"There, Everard-I am glad I did not allow you to swear just now."

Why so? Is it then in my power to remove this obstacle to your happiness with Lavinia ?"

"Not absolutely so: but if the baron be convinced that the obstacle in question is removed, I require it of your generosity and friendship not to prove to him that it still exists."

"And lose the woman whom I adore by my generosity!”

"Yes, even so, if friendship requires it for have I not often heard you say that it is very hard that a child should be punished for his father's fault?"

but

"How!-light breaks in upon me!-pray be less mysterious.”

"The case is this, then :-Baron Sternheim has often declared that, though he has the most perfect esteem for my character, he will not let his daughter marry

me while my father lives; because, as his life is forfeit to the laws, for having in a transport of rage killed a brother officer, he will not run the risk of having his child united to the son of a man who one day or other may perish on a scaffold. But it has long been rumoured, and believed by every one, the baron not excepted, that my poor father is dead; and I did not contradict the report, because I thought it conducive to my father's safety. Therefore to you only I owned the truth; and you only have it in your power to blast my prospects, by telling the baron that my father is still living in England. But this, if you are the generous rival, and the true friend that you appear to be, you will not do; and you will cautiously avoid any conversation which may lead the baron to interrogate you on the subject; nor expose my peace to be sacrificed to his fears of

X.

my father's return, trial, and condemnation-three circumstances which will never happen."

..

"I thank you, Augustus, for the confidence that you have in my virtue; but, believe me, you have exposed it to a severe trial. However, I will not tell a falsehood for you or any man; therefore, unless the baron put the question directly to me, he shall never know from me that your father is still alive; and this I promise by the sacred ties of friendship and the faith of a gentleman."

"And this is all I require of you," replied Augustus, affectionately pressing his friend's hand; "and I trust to you implicitly. At present I know your passion is not so ardent as mine; but even should it increase daily, I am sure that you would sooner die then break the sacred word which you have just pledged."

They then parted, the one proud of

the confidence reposed in him, the other proud that he could boast of being possessed of a friend in whom such confidence could never be misplaced. But though Stainforth felt most sensibly the passion of love, he had certainly never cal culated on its nature and power. He forgot the innumerable instances on record in which love has been known to triumph over duties the most sacred and ties the most binding. But Waldorf's conduct and his own soon convinced him that, when a man admits the entrance of an ardent passion into his bosom, he opens the door to an active and restless enemy, who, if not watched with the most unceasing care, will throw down all the barriers against evil which virtue has raised, nor rest till he has left no empire there but his own.

Stainforth had not flattered himself, as Waldorf fondly hoped. Lavinia certainly preferred him to his rival, though she could not be said to be really in love:

but her choice quietly waited on her father's approbation, and passion in her tranquil heart could only be awakened by the call of duty. Still the baron had drawn from her a confession, that of the two most favoured of her lovers, namely Stainforth and Waldorf, she esteemed the former the most: and, like an indulgent and fond parent, he immediately replied, "Then he shall be your husband, as his father is no more: however, to be sure of his death, though it is too currently reported not to be true, I will ask him the question myself." He did so, to the horror and consternation of the till then ingenuous and honourable Stainforth: but, feeling that on his answer to this question depended his future happiness and his only chance of possessing the woman whom he adored, he stained the as yet unblemished integrity of his character; and, love triumphing over honour, he assured baron