was grave, spoke of subjects of great and startling in

"Ah! ah!" exclaimed the rich manufacturer, rubbing his hands, after the usual salutations, "his majesty begins to see the value of us bourgeoise, and writes to me by his minister."

A meaning glance passed between Lucien and Victor. "But, my dear sir," said the Baron, "recollect the rights of legitimacy, of hereditary descent; recollect the respect we owe to the race of the Bourbons."

"Rather," observed Lucien, "what we owe to our country, to the people, to great and crying principles, and not to the quarrels of two branches of a royal family." "I am afraid this is very republican," said M. Dutertre, hastily.

"Shocking!" muttered Pemnic.

"Nay, my dear sir, you mistake me. I am ready to stand by the crown and its just prerogatives, but the first duty of a politician is to consider the millions, whose fate, whose happiness, whose well-being depends on the patriotism of their rulers ;" and Lucien, excited by his subject, poured forth a brief but eloquent exposition of his principles.

Charlotte listened with surprise and some annoyance; and when he had finished, with an object which she could scarcely explain to herself, prevented the Baron from answering, by exclaiming, "But, Baron, I have challenged, in your name, M. Lucien to a fencing-match."

"I am always your obedient servant," replied the nobleman, gallantly.

the hills, the flowers, the grottos, but never once alluded to anything personal, and Charlotte returned from her walk vexed, irritated, and almost ready to weep, for each moment she admired the man more and more, and yet he, it was quite clear, despised and contemned her for her unfeminine and masculine qualities.

It was two o'clock when the friends took their leave, and scarcely were they clear of the house when Lucien turned towards Victor.

"And the turkey?"

"I am lost in conjecture," replied Victor; "at all events, it is quite certain it has not been received, and to send it now, after the ministerial venison, would be too glaring."

"But the letter was delivered?"

"Last night, as agreed. I can make nothing of it." But I should like to have this explained." Nothing easier; let us ride on to the Lodge. But, with the daughter, how do you proceed?"

Victor," said Lucien, gravely and sadly, "I love this girl with all my heart and soul; you are surprised, but some day you will learn a secret. This, however, is decided, I will never marry a Panthere. I must have a gentle, confiding, and feminine being for my wife, and yet I admire this cruel girl, as I say; but once the election over, I will fly, and see her no more."

""

"Or else what?'' "I might risk all."

In conversation of this kind the time was consumed,

father to me.

"I declare”'

Declare nothing, but go."

Lucien shrugged his shoulders, and went to the Salon D'Escrime, which was fitted up with quite feudal splendour. A couple of foils were selected, and Charlotte, standing by as umpire, the contest began. Dorville at once felt his mastery, but did not immediately take advantage of it.

“M. le Baron always disarms you, Mademoiselle," said Lucien, his eyes fixed on his antagonist.

being opened, dismounted and entered.

"Lucien !" said Victor, smothering a laugh, as they crossed the threshold.

"I smell it," replied his friend, coldly.

They entered, and the whole party, who were at dinner, received them in some confusion.

"But, Cristophe," exclaimed Victor, gravely, "how was it you did not fulfill your commission?"

"And deliver both letter and turkey?" said Lucien, glancing with sarcasm at the remains of the expensive delicacy in question, that garnished the table from which

"That was perhaps accident," observed Lucien ; "let

us try again."

"I knew she was in it," muttered Lucien. "Called last night to see my wife, who is recovering, as you see, from illness; she calls every day she rides

"Perhaps Mademoiselle would honour me," said Lucien. "I would rather not be so easily defeated," replied Charlotte, moving away; "but come, let me show you my garden;" and away the fickle and vexed girl drew M. Dorville, while the Baron retired to write a letter.

the turkey, which was hung up. I replied that she would soon admire it on her table, for that it was a present from M. Lucien Dorville to her father"

Victor stuffed his handkerchief in his mouth, while his eyes glistened, in his efforts to keep from bursting out into a roar.

"And was it very good?" inquired Victor, with gravity.

"Oh," exclaimed the young people, "delicious." "Dame," said Cristophe, "I never tasted anything like it."

"I am glad you enjoyed it," exclaimed Victor; "but come, Lucien, we must dress and return.' ..

