478 
trinket I wore, dogged my steps, till, mistaking 
my way, I was at their mercy; and then they 
would have robbed me, It a policeman, who was 
fortunately near, had not Interposed and protected 
me. l was so ashamed ot this escapade, that, 
drew upon me my father's severest rebuke, as welt 
as Mrs, Hurst’s, that I have never been able to 
bear to have It mentioned.” 
6G55 
“ Then you have not been known at, any time by 
the hackneyed name of Smith?" cried Noel, gaily, 
for this Btmple confession had swept away the only 
cloud that had ever rested on the ralr fame or his 
HUllan, 
“Never! Nias It to this you alluded the other • 
day 7 You spoke of the name 1 then bore, and I 
jumped to the conclusion that you had known me 
all along as Ada Carlsforde. How hasty, bow mls- 
talceu I have been. Yet, If you knew how syste¬ 
matically I have been deceived-” 
“By dement Trauforth? I guessed as much, 
yet knew not how to convince you of his baseness. 
Herr Rudolslieim. wbo studied him closely, be¬ 
lieved that he was artfully endeavoring to win his 
way into your favor, by makiug you believe that 
every one else was wronging you. Was It so ?” 
“ Alas ! yes; and he was so plausible, tbat I was 
harassed and bewildered between my reluctance 
to third; 111 of you, and the apparent candor and 
truth of his assertions.” 
“ My millan, more experienced people than you 
and I might have been duped by this clever gen¬ 
tleman. The Hen' said he was bold enough to 
meditate wooing you. Ha! he has done this also, 
the scoundrel! amjyou, HUllan?” 
“ Repulsed him. with the scorn he merited; for 
when he spoke of marriage, my eye3 were opened; 
or If a doubt still remained, it fled when he threat¬ 
ened me with the loss of my inheritance if I re¬ 
fused to be his." 
“He did this!” exclaimed Noel, clenching his 
hand. “ He shall yet he made to rue his inso- 
16QC6 V* 
“ Nay," said HUllan, softly; “ why should we 
he angry with him 7 But for his threats I should 
not have discovered that this tiresome estate, 
which has been such a burden to me, Is not mine, 
but yours." 
“Say ours, love—ours!” 
HUllan smiled a happy smile, as she responded : 
“Ah! but you would never have said this It 
Clement Dunforth’s threat had not led to my com¬ 
ing here to-night. Oh! Noel, you have been very 
proud—unkindly so!" 
" Honorably so, love; and this Is my reward I” 
He was taking It from her Ups, when Irene ran 
In, to cry out first In astonishment, then In delight 
and hug her relative tUl Miss Carlsforde was forced 
to pray for mercy. Mrs. Estcourt was rather em¬ 
barrassed when she learned the true name of the 
HUllan Gray whom, as a dependent, she had des¬ 
pised. and often snubbed; but, as the warm-heart¬ 
ed girl was too generous to notice her confusion, 
she soon overcame It. 
As HUllan positively refused to relum to Carls¬ 
forde Park untU she went there as Its owner’s 
bride, Mrs. Hurst was persuaded to remain In Lon¬ 
don. She found plenty of amusement, however, 
in selecting the trousseau of her niece, who was 
even more pleasantly occupied in assisting Noel to 
carry out arrangements for the comfort of his step¬ 
mother, and the education of her children. 
Once, as tney came out of a jeweller’s shop, 
where they had pleased themselves with selecting 
some ornaments for Irene, clement Dunforth acci¬ 
dentally Jostled against them. Never at a loss, he 
lifted his hat to Ullllan, and nodded familiarly to 
Lord Carls'orde; but bis lip was savagely bitten 
as, without appearing to notice him, they walked 
on. Ills artfully-laid schemes, Instead of benefiting 
himself, as they were Intended to do, had proved 
the means or bringing together the persons he had 
left no mean? untiled to keep apart. 
Irene had resumed her irlendly relations with 
Mias Jenkins, and learned u om her that Clement 
Dunforth would have gladly returned to his old 
allegiance, but she had long ceased to feel a spark 
of affection for so fickle a lover, and would often 
laughingly declare that she was destined to remain 
I 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 26 
single and be the good spinster aunt to the chUdren 
of her bi-others and sisters. 
She said something ot the kind In the hearing of 
Dr. Monsou, who never came to town wit hout find¬ 
ing an excuse for calling. 
