THE HEIRESS'S REVENGE.

BY MRS. ABDY.

A young, handsome, and richly dressed lady was sitting in one of those splendid apartments which are called "saloons" in poetry, and "drawingrooms" in prose; her foot rested on an exquisitely embroidered ottoman, and her arm on a purple satin sofa cushion; opposite to her was a dame de compagnie, a smiling, lady-like, middle-aged person, unimpeachably and characteristically attired in a dove-coloured silk dress, and a blond cap, trimmed with white ribbons. Two footmen at a little distance were employed in covering a table with that variety of substantial refreshments which, when partaken of at the hour of luncheon, enables young ladies so prettily to plead guilty at dinner to the charge of living on love, air, or learning, according to the phraseology of the accuser. It was a scene of plenty, but not of peace; a frown was on the young lady's brow, and a tear was in her eye; no one could have addressed her with the Chinese salutation, "Felicity is painted on your countenance," she might rather be supposed to sit for the purpose of illustrating the proverb-"All is not gold that glitters;" flattery would have said that she looked very pensive; truth, that she looked very cross. Now, the grand evil which darkened this young lady's horoscope, was one which admitted of no remedy-she did not belong to the magic circle of the aristocracy; and although her wealth permitted her occasionally to step with in it, she knew and felt that she was considered as an intruder. Her father had been a grocer, her grandfather a pin-maker; and she would have freely surrendered all the wealth that she inherited, as the only daughter of an only son, could she by so doing have changed places with any of the "penniless dames with long pedigree," whose swan-like throats and falling shoulders embellished the "portraits of the female aristocracy."

own name was mentioned; she might have come forth from her retreat and welcomed her admirer, but instead of doing so, she bent down her head still lower, to avoid discovery, and the artificial flowers that garlanded her brow mingled with the natural ones around her. Lord Alfred's friend rallied him on his devotion to the rich heiress, and asked him, in a phrase which would once have been considered inelegant, but which now is of general acceptation, when the match was to "come off." Lord Alfred replied by an indignant burst of wonder, that he could be supposed capable of sullying the dignity of his ancient house by contemplating such a misalliance; and then dropped his dignity, became playful, said that the lady would, doubtless, in remembrance of her grandfather, make an exorbitant demand for pin-money, but that she must certainly inherit abundance of sugar from her father's stores, wherewith to sweeten the matrimonial cup; he added several other puns equally trite, poor, and pointless, but they were quite suited to the nature of his friend's comprehension, who encouraged him to proceed by vociferous bursts of laughter. Perhaps my readers may be disposed to be very severe on Lord Alfred's flippancy and want of feeling, and I am not going to defend him; but let me just ask them whether they are prepared, themselves, to say that they never spoke of an acquaintance in terms of careless laughing raillery, which, if overheard by that person, would ensure his or her lasting displeasure, although uttered without the slightest spark of ill-will or malice? Happy is it for all of us, that even those we like and esteem are not always secreted under myrtle trees to hear our comments upon them! Miss Garston was mortified and enraged; she was wounded in the tenderest of her feelings-love and pride: had Lord Alfred defamed her character, or censured her temper, she thought she could better have borne it than the light-cutting satire with which he alluded to her plebian extraction, and the words of Junius recurred to her mind-"Injuries we may, and do forgive; but insults so debase the mind below its own level, that nothing but revenge can satisfy it."

quite well this morning;" and her young friend returned to her the cut and dried answer, "I am very well in health, but my spirits are sadly depressed."

Now, although there was no positive cure for Miss Garston's affliction, a partial alleviation of it might be attained; she might wed a scion of nobility, and thereby be raised in name and pre- Miss Garston retired early from the assembly; cedence to the station of her husband; but Miss and arose the next morning in the state of nervous Garston was prudent, and did not like the prospect dissatisfaction that I have endeavoured to describe. of being the neglected wife of a spendthrift or Mrs. Allison now addressed her in the usual cut gamester; she had also warm affections, and had and dried form of speaking to cross young ladies: determined never to marry except for love. At length" I am afraid, my dear Miss Garston, you are not she became introduced to Lord Alfred Harleigh, the handsome and accomplished younger son of the Marquis of Delfield. She invited him to her house; he waltzed, rode, and flirted with her rather more than young men ought to waltz, ride, and flirt, who mean nothing by their attentions; but he was not a systematic lady-killer, and had not the slightest idea of the mischief he was doing to the heiress and preparing for himself by his thoughtless gallantry. The preceding evening Miss Garston had been present at a large assembly, "I meet with ingratitude," replied Miss Garwhere she knew Lord Alfred was expected to at-ston, sentimentally, "where I had hoped to have tend; she had wandered into the conservatory, inspired contrary feelings." and was concealed by a stand of geraniums and a profusion of gigantic myrtles; she heard Lord Alfred's voice speaking to a favourite friend, her

