my grave cousin could give you some account of him. She has become very fond of walking into the country of late. But it is not fair to tell tales out of school; so not another word on the subject."

This startling speech opened a new source of anxiety and apprehension to Sir Pelham, who, occupied by alarming apprehensions, heard not one word in ten that his fair companions addressed to him. He now began to fear that Catherine's coldness to him was

occasioned by an attachment to another; yet how could this be? He was constantly at the Lennoxes', yet had never seen, or even heard of this rival. It was evident, therefore, that the family did not approve of his pretensions; Ellinor had not acknowledged him, though it was plain that he was not unknown to her. Was Catherine, then, entangled in a hopeless or clandestine attachment? This indeed would but too well account for her avoidance of his attentions, her pensive air, her solitary walks; and Sir Pelham sighed deeply. But Hope came again to his aid, and whispered, that although this handsome youth might love Catherine, it did not follow that his passion was returned; and as he reflected on the uprightness and openness of Catherine's character, he became more and more convinced that she was incapable of carrying on a system of deliberate treachery and deceit; and, consoled by this belief, he recalled his wandering thoughts, and passed to the order of the day.

The search for a habitation that would please both Mrs Lennox and Ellinor, seemed likely to be as fruitless as Diogenes's attempts to find an honest man. Some were too large, some too small; one suited as to accommodation, but was relinquished on account of the glaring enormity of the western sun; another was declared uninhabit able from being exposed to the east winddear Amy would be frozen to death. A comfortable mansion was next disdained on account of a shabby drawing-room carpet, another for want of a proper wardrobe for Miss Talmash's elegant dresses; a vulgar chest of drawers would never do. Sir Pelham, however, thought otherwise; and, finding the house very commodious, prettily furnished, and, above all, not far from Hope Street, he engaged it for a couple of months; and, pacifying the ladies with a promise of getting a proper wardrobe down from Edinburgh, he saw them home, and bidding them farewell, returned to his quarter-deck walk on the grass plat, there to muse on the perfec

tions of Catherine, and to please himself with the hope that his sister would be the means of procuring him frequent opportunities of pressing his suit with the woman he adored.

The gentleman who had unconsciously imparted so much uneasiness to the mind. of Sir Pelham, was certainly in love, but Catherine was guiltless of having raised the flame. Our new friend was a Gordon by birth, a sailor by profession, and by nature as gay, rash, and frank a youth as ever trod a deck. Beloved for his joyous temper, admired for his bold and daring spirit, no party, for either frolic or fighting, was thought complete without him. The only son of his father, a gentleman of considerable property in a northern county, for the first ten years of his life he had never known what it was to have a wish ungratified. At that period, however, he lost his mother; and his father marrying soon after, and his whole affection being engrossed by new ties, the before idol

ized boy found his halcyon days were over. It does not necessarily follow, that filling the place of a stepmother will make a woman's heart bad, and her disposition cruel; but if they are naturally so, this situation will certainly draw them forth, and poor little Ned Gordon was doomed to experience the truth of the remark. His pretty pony was sold, his rabbits were ousted, and his dove-cot was demolished. His merry pranks were now designated mischievous tricks; and having been one day severely and unjustly punished for an innocent frolic, the boy, glowing with indignation, resolved to leave his home; and tying up a few clothes in a package, which he swung at the end of his stick, he fearlessly threw himself on the world, and commenced his career by entering on board a ship which was about to sail from a neighbouring port.

By the kind interference of Mr Barton, who was brother to Edward's lamented mother, Mr Gordon was prevailed on to exert himself to promote his son's success in the