THE VEIL WITHDRAWN. 89 



Satanical pastime of table-turning and table-rapping, have stood 

 as a six-foot-thick wall to prevent any rotatory motion of the 

 said table towards herself, possessing not one atom of electricity 

 in her whole composition. 



Blanche Douglas, it need scarcely be said, unfortunately for 

 her own peace of mind and individual happiness, was a native 

 of the torrid zone, and therefore the very opposite in disposition 

 and character to Mrs. Harcourt. Like the young offshoot of a 

 vine, stretching forth its tender and pliant tendrils for support, 

 this young, warm-hearted girl (when bereft of the mainstay of 

 her childhood, in the person of Mrs. Barratt) looked around 

 for one to whom she could cling for comfort and sympathy in 

 her feelings, and love with the intensity of her deep and abiding 

 attachment. In Constance she had found a firm and warm 

 friend, to whom, as a sister, she could communicate all her joys 

 and sorrows ; but her feelings towards William Beauchamp had 

 become almost unintelligible to herself for some time past, Mrs. 

 Barratt's remarks occasioning a shyness and embarrassment 

 in her manner towards him, not before experienced, when 

 viewing him (which she had from an early age) as her brother 

 only. The veil was now withdrawn — she knew that she loved, 

 with the ardour of her first purest affections, him to whom she 

 could cling through life, as women only can and do cling to the 

 husband of their choice. 



On retreating to her room after her return from Mrs. 

 Compton's ball, Blanche carefully examined her pretty little 

 basket of flowers (Beauchamp's present), and every word and 

 look of his were recalled to her mind, as, pressing it to her lips, 

 she imprinted a fond kiss upon its glittering surface. 



" Yes, dear William," she exclaimed, " I will indeed treasure 

 this little trinket for your sake, although you are seldom absent 

 from my thoughts, and your love to me is far beyond all earthly 

 treasures." 