And Dorville followed his friend into the open air. "I can't stand it," said Victor, as soon as they had got out of sight of the Lodge; and he burst forth into a roar of inextinguishable laughter, in which Lucien joined him.

some momentary relief from the somewhat violent exercise.

"It is excessively warm," said Victor Meunier, care. lessly.

"If we were to have some quiet amusement awhile," exclaimed Pauline, as if by a preconcerted arrangement. Cards," said several elderly ladies and gentlemen. "François exclaimed Charlotte, and the doors of the neighbouring room flew open, displaying numerous tables, to the great delight of the whist-players.

"Forfeits!" suggested Victor, with a half-innocent, and half-whimsical face.

"Nonsense," said Charlotte, laughing.

"It is excellent fun," observed several of the younger members.

"Then forfeits let it be," decided Charlotte.. This being received as law, the whole party arranged themselves amid cries, very faint, however, of "how childish," "how silly," "how ridiculous," proceeding from those who presently were most intensely engaged in the game.

For half an hour the drawing-room resounded with those merry peals of laughter-those light-hearted bursts which the occasion demanded. All had warmed to the

"I would advise you to adapt it," said Lucien, gravely. "Oh! I can't stand it. The Depute and the Dindon," screamed Meunier.

At length every one appeared sufficiently encumbered with forfeits, and the work of redemption began. Various and strange were the modes of regaining their pledges, which Victor, who was the declarer, suggested,

made an imperceptible sign to Meunier, by touching his

Lucien Dorville, who did not wish this applied indiscriminately, turned pale and trembled, not without being noticed by Charlotte, who thought him ill.

"Charlotte!" exclaimed Pauline, laughing." Lucien, who knew nothing of the collusion between Victor and his pretty mistress, started.

Charlotte curled her lip, and was about to give some very careless answer, when her eye caught sight of Lucien,

By some contrivance or other, bring about this evening, as if accidentally, a game of forfeits."

Meunier looked at his friend as if he thought him insane, but the other gave him no time to express his flattering opinion on the state of his intellects.

"And should you succeed, have a general forfeit proposed for all the company, that each person shall, boldly and sincerely, tell the assembled company which has been the happiest moment of their lives."

Meunier agreed, and they separated to dress.

CHAPTER V.

THE EVENING PARTY,

There had been a temporary cessation from dancing, and the whole of the assembled visiters seemed to seek

against a door.

"The happiest hours of my life," said the Panthere, bending her eyes upon the ground, and her whole face, neck, and arms, suffused with crimson, "were, since I must answer as adjured, spent two years, and more, ago, the 12th of March, in a wild gorge of the Pyrenees."

“No answer, no answer!” cried Victor, **the circamstances the details."

"Oh, no, no "' said Charlotte, in extreme confusion, "the details I cannot give."

"Oh! I'm for more revelations," exclaimed Victor, joyously; "I impose the same as on Mademoiselle Charlotte." "Lucien Dorville," said Pauline.

The young man again started, and advancing towards Victor, in order to have an excuse to pass Charlotte,' said, with eyes in which beamed joy unutterable, May I?"

"Yes," was the trembling reply.

"The happiest hours of my life were spent in a gorge of the Pyrenees, last 12th of March two years," said the candidate, with proud and happy mien.

"A mystery! a mystery!" exclaimed Victor, amid universal astonishment; "this must be unravelled." › "Not until I have said that I have a more recent and equal moment of happiness to record," interposed Lucien.

"Speak! speak!'' ba!

"When I this afternoon received M. Dütertre's kind permission to win, if I could, his daughter's affections. As Mademoiselle has, without knowing this, just publicly declared that I may hope, I have no hesitation in being equally as frank."

the atmosphere with a thickness which was oppressive to the lungs.

Lightning then illumined the seene-flash after flash succeeded-and the heavens poured forth huge volumes of water on their heads. Suddenly a burst of thunder, more awful than any other, the echoes of which were cannon-like amid the hill-tops, with a terrific flash of lightning, startled the horses, and sent them plunging headlong down the rough and stony road. The ladies, terrorstricken, shrieked as they saw the maddened steeds refusing to obey the guidance of the driver, and had closed their eyes in their terror, when suddenly the carriage halted, the horses stood motionless, and, looking up, they saw a young man holding down the heads of the animals. At the peril of his life he had stopped them in their mad

career.

