turely old, cold, glittering, scornful, suspicious. It was the wreck of a most noble nature. She was married; that is, Mr. Richmond Spendwell was legally pronounced her husband; but her unwed heart was left alone, alone—like an unquiet spirit making its moan in the darkness.

She was a splendid bride. Some envied her, some condemned her, some approved of her worldly prudence; and one quiet old book-keeper, looking out from the window of his chateau en Espagne, murmured, with sad sagacity,

"Once more Venus has married Vulcan."

D

The Cenant of the Old Brown Bouse.

Life and Thought have gone away

Side by side,

Leaving door and windows wide:
Careless tenants they!

All within is dark as night:
In the windows is no light;
And no murmur at the door,
So frequent on its hinge before.
Close the door, the shutters close,

Or through the windows we shall see
The nakedness and vacancy

Of the dark, deserted house.

Come away; no more of mirth

Is here, or merry-making sound.

The house was builded of the earth,
And shall fall again to ground.

TENNYSON.

THE TENANT OF THE OLD BROWN HOUSE.

THE

"Oh! do whate'er thou wilt, I will be silent."

a tenant.

The

HE old brown house on the hill was at last to have A woman was coming to dwell in it. No one in Ryefield had ever seen her. By letter she had made the bargain, and she gave no clew to her fortune or circumstances, save, at the foot of the page, the strong, bold signature, "Hester Wilde." property, which belonged to a distant owner, had been, ever since I could remember, in my grandfather's care. It had not been inhabited for years. There were strange stories about a murder which had once been committed there, though I believe there was no positive proof. Shrieks and groans, it was confidently reported, came forth from its windows at midnight; and strange forms, clad in the costume of long ago years, passed before them in ghostly conference. However this may have been, certain it is that the proprietor, Wilton Eldredge, had not visited it since he came of age; and the last family who inhabited it moved out at midnight, and came, as I have heard my mother say, to our house white with terror.

My grandfather, as in duty bound, had inserted an advertisement in the county paper at the beginning of every quarter, and, naturally anxious for the interests of his client, he was heartily glad to receive an application at length, and acceded to the proffers of Mis