THE SMUGGLER. 289 



even in the best society, as it is called. Nine times out of 

 ten, there is one dear friend to whom everything is revealed; 

 and that dear friend has others ; and at each remove, the bond 

 of secrecy is weaker and more weak, till the whole world is 

 made a hearer of the talc. Now Edith's maid was a very 

 discreet person ; and when she promised not to reveal what 

 she had heard, she only proposed to herself to tell it to one 

 person in the world. Nor was that person her lover, or her 

 friend, or her fellow-servant ; nor was she moved by the spirit 

 of gossip, bnt really and truly by a love for her young lady, 

 which was great,; and by a desire to serve her. Thus, she 

 thought, as soon as she had shut the door, " I will tell it to 

 Miss Zara, though ; for it is but right that she should know 

 how they are driving her sister to marry a man she hates, as 

 well she may. Miss Zara is active and quick, and may find 

 some means of helping her." 



The maid had not been gone a minute when she returned 

 with the short note which Sir Robert Croyland had left, and 

 as she handed it to her young mistress, she watched her coun- 

 tenance eagerly. But Edith took it, read it, and gazed upon 

 the paper without a word. 



"Pray, Miss Edith," said the maid, " are you likely to want 

 me soon; for I wish to go up to the village for something?" 



"No, Caroline, no," answered Edith, with an absent air; 

 " I shall not want you." And she remained standing with the 

 paper in her hand, and her eyes fixed upon it. 



The powers by which volition acts upon the mind, and in 

 what volition really consists, are mysteries which have never 

 yet, that I have seen, been explained. Yet certain it is, that 

 there is something within us which, when the intellectual 

 faculties seem, under the pressure of circumstances, to lose 

 their functions, can, by a great effort compel them to return 

 to their duty, rally them, and array them, as it were, against 

 the enemy by whom they have been routed, Edith Croyland 

 made the effort, and succeeded, She had been taken by sur- 

 prise, and overcome; but now she collected all the forces of 

 her mind, and prepared to fight the battle over again. In a 

 few minutes she became calm, and applied herself to consider 

 fully her own situation. There were filial duty and tenderness 

 on one side, love and a strong vow on the other. "He has 

 gone to tell Mr. Radford that I have consented," was her first 