Without waiting for a word with the occupants of the vehicle, he led the horses, perfectly obedient to his will so iron seemed his hand-until they reached the yawning cavity that leads into the grotto of Lousine, where carriage, horses, and ladies were completely sheltered from the

The 12th of March, 183-, opened upon the Valley de Lousine in all the cold splendour of an early spring, or rather late winter morning, The sun, long imprisoned in his ice-cloud chambers, was bursting his hated bonds, and seeking once more to embrace and vivify the glad earth; the vapours were dispelling on every side; the wind blew calmly and steadily through the ancient and through the younger pines, in quiet satisfaction at the games he had long been playing; and even the snow beneath the rays of light looked less frosty than usual, when a travelling carriage emerged from the court-yard of an inn half-way up the mountain which surmounts Lousine, and began its progress towards the French territory.

For an hour all was quiet and calm, and the two ladies, one young, the other an elderly companion, with as many servants behind, began to hope for a pleasant day's journey when they reached the Calvaire, which marks the narrow entrance to one of the wildest and most savage gorges of the Pyrenees. Through this dell, where the pine and saplings hung in melancholy shade over the road, the carriage had to pass, descending a steep and precipitous pathway. The tenants of the vehicle paused some few minutes to gaze upon the bleak splendour of the scene; but, feeling a dank dampness in the air behind, looked back rather, and saw that one of these sudden storms which devastate the mountains was about to burst upon their heads. From light to darkness, from the blue sky to the blackness of night, was but as it were a moment, and then the blast came wildly to their ears, filling

well as their servants. The young man, who had evidently been hunting, produced a flint, steel, and other necessaries, and speedily made a blazing fire, before which they, who owed him already so much, were soon gladly warming themselves. This done, he entered the cave and brought forth a mountain goat, the produce of this morning's hunt, and in half-an-hour was offering to his grateful friends a meal as well as shelter. A bottle of brandy, some wine, bread, and coffee,/ were all fetched from the depths of the grotto, the young man explaining that he and a faithful servant, now out on the hills, often spent a fortnight on a hunting excursion, making the grotto his head-quarters. The stranger, despite the resistance of the young lady, waited upon her himself, with an ease and elegance which at once proclaimed his good breeding and superior manners.

At length, the thunder ceasing, while the rain poured down worse than ever, the male servants fell asleep by the fire; while the companion and ladies'-maid, seated in the carriage, which was close to the fire, talked to keep themselves awake. It was in vain; for, after a short time, the young man and the lady were alone awake in the grotto.

Now begun a long conversation, and, perhaps, as singular a one as ever took place. Both were well read, the stranger astonishingly so, combining, evidently, with much study, vast originality of manner, boldness of thought, and an eloquence rarely seen in the Chamber. Hours flew like the wind, and yet the storm had not abated, when the young man became silent.

"You are tired," said the lady, much surprised. "No," replied he, sadly; "I have been thinking, and I see that I have done a thing which I shall repent all my life."

"What?" exclaimed his companion, astonished and alarmed.

"Mademoiselle," he replied, respectfully, "in four hours I have lived years. I know not your name-I seek not to know it; but I have read your very soul, and you are as well known to me as if we had been intimate for years. The wildness of our meeting, the kindness which your gratitude for my poor service has made you evince,

your noble want of reserve, have worked a strange change i me. I love, and for the first time,"

"I have never loved," said the young lady, faintly. Passionate and bold was the hunter's reply; for he spoke of his sudden and strange-born affection, which situation has so much effect upon; and, after an hour, in which both probed the secrets of their own hearts, they vowed on their knees before God-short as had been their acquaintance-not eternal fidelity, not mutual affection, but that neither would marry, or give his or her heart, until they met in society, when the vow in the wild grotto of Lousine, sworn amid the tempest, in that native temple of God, should be rescinded or confirmed.

Both were clearly aware of the strangeness of their action-of, perhaps, its folly; but they had met strangely, and, with the storm raging over their head, with the artillery of heaven pouring itself forth upon the earth, their souls were unwittingly laid bare. They had, in reality, known one another better in a day than, in ordinary society, they would have done in years.