“Remain single!” he echoed. “Not with my 
consent. Miss Estcourt. If 1 were not. conscious 
that It would be madness for an obscure country 
doctor, nearly twenty years older than you are, to 
offer himself, I should say- But. hallo! what’s 
this?” for Irene, crimson with blushes, was hiding 
her face on her brother's shoulder. “ Dare l hope? 
Speak for me, Lord Carlsforde—ask her If she wUl 
Indeed consent to be mlnel” 
Irene murmured something about mamma not 
being able to spare her, but when Noel—telling 
her ke would arrange that-put her hand into the 
delighted Doctor’s, It was not withdrawn; and 
when Dr. Monson proposed that Mrs. Estcourt 
should be prevailed on to surrender .Maggie to her 
sister's care, the cup or her joy was full. 
About this time, Major Blonhinson—Miss Carls- 
forde's guard I an —arrived in England, and with his 
consent the day was fixed for her marriage. She 
had never been abroad, except to make the busty 
visit to Rome, and the glimpse she had then caught 
of foreign scenery led her to express a wish to re¬ 
visit 1 taly • 1 1 was therefore agreed tha t their bridal 
tour should be a Continental one, and that they 
should contrive to visit Herr Rudolshelm either In 
going or returning. 
Noe) was hunting In his desk for the address the 
Herr had given him, whon from a corner he drew 
a yellow-looking envelope, at which ho gazed 
doubtfully for a minute, and then, with a gleam 
of recollection crosslug his face, threw It Into the 
lap of Ullllan, who sat beside him. 
“ Love, tills Is yours. I ought to have returned 
It sooner; but it Quite escaped my memory that it 
was in my possession. You must have dropped It 
when you paid one of your ghostly visits to the 
library.” 
“Ido not remember it,” she said, as she exam¬ 
ined the paper;“ but it may have been amongst 
some old letters of my mother’s, which I removed 
to my own escritoire. Ah! Noel, what have you 
given me ?” 
He turned quickly towards her as he heard the 
frightened exclamation. She had opened the en¬ 
velope, and was gazing at a certificate of the mar¬ 
riage of the late viscount, which had been cele¬ 
brated a second time as soon as he and his bride 
landed In England. 
“I am so glad—so very glad this was not found 
sooner 1” HUllan joyfully murmured. “ it can 
make no difference now. Even your pride, Noel, 
will not let It interfere with our happiness. NVe 
understand each other now too well to let the 
question of which has the greatest legal right to 
the estates disturb us." 
“Love, I am content; for though the world 
may misjudge me, I don't fear that you will,” 
was the reply, “You know that it is for your 
own dear self I wed you—not for money or land.” 
“ But, Noel, there is one thing still troubles me 
a little,” she said, presently. “In spite of all 
your klndhess, I cannot forgot that I am one of 
the plainest or women. Generous though you are, 
will it not sometimes cost you a pang when you 
hear those words whispered, and see people shrink 
from me because of my uncomely appearance?” 
“HUllan," was the reply, “your fears are mor¬ 
bid ones; and bo pray banish them. Have you 
yet to learn that it is not mere regularity of 
outline that makes a countenance beautiful? 
Your lather’s devotion to his fair young wife, 
and his passionate admiration of the loveliness 
that faded so soon, must have made him feel 
the disappointment keenly, when he saw that 
bis child resembled himself, and not her lost 
mother. But lor this he would have discovered, 
as I did at our first meeting, that this dear face 
had a charm of its own, far beyond the more out¬ 
ward prettiness that wins the eye, but not the. 
heart. I neither flatter nor exaggerate when I 
say thatio my sight you will always be fair.” 
And HUllan convinced by his earnestusss, was 
content; or If, in after days, her sensitive feeUngs 
on the subject of her appearance were stirred by 
some cbance-word or look, she had but to gazo 
into the eyes ot her lover-husband, to see there 
such unwavering tenderness, that she banished 
her unea.ilness. In the domestic felicity that was 
now her lot she almost forgot at last the misera¬ 
ble time when she hid herself frern the world, and 
never dared to hope that love or wedded happi¬ 
ness could ever bless the future of An Holy Girl ! 
THE END. 
THE SCANDALOUS LETTER. 
[Complete in Ten Chapter.'.] 
Chatter II. 
The grass-grown old garden was looking quite 
picturesque in the morning sunshine, and Olive 
had brought Nelson out to stroU up and down the 
gUstenlng, rain-washed paths, with her strong 
young arm for crutch. Pigeons were cooing and 
sunning themselves on the red-tiled roofs, dark 
branches and twigs stood out still and delicate 
against the fair blue sky, and in the ah- was that 
curious yearning that comes with the spring. 
