and the produce, together with a small sum at my mother's bankers, was vested, in my name, to buy favours, as my uncle said, on my wedding-day. Madame de la Close was a woman of little mind; she had ever looked upon me as a bar to the prospects of her relatives; she objected to my resi ding in her family until my education was completed, urging many frivolous pretences to effect her will; and my friend, knowing it would be for my advantage, sent me with proper instructors to a villa he possessed in the suburbs of Paris, though she strenuously advised I should be. sent to a convent; but this he positively objected to. They came a few months in the year to the villa, and sometimes I was taken to Paris; I was always happier in the short visits my uncle paid alone; for though Madame de la Close appeared reconciled to her disappointment, I never could inspire her with affection. When I was nineteen years of age my aunt consented to my introduction into society, and I went to her house. The fondness of my uncle supplied every wish I

I

could form. I was received into the polite circles of Paris as a great fortune, a great beauty, and a great wit; and I met with what the world generally accords to these possessions, whether fancied or real, empty flattery, fulsome adulation, and false friendships; yet all these I believed were offered me in sincerity of heart, and I received them as my due. I had been constantly told I was handsome by partial friends and interested dependants; my glass told me there was some truth in their assertion; I knew I was rich, and, therefore, could command. looked round the circle, and beheld many inferior in mental endowments, and thus, with a disposition ill calculated to combat against the destructive current which bore down upon me, I entered the world. Two winters passed and I had not learnt to distinguish between the tinseled gloss of outward appearance and the solidity of real integrity. Though repeatedly urged by my uncle to decide among my many admirers, I found none my heart could approve, none I could look up to as a superior being, none whose

I

judgement my affection could reverence. wished them to pay homage to my beauty and be submissive to my will, if I required it; but I did not wish to feel it was but the just tribute to my superior sense; with such a being I was sure I could never be happy.

We were preparing to leave Paris for the villa, and I cheerfully bade adieu to my many acquaintances, when I was introduced to an English gentleman, and became acquainted with a character who, among the silly flatterers of the day, seemed to stand on a proud eminence, as much above their imitation as their comprehension. Before I proceed, I must entreat your indulgence; I have nought to conceal connected with myself, but there are persons I shall mention in my relation who are now distinguished characters in the world; their names I cannot disclose; for, though I am for ever secluded from society, and my name will soon cease to be remembered, it is not so with them, and the disclosure might produce circumstances I would wish to avoid." Gertrude paused. Mrs. Drayton and Clara assured her curiosity bore no part

in their wish to hear her story, and begged she would consult only her own feelings.

Gertrude struggled against the emotion which arose in her bosom and tinged her cheeks with a deeper glow, and, leaning her head on her hand, to conceal her countenance, proceeded with her narrative.

CHAP. IV.

"Solitude, by stripping worldly objects of the false splendour in which fancy arrays them, dispels all vain ambition from the mind."

ZIMMERMAN.

"I WILL not weary you," pursued Gertrude, "in detailing the trivial incidents which promoted my acquaintance with the young Englishman; suffice it to say, it was my fate to attract his regards; and he contrived to obtain an invitation from my uncle to accompany us to the villa, and here commenced an attachment which might have been the foundation of happiness to both. Very different were my feelings on receiving the addresses of my gay admirers at Paris: this conquest did more than flatter my vanity; it raised me in my own estimation; it was