her voice. A word from you, telling me where
we can meet, is all I want. Think of it—pray
think of it.

"Don't suppose I am discouraged by this first
check. There are many kind people in the
world; and some of them may employ me next
time. The way to happiness is often very hard
to find; harder, I almost think, for women than
for men. But, if we only try patiently, and try
long enough, we reach it at last—in Heaven, if
not on earth. I think my way now, is the way
which leads to seeing you again. Don't forget
that, my love, the next time you think of

"NORAH."

IV.
FROM MISS GARTH TO MAGDALEN.

"Westmoreland House, July 1st.

"My dear Magdalen,

"You have no useless remonstrances to apprehend,
at the sight of my handwriting. My only
object in this letter is to tell you something,
which I know your sister will not tell you of her
own accord. She is entirely ignorant that I am
writing to you. Keep her in ignorance, if you
wish to spare her unnecessary anxiety—and me
unnecessary distress.

"Norah's letter, no doubt, tells you that she
has left her situation. I feel it my painful duty
to add, that she has left it on your account.

"The matter occurred in this manner. Messrs.
Wyatt, Pendril, and Gwilt are the solicitors of
the gentleman in whose family Norah was employed.
The life which you have chosen for yourself
was known, as long ago as December last,
to all the partners. You were discovered performing
in public at Derby by the person who
had been employed to trace you at York; and
that discovery was communicated by Mr. Wyatt
to Norah's employer, a few days since, in reply
to direct inquiries about you on that gentleman's
part. His wife and his mother (who
lives with him) had expressly desired that he
would make those inquiries; their doubts having
been aroused by Norah's evasive answers when
they questioned her about her sister. You
know Norah too well to blame her for this.
Evasion was the only escape your present life
had left her from telling a downright falsehood.

"That same day, the two ladies of the family,
the elder and the younger, sent for your sister;
and told her they had discovered that you were
a public performer, roaming from place to place
in the country, under an assumed name. They
were just enough not to blame Norah for this;
they were just enough to acknowledge that her
conduct had been as irreproachable, as I had
guaranteed it should be when I got her the
situation. But, at the same time, they made it
a positive condition of her continuing in their
employment, that she should never permit you
to visit her at their house— or to meet her and
walk out with her when she was in attendance
on the children. Your sister— who has patiently
borne all hardships that fell on herself— instantly
resented the slur cast on you. She gave her employers
warning on the spot. High words followed;
and she left the house that evening.

"I have no wish to distress you by representing
the loss of this situation in the light of a
disaster. Norah was not so happy in it, as I
had hoped and believed she would be. It was
impossible for me to know beforehand that the
children were sullen and intractable— or that
the husband's mother was accustomed to make
her domineering disposition felt by every one in
the house. I will readily admit that Norah is
well out of this situation. But the harm does not
stop here. For all you and I know to the contrary,
the harm may go on. What has happened
in this situation, may happen in another. Your
way of life, however pure your conduct may be —
and I will do you the justice to believe it pure— is
a suspicious way of life to all respectable people.
I have lived long enough in this world to know,
that the Sense of Propriety, in nine Englishwomen
out of ten, makes no allowances and feels no
pity. Norah's next employers may discover you;
and Norah may throw up a situation next time,
which we may never be able to find for her
again.

"I leave you to consider this. My child!
don't think I am hard on you. I am jealous for
your sister's tranquillity. If you will forget the
past, Magdalen, and come back— trust to your
old governess to forget it too, and to give you
the home which your father and mother once gave
her.

" Your friend, my dear, always,

"HARRIET GARTH."

V.

FROM FRANCIS CLARE, JUNR., TO MAGDALEN.
"Shanghai, China,

" April, 23rd, 1847.

"My dear Magdalen,

"I have deferred answering your letter, in
consequence of the distracted state of my mind,
which made me unfit to write to you. I am still
unfit— but I feel I ought to delay no longer. My
sense of honour fortifies me; and I undergo the
pain of writing this letter.

"My prospects in China are all at an end.
The Firm, to which I was brutally consigned as
if I was a bale of merchandise, has worn out my
patience by a series of petty insults; and I have
felt compelled, from motives of self-respect, to
withdraw my services, which were undervalued
from the first. My returning to England, under
these circumstances, is out of the question. I
have been too cruelly used in my own country to
wish to go back to it— even if I could. I propose
embarking on board a private trading vessel
in these seas, in a mercantile capacity, to make
my way, if I can, for myself. How it will end,
or what will happen to me next, is more than I
can say. It matters little what becomes of me. I
am a wanderer and an exile, entirely through the
fault of others. The unfeeling desire at home to
get rid of me, has accomplished its object. I am
got rid of for good.

"There is only one more sacrifice left for me