"Dear Miss Garston," replied Mrs. Allison, "who has so many sources of happiness as yourself?" and as she spoke, her eye glanced on the two tall footmen who re-entered the room, like the slaves of Aladdin's lamp, bearing a reenforcement of silver dishes to the table.

"You are a little nervous this morning," said the confidante, looking amiably arch; "Lord Alfred Harleigh's morning call will restore your spirits."

་

She had touched a tender chord; Miss Garston's colour mounted, and her eyes flashed fire.

"I have ordered myself to be denied to Lord Alfred in future," she said.

Mrs. Allison said nothing; she thought some love-quarrel had taken place, and determined, in her secret mind, that it would be adjusted on the receipt of the first pale-pink note or bouquet of green-house flowers from the offending admirer. Mrs. Allison was well born, well bred, and a slenderly jointured widow; she liked the large stipend she received from Miss Garston, and the luxuries of her house and table, and she was quite willing to endure the frequent contradictions and illhumour of her "dear young friend" as a trifling drawback to these advantages. Miss Garston, however, was not ill-humoured on the present occasion, for she wanted some one to whom she could confide her troubles, and she informed Mrs. Allison of the whole of Lord Alfred's crimes and misdemeanours. The proverb crossed Mrs. Allison's mind-"Listeners hear no good of themselves;" but she did not give it utterance.

"Not at all,” replied Miss Garston; “I was speaking of the affair to a friend of the family only a week ago; Lady Adela, as a child, had always testified the warmest affection for her cousin, but her father died when she was only twelve years old, bequeathing to her an immense property, and nominating his only brother as her guardian; this brother had a son a few years older than Lady Adela, and felt earnestly desirous that an union might, at a future time, be effected between his son and niece; consequently, he deemed it desirable to remove his ward from the vicinity of her other relations, and the family have resided abroad for ten years. Lady Adela for some time kept up a correspondence with the Ladies Harriet and Esther Harleigh, but it gradually died away; and as since her majority, which took place a year ago, she has not attempted to renew her intercourse with them, their pride has received an alarm, and they are as indisposed to seek her society as their brother has always been, who has been prejudiced against her by the reports that he has heard, from those who have seen her abroad, of her affected and artificial manners."

"Lord Alfred's mother and sisters are terribly haughty," observed Mrs. Allison, secure that she was on the safe side when abusing the family of the renegade admirer.

"Lord Alfred is quite unworthy your thoughts," she replied; "he is one of a large family, and there are three lives between him and his elder brother, you may command half a dozen better matches before the end of the season; a connection with him could never have been a desirable one in a "Yes," replied the heiress, "I have not forprudential point of view, and all love for him must gotten the cold and distant manner in which they of course be banished from your mind by his in-repelled my wish to be introduced to them." sufferable conduct."

"Love him!" repeated the heiress, "I detest and despise him; I shall never be easy till I am amply revenged on him."

"Unless I am much mistaken," said Mrs. Allison, "you will shortly enjoy the revenge you wish; Lord Alfred, I am certain, is a marrying man, and if he resolves only to seek an alliance among the aristocracy, he will plunge himself into poverty and distress, for it is not likely that he will have the good fortune to meet with the rare union of rank and riches in a wife."

"Well," resumed Mrs. Allison, "you will soon, I hope, receive your promised visit from your charming school friend, Lord Glenallan's daughter; you need have no fear, dear Miss Garston, that the aristocracy will desert you while you are enabled to entertain them in so splendid a manner."