A sweet half-hour followed their mutual rash promise, rich in its golden dreams of the future-dreams which, like the bright and glowing pictures round the sun when it sets, were perhaps to fade as fully as these fade, when the object which gave them birth was no longer pre

sent.

They parted, and without having each other's names; for 'twas part of their vision that, if they were to be united, they must meet in society by chance.

The young lady pursued her journey, reached Paris, and, faithful to her vow, refused all offers, and, in order to repel suitors, became to the public eye one of these masculine creatures whom one may admire, but whom no man wishes for a wife. For more than two years did she continue her plan, which succeeded, for, despite her fortune, she terrified all suitors save the Baron de Pemnic, who courageously resolved to brave her masculine graces, and is still her declared lover.

Of the young man, up to this time, the writer knows nothing.

CHAPTER VII.

THE CONCLUSION.

When Pauline concluded, there was for a moment a silence so profound that a sigh might have been heard, while Charlotte and Lucien were lost in the remembrance of that day, the brightest of their lives. They were again in

66

Imagination living over those hours."

"I can now add," said Pauline, demurely, "that at length the lady and gentleman met. Both had been equally faithful, but the young man, led away by outward appearances, and utterly ignorant that the lady's assumed character was to protect her vow, believed himself very foolish, and endeavoured to eradicate all his former feelings In vain, however; for at length, twentyfour hours after their second meeting, the gentleman asked the hand of the lady in marriage, prepared to brave, like his rival the Baron, all her defects."

"Nay, my dear Mademoiselle," exclaimed Lucien, blushing like a young maiden; "I knew the innate virtue of the prize-››

"Which you very coolly think you have won,” said Charlotte; but don't imagine, M. Lucien, that I am to be carried off, before all my friends, as I was yesterday, without a single hour of ordinary courting."

"That was done," observed Lucien, with a wicked smile, "in the grotto of Lousine."

"It is no use," said the joyous, happy, and delighted group; "you must give in, Charlotte."

"If I must, I must, though never was woman so impudently wooed," exclaimed the heiress, with a glow of generous happiness in her face; "the Panthere is conquered by the Lion."

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Lucien, taking the unresisting hand of the lovely girl, "this has been a wïl and eventful history. We began our acquaintance strangely. I hope, however, that you who have all so kindly sympathised with our happiness, will live to see that if we loved in a hurry, it was also in earnest,”

"And I," said the Baron, amid the murmur of ap plause which arose, "can only observe that you are the only man whose throat I would not have cut for having destroyed my hopes. Lucien Dorville, you deserve the heart you have won."

"You came to be depute," put in Victor; "ye will be a husband instead."

"You shall be both, my son," exclaimed Dutertre, who had been a glad listener.

"You shall," repeated M. Chastneux.

"And my dear friend, Meunier," said Lucien, insinusingly, “shall—

"Now you have worried me enough about that already," exclaimed M. Chastneux, pettishly. "But, sir, the power of love."

"Power of nonsense," said the father, his eye resting on the pale and gentle face of his child.

"I will never be married," exclaimed Charlotte, emphatically, except it be on the same day as Victer

Meunier and Pauline Chastneux."

"My fiancee having made that vow," said Lucien, gravely, "I must insist, my dear sir, on your fixing my wedding-day."

"Well, well, I never did see marriages settled in this fashion before," smiled the worthy old man; "but if you must all be foolish, we had better say the day after the election."

This announcement completed the joy of the assembly. The elders viewed, with tearful and earnest face, the hopeful hearts of the young, while they, strong in their golden visions, felt a satisfaction unalloyed at the unexpected joy which that evening had brought forth.

How Lucien and Charlotte, and Pauline and Vietor, sat together all the rest of the evening-how Charlotte completely laid the Panther at the feet of the Lion, and became the lovely and bright creature she really washow Pauline teased Victor upon the want of romance in their courtship-and how all four were as happy as true hearts could be--the reader must imagine.

In the local journal of a month later these announcements appeared

"M. Lucien Dorville has been elected Depute by a majority of votes."

"Marriages.-M. Lucien Dorville to Charlotte Dutertre. M. Victor Meunier to Pauline Chastneux."