could look at it, if we were both together again.
I can trust myself, already, to write of Frank.

"My darling, I think no woman ever knows
how utterly she has given herself up to the man
she loves until that man has ill-treated her.
Can you pity my weakness if I confess to having
felt a pang at my heart, when I read that part of
your letter which calls Frank a coward and a
villain? Nobody can despise me for this, as I
despise myself. I am like a dog who crawls back
and licks the master's hand that has beaten him.
But it is so— I would confess it to nobody but
you— indeed, indeed it is so. He has deceived
and deserted me; he has written me a cruel
farewell but don't call him a villain! If he repented,
and came back to me, I would die rather
than marry him now— but it grates on me to
see that word coward written against him in
your hand! If he is weak of purpose, who
tried his weakness beyond what it could bear?
Do you think this would have happened if
Michael Vanstone had not robbed us of our own,
and forced Frank away from me to China? In
a week from to day, the year of waiting would
have come to an end; and I should have been
Frank's wife, if my marriage portion had not
been taken from me.

" You will say— after what has happened, it is
well that I have escaped. My love! there is
something perverse in my heart, which answers
— No! Better have been Frank's wretched wife
than the free woman I am now.

" I have not written to him. He sends me no
address at which I could write even if I would.
But I have not the wish. I will wait, before I
send him my farewell. If a day ever comes when
I have the fortune which my father once promised
I should bring to him — do you know what I would
do with it? I would send it all to Frank, as my
revenge on him for his letter; as the last farewell
word, on my side, to the man who has
deserted me. Let me live for that day! Let
me live, Norah, in the hope of better times for
you, which is all the hope I have left. When
I think of your hard life, I can almost feel the
tears once more in my weary eyes. I can almost
think I have come back again to my former self.

" You will not think me hard-hearted and ungrateful,
if I say that we must wait a little yet,
before we meet? I want to be more fit to see
you than I am now. I want to put Frank
farther away from me, and to bring you nearer
still. Are these good reasons? I don't know
—don't ask me for reasons. Take the kiss I
have put for you here, where the little circle is
drawn on the paper; and let that bring us together
for the present, till I write again. Goodby,
my love. My heart is true to you, Norah, —
but I dare not see you yet.

"MAGDALEN."

x.

FROM MAGDALEN TO MISS GARTH.

" July 15th.

" My dear Miss Garth,

"I have been long in answering your letter;
but you know what has happened, and you will
forgive me.

" All that I have to say may be said in few
words. You may depend on my never making the
general Sense of Propriety my enemy again:
I am getting knowledge enough of the world to
make it my accomplice next time. Norah will
never leave another situation on my account —
my life, as a public performer, is at an end. It
was harmless enough, God knows— I may live,
and so may you, to mourn the day when I parted
from it— but I shall never return to it again. It
has left me, as Frank has left me, as all my better
thoughts have left me— except my thoughts of
Norah.

"Enough of myself! Shall I tell you some
news to brighten this dull letter? Mr. Michael
Vanstone is dead; and Mr. Noel Vanstone has
succeeded to the possession of my fortune and
Norah's. He is quite worthy of his inheritance.
In his father's place, he would have ruined us as
his father did.

"I have no more to say that you would care to
know. Don't be distressed about me. I am
trying to recover my spirits— I am trying to forget
the poor deluded girl who was foolish enough
to be fond of Frank, in the old days at Combe-Raven.
Sometimes, a pang comes which tells me
the girl won't be forgotten—but not often.

"It was very kind of you, when you wrote to
such a lost creature as I am, to sign yourself —
always my friend? 'Always' is a bold word, my
dear old governess! I wonder whether you will
ever want to recal it? It will make no difference,
if you do, in the gratitude I shall always feel for
the trouble you took with me, when I was a little
girl. I have ill repaid that trouble—  ill repaid
your kindness to me in after life. I ask your
pardon and your pity. The best thing you can
do for both of us, is to forget me. Affectionately
yours,

"MAGDALEN.

"P.S.— I open the envelope to add one line.
For God's sake, don't show this letter to
Norah!"

XI.

FROM MAGDALEN TO CAPTAIN WRAGGE.

" Vauxhall Walk, July 17th.

" If I am not mistaken, it was arranged that I
should write to you at Birmingham, as soon as I
felt myself composed enough to think of the
future. My mind is settled at last; and I am
now able to accept the services which you have
unreservedly offered to me.

" I beg you will forgive the manner in which I
received you, on your arrival in this house, after
hearing the news of my sudden illness. I was
quite incapable of controlling myself—I was suffering
an agony of mind which for the time deprived
me of my senses. It is only your due
that I should now thank you for treating me
with great forbearance, at a time when forbearance
was mercy.

" I will mention what I wish you to do, as
plainly and briefly as I can.