Edith informed her she would find in a better state than on her former visit; for she had ordered a couple of female servants to brush the books, and dust the furniture. Rosalind took a volume, and sat down with it on one of the window-seats; Dame Edith stood at some little distance from her, with one of her favourite authors in her hand. Rosalind had frequently requested the good Dame, when with her, to sit without restraint, which she had regularly refused to do; once more Rosalind desired her to take a seat, and Dame Edith replied-" Since you are so good as to permit me, my Lady, I will sit down to-day, and not be ashamed of my familiarity either; for to-day I think I have gained something like a right to sit in the presence of any one, saving your Ladyship's presence." She placed herself in a chair, and then continued-" And that right, my Lady, is, that I am this VOL. II. I day day one hundred years old: till that time I think it a servant's duty to stand in the presence of their superiors; at that age, I think they may have an excuse for wanting a seat, wherever they are." 1 Rosalind paid the Dame some compliments on her hundredth birth-day, which proved gratifying to her feelings; and she told Rosalind that she had a request to make of her, which was, that she would allow her to be absent from her apartment, for a few hours, in the afternoon, as she had long promised a treat to her fellow servants on her birthday; and that it would hurt her to break her word to them. Rosalind desired her to use her time as her own, assuring her that the library was capable of affording her sufficient amusement for that day, and many more, should she so long continue an inmate of Rockmount Castle. The volume which Rosalind had first taken up, was one with the contents of which she was well acquainted, and she shortly replaced it, desiring to exchange it for one which she had not read before. As her eye roved along the shelves, a small volume, which was laid across the tops of the other books, caught her attention: she took it down, and, turning to its title-page, found written on it the following sentence, in French : "Let those who think their own lot the most unfortunate, their own sufferings the most acute, read the following pages; and learn that a still greater wretch than themselves has existed-even she who wrote these words.' Rosalind turned the leaf, and on the other side she found written "The History of Eloise de la Valois, unlawfully made the wife of Lord Rufus de Madginecourt." The book almost fell from her hands; curiosity and surprise shook her every nerve: she turned towards Dame Edith, to ascertain whether she had noticed her agitation, but her eyes were fixed on her book. Rosalind instantly replaced the volume on the shelf, resolving to use the time of the Dame's absence in the afternoon for its perusal, and rejoicing that such an opportunity would be given her. "Has your Ladyship done reading?" asked Edith, as Rosalind walked away from the spot where she had found the manuscript. "For the present I think I have,' replied Rosalind. "And so have I, Lady," returned the Dame: "when I come to a grand climax, I always close my book; and I am at such a one now; I have just left Juno on her visit to Jupiter, when she was girt with the cestus of Venus; and there I shall leave her, till I have made the cakes for my treat." "Can you read French?" asked Ro salind. "Heaven |