There was something in this speech that grated on the ear of Miss Garston, and she quitted the table, and betook herself again to the sofa, exclaiming that she was the most unhappy being in the world, and that nobody understood her or sym"That would be no consolation to me at all," pathized with her. Mrs. Allison could not enter said Miss Garston, gloomily, to the great disap-into the mystery of her young friend's unhappipointment of Mrs. Allison, who had expected that her last speech would be a telling point; "I shall never be easy till I see Lord Alfred united to a woman whose connections are still more plebian than my own, and who does not possess a hundred pounds to gild her degradation."

"That is not very likely to happen," said Mrs. Allison; "what motive could he have to marry a portionless girl of obscure family, when he objected to ally himself with a rich one merely on account of her want of birth?"

"Lawyers say," replied Miss Garston, "prove to us the deed, and we will find out the motive." " Mrs. Allison was about to ask, "But how will you manage to bring about the deed that you talk of proving?" but she checked herself in time, she felt that it was not in accordance with her vocation to bandy repartees with her patroness.

"Perhaps after all," she said, "Lord Alfred is fettered by the plans and schemes of his mother and sister to marry him to his cousin, Lady Adela Sefton."

ness; she was engaged in the discussion of an
exquisite ragout, and considered it a balm to all
the cares of life; nor must my readers censure
Mrs. Allison too severely. I remember a ques-
tion was once proposed in company,
"Who is
the happiest of men?" and the cleverest person
in the room decided-"He who has the best
cook!" Now the dame de compagnie was not at all
clever, and must therefore be excused for think-
ing that the wounds of the heart might easily be
healed by the magic of vol au vents, soufflées,
and fricandeaux. The luncheon was removed;
the carriage came to the door, and Miss Gar-
ston enquired if her milliner had sent home a
pink satin mantilla which she had promised
her should be finished in time for her morning
drive. The answer was in the negative; and, al-
though tradespeople's promises, as all ladies
know, are as likely to be a subject of laugh-
ter to Jove as "lovers' perjuries," and although
Miss Garston's wardrobes were teeming with every
imaginable variety of wraps, from the furred cloak

first entrée into London society under the auspices of a parvenue like Miss Garston, but that she should visit the metropolis next year in becoming style, and with a proper chaperon," and the young lady dutifully acquiesced, and wrote a letter to the dear friend of her youth, declining her invita tion now and for ever. This letter Captain Malcolm delivered to Miss Garston; it was written

that the head of the writer was somewhat turned by her sudden elevation in the scale of society, and that she felt disposed to signify to her school friend her desire that they might be "better strangers."

Miss Garston knit her brow, folded up the letter without a comment, and gave the Captain an unmistakeable hint to depart, by observing, that "the trampling of her horses without showed that they were unusually impatient that morning." Miss Garston sighed heavily during the drive, and Mrs. Allison did not venture to address her, but occupied herself in thinking how delightfully easy the springs of the carriage were hung. Alas! disappointment and mortification rendered the equipage as uneasy as an Irish jaunting car to its fair owner.

