consigned her to the tomb, that she appeared to sink into the embraces of death, like an infant hushed to repose on the bosom of its parent.

" I

As she was playing one evening on her harp, Madame S. abruptly entered the apartment. am come," she said, "to hurry you off to the assembly-rooms: my husband is elsewhere engaged, and you know that I cannot go alone." Rosalie soon found that all expostulation was vain, when it had been previously determined that she should go; and, though painful to her feelings, accompanied her lovely cousin to the ball. Her beauty immediately procured her partners, and the admirers of her graceful movements formed a complete circle round her. While paying slight attention to the compliments that were lavished on her person, the name of Mortimer was indistinctly pronounced. With the utmost anxiety she listened to the mention of that unfortunate nanie, and the following conversation ensued between two officers at her elbow. "Tis a foolish business, Ned; and 'faith I don't know how Mortimer will rid himself of the incumbrance. I did not, however, hear the amour from himself; for his confidential lacquey discovered and acquainted' me with the circumstance. He is now with the army on the Continent, completely moped to death' with the remembrance of the girl he seduced. Did you ever see her?"-"No," replied the other, "but

I have heard," fixing his penetrating eyes on Rosalie," that she was not unlike this lady." "If so," was the reply, "I should be inclined to plead guilty myself; but how will his intended relish such a libertine husband?" "Husband! What, is he married then?"

"Married!" exclaimed Rosalie, in a tone of voice that alarmed the company-"gracious heaven! is he married?" and, with a countenance of unutterable anguish, sunk senseless on the floor. Her cousin hastened to her assistance; every restorative was administered without success; and the insensible girl was conveyed home. On recovering from her delirium, she found herself surrounded by Madame S. and her domestics; and when made acquainted with the circumstances of her indisposition, she besought them to seek no explanation, as the secret must be guarded with existence. The agitation of her mind, with the knowledge of her approaching confinement, produced a renewal of delirium, which lasted for a considerable period; and when the fever had somewhat abated, the unhappy girl was delivered of a No father's blessing, no mother's caresses, welcomed in the birth of the little one; it was conceived in disgrace, heralded by ignominy, and viewed with detestation and contempt.

son.

The intelligence was speedily disseminated through the family; and Monsieur S., more tena

cious of his own character than apprehensive for his invalid, attacked her, as she lay helpless and weeping in her bed, with bitterest imprecations. Her disgrace hurt his peace-not so much for the effect it produced on the sufferer, as for the ignominy with which it sullied her relations. Attentive therefore to his own considerations, he strictly enjoined his family to conceal the transaction, and was with difficulty prevented from turning Rosalie, weak and unprotected, into the street. The only domestic, meantime, that was allowed to assist the poor victim in her illness, was an elderly woman, in whose countenance the traces of habitual cunning were discernible, and who daily assailed her with the most cruel reproaches.

She was roused one morning from sleep by the unexpected entrance of Monsieur S. and his wife. "Woman !" he exclaimed, with a look of infuriated passion, "you have destroyed the offspring of your disgrace; the child has been missing since yesterday, and you are suspected by the whole household." "I am innocent, indeed I am innocent," replied Rosalie; "O Edward, dearest Edward! by the happy days we have spent together, by the close link of affinity which binds us to each other, I entreat you to restore my child; though it is the herald of my ignominy, I can never survive its death." "I disbelieve your assertions," answered

her brutal relative, "and the circumstance of your innocence or guilt remains yet to be proved :—follow me, Emma," he continued to his wife, who remained lingering at the door; " you shall have no connexion with guilt, while I can prevent it." With these words he seized Madame S. by the arm, and, pushing her rudely to the door, closed the apartment. A renewed indisposition was the consequence of this unexpected accusation; and though one source of uneasiness was removed in the absence of the old woman who had hitherto attended her, she was frequently heard by the other domestics, in the intervals of delirium, to acknowledge herself the destroyer of her child. Such attestations of guilt perpetually recurring to the weak imagination of the servants, appeared a confession of the fact; and they no longer hesitated in branding her as the murderer. Rosalie, however, endured their reproaches with resignation; she felt that she had not long to live, and wished to die in charity with

all.

When enabled to leave her room, the story had obtained considerable circulation; and reaching the ears of justice, it was deemed expedient that the circumstances attending the loss of the child should be legally investigated; and so powerful was each statement of the domestics, that the mother was incarcerated for the wilful murder of her son. In

this state of utter desolation, without one friend to succour, or one heart to lament her end, the unhappy girl beguiled the hours of misery by an affecting appeal to her seducer.

"I mean not, Mortimer, to upbraid you with my ruin this letter, the last you will ever receive, is merely intended to convey my forgiveness; and to request that, from respect to my memory, you will make every exertion to recover our lost child. Should he ever be found, be kind to him when I am gone, for he has now no protector but yourself; and should his pretty smiles recall the image of Rosalie in her happier days of innocence, teach him sometimes to lisp her name, and dwell on her memory with fondness.

"Show him the haunts I loved; and, when warmed with filial piety, he climbs a parent's knee, pray that he may be happier than his mother. My father too, be a son to his old age, and amid the woods of Carrick Southey talk sometimes to him of his child. But tell him not to weep-tell him that we are separated to be again united, in a land where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.' For myself, I am dying, Mortimer; but you! oh, may you be happy, when the heart that loved you is cold, and when all that remains of Rosalie is the memory of her sufferings! But I can say no more: the prison-clock has just tolled the hour of midnight; and as to-morrow is appointed for my trial,