This sad account was very distressing to those who, while aware of Hubert's failings, loved him for his many amiable qualities ; and when Ashley looked at the tearful countenance of Constance, it was with a sharp pang he said to himself: "Ah! she deceived herself and little knew how much she still loves him;" while his manner, which had unconsciously become graver and more reserved, was, to her, a proof that he classed her among the frivolous and changeable-perhaps, the cold-hearted; and so it sometimes happened, that Ashley came and departed without seeing her, and ascribed her absence to her wish to conceal the distress she felt about Hubert.

Constance had now no difficulty in deciding that she had, at last, clearly and truly understood her feelings towards Hubert. She had discovered that her dread of Ashley's contempt, had a deeper source than she had, at first, imagined-it was neither pride nor selflove, which had shrunk from his expected censure; and, with something like terror, she acknowledged to herself, that she loved Ashley Vernon !

Ah! how could it be otherwise? was he not the constant theme of praise with Mrs. Stacey and Gretchen? did not her mother regard him, and speak of him,as one of the

noblest of human beings? were not the letters they received from St. Petersburg eloquent in his praise? and did not her own heart echo back again and again, all that others spoke and thought?

How different was the value she set upon his approbation from any thing she had ever before prized, and oh! how infinitely superior did he appear, to any one she had ever

met.

'But what will he care for my thoughts of him? beyond the kind and friendly manner so habitual to him in his general intercourse, what can I expect? nothing. Perhaps he has already given his love;" and, at this thought, Constance hid her face in her hands and wept.

CHAPTER XX.

"She is mine own!

And I as rich in having such a jewel

As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl."

Shakspeare.

Ar length Laurette heard from Mrs. Forrester, who gave her a long and melancholy account of all that had happened. Sorrow had broken down the barriers which pride and reserve had raised, and the terms in which she spoke of Laurette, and expressed her fear that all hope of Hubert's early return to England was vain, opened the flood-gates of that grief which she had so long and so stoically repressed. She copied all of Mrs. Forrester's letters which could interest Caroline, merely saying, as regarded herself, that the dissipation and gaiety attending Lady Anne's marriage, rendered the quiet of Craigalan quite needful; and assuming that the Vernons were in correspondence with her aunt and cousin, she sent a very kind message to them both.

Ashley took the letter to Mrs. Templeton

without delay, as he believed that Constance was spending the day with Miss Turnerwhich, however, proved a mistake. His manner was so unlike his usual self-possession, that Mrs. Templeton, who had lately watched both him and Constance with no little anxiety, and who saw in his looks to-day, something that betokened a change of feeling or thought, expressed her fears that he was ill.

"No," he said, faintly smiling, "not ill, but ill at ease in mind-restless and unhappy;" and perceiving the concern her looks plainly expressed, he abruptly added, "I have resolved that this shall terminate one way or the other. Dear Mrs. Templeton, you must see, you must know, that Constance is-that I love herhave loved her for years-have never ceased to do so-that, hopeless as her engagement rendered it, still I could not free myself from her influence that even now, while watching with agony, that cannot be told, her distress for another, I think only of her-dream only of her. Heaven help me! her very sorrow makes me love her the more;" and, overcome with emotion, he turned away and shaded his face.

Mrs. Templeton sat pale, and, at first, speechless; she was not sure of the state of Constance's feeling; she could but guess.

How she longed to say "hope" to the noble, generous heart, whose deep and enduring love had been shown to her-how she longed to say "take her-to thee I give her freely, fearlessly;" but if she had mistaken the nature of the sentiments of Constance, what additional sorrow might she not cause.

Ashley," she at length said, very quietly, and the friendly tone fell soothingly on his quivering nerves, "why not tell all this to Constance herself? what makes you think your love so hopeless ?"

"Because," he replied, with something like asperity, "she still loves another. She has mistaken herself-or, why this distress -this anxiety about Italy?"

"You are in an error regarding all this. I am convinced, that though a friendly concern, natural to a kind and affectionate nature, makes Constance sympathize with the Forresters, there is no other feeling-nay, I am convinced, that from the very first, there has been nothing beyond deep gratitude, for attentions and services, when suffering and sorrow were under our own roof; if I were not fully convinced of this, how do you suppose I could rejoice, as I truly do, at the dissolution of this engagement? Listen calmly to me," observing that his face flushed, and his looks