of January to the lace scarf of July, she yet | thought proper to be violently aggrieved at her disappointment, and to declare that "she was destined to be ill-treated, and that the day was sure to prove full of calamities." Miss Garston's idea was not quite so ridiculous as it appears at first reading; let any one of us receive, for instance, a letter by the general post, containing bad tidings, and a succession of little annoy-in a cold, brief style; and it was quite evident ances will be certain to haunt us through the day; harp-strings will break, the wrong books will come from the library, and the wrong people send cards of invitation or notes of refusal; bores will bestow their tediousness on us in an unmercifully elongated morning visit; the lapdog will throw down a china vase, and the cat will commit petty larceny on the gold fish! Perhaps philosophers may say that these events might take place on any other occasion, but that when, like Miss Edgeworth's Rosamond, we are predetermined to endure a "day of misfortunes," we busy ourselves in looking out for them; be it so, I have nothing to do with the reason, I am only asserting the fact. A part of these annoyances was in store for Miss Garston; a morning visitor was announced, he was not a bore however, but a handsome young man whom she particularly wished to see. Captain Malcolm had just come from Scotland, where he had been staying with the family of Miss Glenallan. Now, Miss Garston had been at a finishing school with the Honourable Miss Gle-lish. nallan; and as, even in her girlhood, she had a great passion for aristocratic connexions, she had plied the noble young lady with presents and flatteries, which were very graciously received. Miss Glenallan had an only brother, who completely engrossed the affections of her father. Lord Glenallan's estates were small, but his personal property was large; and, under the plea that the latter would be required to supply the defects of the former, he unhesitatingly announced his intention of leaving all his wealth to his son, deeming his daughter amply provided for by a showy education, and her maternal five thousand pounds. Consequently, Miss Glenallan was well disposed, when she returned to Scotland, to correspond with Miss Garston, and to continue to receive expensive presents from her; and it had been a long standing promise that, when Miss Garston took a house in a fashionable square and mingled with the gaieties of the world, she should receive the honour of entertaining her aristocratic friend during the three months of a London spring. Miss Garston had boasted of this expected visit to Lord Alfred, and delighted herself with the idea that her friend would now be a star of considerable magnitude in the fashionable world. Miss Glenallan had lost her brother about a year ago, but, alas! the alter-side, and her beautiful chestnut ringlets waved ation which that loss had worked on the prospects of the young lady augured ill for the continuation of her school intimacy. The next heir to the estates was an unprincipled roué, with whom Lord Glenallan was not on terms; and his daughter was, therefore, the declared heiress of his large personal property, and suddenly became an object of vast importance in his eyes; he told her that "she must not commit herself by making her

The carriage had been ordered to the house of Mrs. Philipson, a celebrated artificial florist, who, strange to say, was thought to be as ingenious and clever as if she had been French, instead of EngMiss Garston had issued cards for a fête, and she was desirous that her rooms should be hung with wreaths of flowers, which were to be constructed in a novel manner under her own direction. Another minor disappointment awaited her. Mrs. Philipson was not at home, but she was expected in a few minutes, and Miss Garston condescendingly suffered herself to be shown into a neat front drawing-room to await her return. A minute had scarcely elapsed before the keys of a piano, in the back drawing-room, were touched with that light, caressing brilliancy which shows the ability of a performer at the first instant it greets the ear; a sweet symphony was then played, and a ballad sung in an exquisite voice, and in the purest taste. A difficult Italian air followed, the science of the singer was perfection. Miss Garston possessed no voice, to her great regret, for Lord Alfred Harleigh was a passionate admirer of singing; but her judgment was good, and it had been fostered by the instruction of the best masters, and the habit of hearing the best performers; she was quite aware that the singing in question was either professional, or well deserved to be so, and she could not resist the temptation of opening the folding-doors. An elegant girl rose from the piano; her bonnet was thrown on a chair by her

over a countenance of surpassing loveliness.

Miss Garston hastily apologized for her intru. sion, and withdrew; and the fair stranger, as if to show that she did not resent it, regaled the ears of her auditors with another exquisite song. Miss Garston was convinced that some forthcoming star in the musical world had engaged lodgings at Mrs. Philipson's, and felt very desirous to procure the aid of her talents for her proposed fête ;

Garston, "that even Lord Alfred Harleigh might behold a young lady with favour who was intro- | duced to him as the heiress of Lord Glenallan ?" Mrs. Allison could not restrain an exclamation of horror, even though she felt the pressure of her ring upon her finger, and beheld the sparkle of the diamonds. She was not a woman of decided abilities or strong principles, but she was neither weak nor wicked she saw the folly and liability to detection of such a plot, and she recoiled from the criminality of it." My dear Miss Garston," she said, clasping her hands, “do pray give up such an idea; you can never carry your plan into execution; it will certainly fail."

"Never," said Miss Garston: "I have a foreboding of success that I feel cannot deceive me."

"But success," persisted Mrs. Allison, "would be worse than failure. The whole truth of course must be discovered after the marriage, and then what opinion would the world form of you ?”

“A woman who wishes for revenge," returned Miss Garston, "cares very little about the opinion of the world.”

