Melusina might have been astonished at
the increased kindness and geniality on the
part of her young hostess that day.
Perhaps she suspected the cause. We only
know that she dressed and smiled more
bewitchingly than ever, and that the confident
glance reappeared.

Things were in this position, when two
misfortunes, occurring almost simultaneously,
exercised a most injurious effect upon
Colonel Fonnereau's affairs. The agent to
whom he had delegated authority to
complete the sale of his West India property
speculated with the purchase money, failed,
and fled to Australia. A financial company,
also, in which the colonel held a serious
stake, became involved in a manner to
entail very heavy losses upon the shareholders.
Colonel Fonnereau found it necessary to
raise a large sum of money, larger, in fact,
than he had securities to cover, and soon
his altered manner, and the gloomy lines
in his heretofore kind and pleasant face,
bore sad testimony to his increasing
anxieties.

It was in these darker days that the
genuine kindness of Mrs. Magniac shone most
conspicuously forth. With the deepening
trouble her attachment to father and
daughter only increased. Geraldine,
despite herself, could not but be grateful for a
sympathy so manifestly disinterested, and
for the comfort it afforded her father.

The latter soon began to revive. His
letters seemed to give him more satisfaction.
His smiles came back. He openly announced
that a great load had been removed from
his mind, and matters resumed pretty much
their usual course, except that Mrs. Magniac
—her consoling presence being no longer
required—discontinued her visits, and now
seldom or ever quitted Mon Port. The
confidence between Greraldine and her father,
which had been a little chilled, seemed fully
re-established, and all was going merrily,
when, one morning, a strange piece of news
arrived.

A vulgar process, known as an
"execution," had been put into Mon Port! The
bewitching tenant was ruined!

This was no moment to desert the lonely
woman. The colonel mounted his horse,
and never drew rein till he reached Mon
Port.

He was absent the whole of the day.

When he did return, his haggard look
and disturbed demeanour struck Greraldine
with terror.

"Papa, papa! what has happened?" she
exclaimed, as she fell upon his neck, in tears.

Her father assured her, affectionately,
that she should at once know all (that
sinister " all," preface to so many a tale of
imprudence and of sorrow), and, placing her
by his side, commenced the painful story.

From this Geraldine learned that the
recent improvement in her father's affairs
had been due to the generosity of Mrs.
Magniac, who had, in her seductive manner,
pressed upon her embarrassed neighbour
the use of a very large sum of money, of
which, she positively assured him, she had
no present need. It was a little fraud of
that description popularly styled "pious."
She had herself borrowed the money! The
fears of her creditors had become excited.
Advantage had been taken of some
informality, and she was called upon to refund
the money. In doing so she had been
reduced to the condition of her own cherished
poor.

At this point the colonel paused. His
colour brightened. He glanced at his child
in a tender, troubled way. It was clear that
the " all " was not yet told; and Geraldine
knew instinctively that the worst was to
come. The colonel's lip quivered, but he
dashed at it like a man. Why had Mrs.
Magniac done this? " Why?" Her agi-
tation had betrayed the secret she would
have given worlds to conceal. She loved him!

There was no need of other words—no
need of her father adding that he was in
no position to return the loan that,
whatever might be his own secret feeling, there
was but one mode of reparation at his
command. Their home must become hers— its
master also . . . and his darling must
forgive him. Yes, the Woman of the Sea had
won!

The colonel's darling did forgive him.
More than that. With all the fervour of her
brave young heart she strove to reconcile
herself to the change, and to love—if she
could—the being she had hitherto detested.

    MR. CHARLES DICKENS'S FAREWELL
                        READINGS.

MR. CHARLES DICKENS will read on Tuesdays,
April 27, May 11, and 25, at St. James's Hall, London.

All communications to be addressed to MESSRS.
CHAPPELI, AND Co., 50, New Bond-street, London, W.