eeding day arrived, from Paris, in London; where, hearing that he was at Z. she had, in defiance of former fatigue, travelled all night, for the purpose of reaching Springcourt in time to join her grace's party to the ball, where she should once more have the transporting happiness of beholding him—her first, her only love!"

And thus did the insidious siren conti nue to twine round the susceptible feelings of Fitzroy, until the supper-rooms were thrown open for the reception of the eager guests: then it was Fitzroy seemed to awaken from his trance of infatuation, and recollected his duties to these guests. Into the supper-room he hastily led lady Ender. field: but vain was every attempt he made to gain the ball-room; he could not stem the opposing torrent; and, at length, was compelled to seat himself by her ladyship at one of the tables.

Chance favouring lady Gaythorn and lord Francis Loraine, they were carried by the resistless crowd to the very table where Fitzroy had been driven to; and they got seats exactly opposite to him and his fair be sieger.

From the supper which lady Enderfield

ate, no one could have been led to suspect that which she herself had declared, "her being deeply in love;" nor did she omit a more than feminine portion of wine: so that, at length, between the exhilaration from the champaign, and joy of her being likely to succeed in her project of becoming a duchess, her natural great spirits were elevated to that critical pitch, where vivacity, wandering from its chastened bounds, but narrowly escapes ebulliating into levity. Her eyes and wit now sparkled like the champaign that inspired her: innumerable were her lively sallies, and the bon-mots she uttered; and every one at the table, except her vis-à-vis neighbours, deriving much entertainment from her wit.

At length, the patience of lady Gaythorn was quite exhausted, and she resolved upon instant retaliation, by calling off the attention of every one from her ci-devant friend to herself. The ruby lips of lady Enderfield just opened to utter something, which her attentive auditors, from the arch smile that was its intended prelude, expected to be even unusually witty, when lady Gaythorn most critically preceded her in sound, by uttering an audible yawn. The jaws of

lady Enderfield were instantly seized with an involuntary inclination to sympathize; but quickly she closed her but just parted lips, and felt, at that moment, unequal to speaking her bon-mot with the spirit it required. She had now recourse to her enlivening auxiliary; and, after gulfing down a sparkling glass, she found a quickly-circulating renovation of her lively faculties, and dashed out her wit with redoubled spirit: but it was in the moment when lady Gaythorn had composedly leaned her head back against the wainscot, and had set her eyes in a closing position, with such an overpowering expression of drowsiness, that an instantaneous infection operated, as if guided by magic; and the sally of wit was received with a half-suppressed, but universal, involuntary yawn.

The highly-mortified lady Enderfield, finding her spell for charming all was dissolved, now consoled herself with renewing her assault and lures for the retaking Fitzroy's heart. Her obedient eyes now ceased to sparkle, and melted into all-bewitching tenderness; and, to give pathos to her lovefraught accents, she attempted to reclaim her voice, and soften it to subduing melody;

but vain was the attempt; the voice obstinately continued growling in discordance, until lady Gaythorn, suddenly starting from her momentary, all-eye-attracting doze, as if yet only half awake, and wholly unconscious of where she was, carelessly, but archly and emphatically, warbled out

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Listen, listen to the voice of love!

"Oh! listen, listen to the voice of love!" and then, hastily rising from her seat, declared "she was half dead from the heat of the room, and from ennui, caught from the dull and spiritless party she had unfortunately sat among.-Do, dear lord Francis," she continued, "have the charity to lead me from the cave of Trophonius, until my poor tortured senses are lured back to harmony and comfort, by the dulcet voice, the seraphic look, and fascinating conversation of that loveliest of all human beings, Miss De Clifford,"

: Without scruple her ladyship now routed and disturbed every one who impeded her way; and, once disturbed, the majority of the company followed her to the ball-room, where she found, and instantly joined, our heroine, whom she playfully accused of staying from the supper-room to aid nature

(by keeping out of the heat and fatigue) in making her surpass every female present in beauty." Do look at her, lord Francis!" she exclaimed: "observe the refreshing loveliness of her unwearied countenancethe unflushed clear transparency of her blushing cheek; and then look round at the heated, hideous, bacchanalian figures, emerging from that crammed-up cauldron below!" and she looked full at lady Enderfield, who, unattended by Fitzroy to the ball-room, and attracted both by this speech and her ladyship's encomium on Julia at her exit from the supper-room, now drew near to gaze at our heroine; and, taking her station close beside her, gave to every one an opportunity of making comparisons between the rival candidates for Fitzroy's love.

Fitzroy's early attachment to, and disappointment from, lady Enderfield, were at Z. no secret, where her ladyship and family were well known, and universally disliked: and his marked conduct during the election to Miss De Clifford, had led every one to believe she was the object of his second love, and his dereliction of her this evening was too conspicuous to escape observation; and