It was the day of Miss Garston's fête; Lord Alfred Harleigh was accosted in Regent Street by a lounger of fashion: “Shall I meet you at Miss Garston's to-night ?" asked the latter. "I hardly know what to say," replied Lord Alfred; "at one time I fancied myself very high in the good graces of Miss Garston, in fact higher than I wished to be, but latterly she has been quite cold and cruel to me, ordering herself to be denied to me more than once, when I was convinced she was at home. Yesterday, however, I received a most gracious smile from her in Kensington Gardens, and an intimation that she hoped I had not forgotten my engagement for to-night; therefore I suppose I must drop in for half an hour, especially as I hear that a young lady is staying on a visit with her, who is a most accomplished singer."

Lord Alfred Harleigh entered Miss Garston's splendid suite of rooms; they were brilliant with company and coloured lamps, and Mrs. Philipson had outdone herself in the wreaths of flowers that adorned them, but the great centre of attraction was the music-room. Thither Lord Alfred bent his steps, directed by the sweet, rich tones of a melodious voice, which an enraptured amateur by his side remarked--" was almost enough to comfort one for the marriage of Sontag." He gained his way to the side of the piano; the beauty of the lady's face at least equalled that of her voice: she concluded her song; he was on the point of ad

Mrs. Allison was quite perplexed for an answer: all the conventional pleas and arguments in her vocabulary seemed poor and inefficient to stem the mighty torrent of her patroness's fierce resentment. Luckily, at that moment the door opened, and a servant announced that Mrs. Philipson had been shown into Miss Garston's boudoir, at the same time ushering into the drawing-room a name-vancing towards her, forgetting all the forms of less and veiled young lady, whom Mrs. Allison society in his eagerness to pour forth his tribute of had no difficulty in concluding to be the phenome- admiration, but Miss Garston saved him from the non of the preceding day. Mrs. Allison gladly solecism he was about to commit, by taking the embraced the opportunity of entering into conver- band of the fair songstress in her own, and saying, sation with Miss Wilkins, earnestly hoping to find "Permit me to introduce Lord Alfred Harleigh to that there might be somewhat of gaucherie, shyness, my intimate friend, the Honourable Miss Glenor flippancy in her manner which would disqualify allan." Lord Alfred scarcely left the side of Miss her from acting up to the character of the Honour- Glenallan that evening, except for a happy tête à able Miss Glenallan. But she was doomed to be tête of a quarter of an hour with Miss Garston, disappointed. In the same way that Miss Wil-who told him that he must come very often in the kins discovered her musical proficiency merely by morning to practise duets with her friend, and fura rapid prelude on the keys of the instrument, she ther delighted him with an account of Lord Glenevinced her lady-like propriety of demeanour, allan's high descent and splendid establishment, even in the observations that she made upon the and enlarged upon the sweetness and excellence of common topics of the day. When she became disposition which Miss Glenallan had exhibited rather more familiar, she delivered her opinion on even from her earliest girlhood. Lord Alfred, insome new publications lying on the table, in a man- stead of limiting his stay to half an hour, proner which showed that she had read much and ❘ tracted it till coloured lamps and champagne had miscellaneously; and when, at length, she threw been superseded by sunshine and strong coffee, and back her veil, and discovered a countenance beau- till he had feasted his eyes on the unfaded lilies tiful enough to create a sensation at Almacks, and roses of Miss Glenallan's complexion, and Mrs. Allison could not but confess that any Scot- qualified himself to say with Lord Byrontish or English noble might be proud of such a daughter, and could only cling to the hope that the good feeling and good sense, conspicuous in every word uttered by the fair young governess, would induce her to shrink from the idea of being a party to the scheme of imposition devised by Miss Garston. In about an hour the stranger was summoned to the conference in the boudoir : half-an-hour more elapsed; Miss Wilkins and her aunt departed, and Miss Garston entered the room with a triumphant smile, which struck a chill to the heart of Mrs. Allison, and exclaimed, "In a few days I expect to receive my long-anticipated visit from Miss Glenallan!"

"I never knew but one (the stars withdrawn) Whose bloom could after dancing dare the

dawn!"

Some weeks elapsed; Lord Alfred Harleigh was the devoted slave of Hannah Wilkins; his mother and sisters were anxious for an introduction to the beautiful and high-born young heiress, whom they considered a most desirable connection for him; and Miss Garston had the long-coveted and longwithheld honour of welcoming to her mansion the haughty Marchioness of Delfield, and the dignified Ladies Harriet and Esther Harleigh; she exulted