“ The leaves wUl soon begin to bud,” Nelson said 
dreamUy. “Olive, what was that you were read¬ 
ing to me the other day about the ‘queer power of 
Art—that, when you wish to describe Its effect on 
you, you always take to describing something else 
—that you cannot be sure that a picture is not a 
beautiful melody or a verse of Tennyson's? ’ 1 
think this is a Mendelssohn morning, and the 
brown earth, and the crisp, wet grass, and the 
shadows and lights on the red roofs are the notes 
that make up a song without words." 
Olive smiled and laid her hand on the boy’s head, 
Nelson drew In a long breath of the cool, fresh air. 
“ I am so glad we are not going away to smoky 
Birmingham,” he said. “ But why do we stay 
here? Has the manager given you some more 
money?” 
6655 
“No, my dearest. But I will tell you why we 
have not gone away. Last night Dr. Yorke asked 
me a very serious question, and I begged him to 
give me till to-day to consider it.” 
“A question?” Nelson looked up with his old- 
young glance, and as he saw his sister's face he 
flushed up to the roots of his hair. “Olive,” he 
stammered, “It was not—that—that he wanted to 
take you away from me 7” 
" No, no, no 1” Olive knelt down In the sheltered 
garden walk, and put her arms round the boy In 
close embrace. “ Do you think that he could ask 
such a thing, or that I would listen to it? My 
dear, m.v dear!” And they kissed each other sol¬ 
emnly. “ Listen!” Olive went on, when they had 
reached the wooden bench at the end ot the gar¬ 
den, and were sitting hand in hand. “You know 
how kind Dr. Yorke is?” 
“ Don't I ? Olive, he is a brick! And I have 
seen this many a day tbat ho likes you very much, 
pretty Olive!”—stroking her blooming cheek. 
“ now would you like to live with him always— 
never to go traveling any more, but to have a 
home, and a room all to yourself full of music and 
pictures and books, where i should be with you, 
just the same as ever ?" 
“Oh, Olive!” Nelson’s face showed plainly 
enough what ho thought of such a prospect, and 
his slater's brightened as she saw his delight. 
“But”—he faltered and changed countenance— 
“lam very selfish; I had forgotten. The stage, 
the profession—you will never be happy In any 
other life.” 
“We shall be together still, my darling, and— 
Is the thought of what might happen It I were ill- 
even this accident of mine has emptied the bank, 
I am afraid.” 
“ And you have to work so hard. But still, to 
give up all your parts that you are so fond of, 
Olive—why should you, unless you like Dr. Yorke 
very much Indeed?" 
“I love you, Nelson,” Miss Carew said, tighten¬ 
ing her hold on his frail little hand. “And”— 
with a sad litllo laugh—" the stage will have no 
great loss in Olive Carew," 
“ But Indeed it will l” Nelson cried. “ And, if 
people did not think so, why should that Birming¬ 
ham manager have offered you so much money ?” 
“ Well, mi- dearest," she said lightly, tears start¬ 
ing to her eyes, “yon shall be audience sometimes 
when—I am married. We will shut ourselves up 
In your room, and you shall play a grand overture, 
and I will let down my hair and act! Won’t that 
be l'un ?" 
Nelson clapped his hands gleefully, and Just then 
a tall figure appeared at the end of the garden 
walk, and Olive knew that Ur. Yorke had come 
for his answer. 
“Time for my wine!" said Nelson, with his 
pretty old-fashioned delicacy, and, putting his 
arms round Ills sist er’s neck in a feeble little hug, 
he limped away, crying a cheery “Good morn¬ 
ing " to the Doctor. 
Miss Carew rose. A slender, brlgbtrhalred fig¬ 
ure, In her straight, black gown, she looked like 
some girl in a picture, against the vivid back¬ 
ground made by the green boughs and rhe old gray 
walls and red roof, with the pigeons fluttering and 
cooing overhead. And the sudden pallor that 
blanched her cheeks as she went w meet her lover 
made her look prettier than ever, Robert Yorke 
thought, as he took her hand In Ills. 
“1 am come for ray answer, Olive,” he said ab¬ 
ruptly, with grave, longing eyes looking down at 
her girlish face. “ Is It to be ‘ Yes ’ or ‘ No ’ ? My 
dear, don’t keep me In suspense." 
Olive smiled sadly, but Bho colored, too, and put 
up her hand nervously to play with her earring. 
• I have something to tell you,” she said, In a 
slow, reluctant way. “And after that It Is you 
who must say • Yes ’ or ‘ No.’ ” 
No 2 . 
