will. Do as you yourself think best. But
remember one thing—my mind is made up:
nothing you can say or do will change it."

Her sudden removal from the table, the altered
tones of her voice as she spoke the last words,
appeared to renew Louisa's hesitation. She
clasped her hands together in her lap, and wrung
them hard. " This has come on me very suddenly,
ma'am," said the girl. " I am sorely tempted to
say, Yes.  And yet, I'm almost afraid——"

"Take the night to consider it," interposed
Magdalen, keeping her face persistently turned
towards the fire; " and tell me what you have
decided to do, when you come into my room
tomorrow morning. I shall want no help to-night
—I can undress myself. You are not so strong as
I am; you are tired, I dare say. Don't sit up on
my account. Good night, Louisa, and pleasant
dreams!"

Her voice sank lower and lower, as she spoke
those kind words. She sighed heavily; and,
leaning her arm on the mantelpiece, laid her
head on it with a reckless weariness miserable to
see. Louisa had not left the room, as she
supposed—Louisa came softly to her side, and
kissed her hand. Magdalen started; but she
made no attempt, this time, to draw her hand
away. The sense of her own horrible isolation
subdued her, at the touch of the servant's lips.
Her proud heart melted; her eyes filled with
burning tears. " Don't distress me!" she said,
faintly. " The time for kindness has gone by;
it only overpowers me now. Good night!"

The morning came; and the affirmative answer
which Magdalen had anticipated, was the answer
given. On that day, the landlady received her
week's notice to quit; and Louisa's needle flew
fast through the stitches of the parlour-maid's
dress.

THE END OF THE SIXTH SCENE.

BETWEEN THE SCENES.
I.

FROM MISS GARTH TO MR. PENDRIL.

"Westmorland House, Jan. 3rd, 1848.

"Dear Mr. Pendril,—I write, as you kindly
requested, to report how Norah is going on, and
to tell you what changes I see for the better in
the state of her mind on the subject of her
sister.

"I cannot say that she is becoming resigned
to Magdalen's continued silence—I know her
faithful nature too well to say it. I can only tell
you that she is beginning to find relief from the
heavy pressure of sorrow and suspense, in new
thoughts and new hopes. I doubt if she has
yet realised this in her own mind; but I see
the result, although she is not conscious of it
herself. I see her heart opening to the
consolation of another interest and another love.
She has not said a word to me on the subject—
nor have I said a word to her. But as certainly
as I know that Mr. George Bartram's visits have
lately grown more and more frequent to the
family at Portland-place—so certainly I can
assure you that Norah is finding a relief under
her suspense, which is not of my bringing, and a
hope in the future, which I have not taught her
to feel.

"It is needless for me to say that I tell you
this, in the strictest confidence. God knows
whether the happy prospect which seems to me
to be just dawning, will grow brighter or not, as
time goes on. The oftener I see Mr. George
Bartram—and he has called on me more than
once—the stronger my liking for him grows.
To my poor judgment he seems to be a gentleman,
in the highest and truest sense of the word.
If I could live to see Norah his wife—I should
almost feel that I had lived long enough. But
who can discern the future? We have suffered
so much that I am afraid to hope.

"Have you heard anything of Magdalen? I
don't know why or how it is—but since I have
known of her husband's death, my old tenderness
for her seems to cling to me more
obstinately than ever.—Always yours truly,

"HARRIET GARTH."

II.

FROM MR. PENDRIL TO MISS GARTH.

"Serle-street, Jan. 4th, 1848.

"Dear Miss Garth,—Of Mrs. Noel Vanstone
herself I have heard nothing. But I have learnt,
since I saw you, that the report of the position
in which she is left by the death of her husband,
may be depended on as the truth. No legacy of
any kind is bequeathed to her. Her name is not
once mentioned in her husband's will.

"Knowing what we know, it is not to be
concealed that this circumstance threatens us with
more embarrassment, and perhaps with more
distress. Mrs. Noel Vanstone is not the woman
to submit, without a desperate resistance, to the
total overthrow of all her schemes and all her
hopes. The mere fact that nothing whatever has
been heard of her since her husband's death, is
suggestive to my mind of serious mischief to
come. In her situation, and with her temper,
the quieter she is now, the more inveterately I,
for one, distrust her in the future. It is impossible
to say to what violent measures her present
extremity may not drive her. It is impossible to
feel sure, that she may not be the cause of some
public scandal, this time, which may affect her
innocent sister as well as herself.

"I know you will not misinterpret the motive
which has led me to write these lines; I know
you will not think that I am inconsiderate enough
to cause you unnecessary alarm. My sincere
anxiety to see that happy prospect realised to
which your letter alludes, has caused me to write
far less reservedly than I might otherwise have
written. I strongly urge you to use your
influence, on every occasion when you can fairly
exert it, to strengthen that growing attachment,
and to place it beyond the reach of any coming
disasters, while you have the opportunity of