nothing to awaken hope or apprehension. Go Naturally graceful, whatever there might be of where she might, Henry would be ever present gaucherie, in her simple manners, seemed to bewith her, and she with him. She felt as if, with come her. Stocks and posture-masters are for the his burning words, his exalted and intrepid spirit | use of the awkward, corsets, tournures and pads had entered into her soul, and become a part of for the badly formed, and rouge and pearl-powder her. She felt that God indeed had made them one, for those whose complexions need the aid of art. and her heart rejected, as adulterous, any thought | But the beautiful and graceful need no such sophiswhich would not have been pardonable, had her tication, and the cheerful, amiable and intelligent, faith been plighted at the altar, in the face of Hea- gifted by nature with acuteness and tact, are at ven and earth. once at home in every society. They conform to In a review of what had passed, Henry saw no its laws as if in obedience to the promptings of thing that it seemed his duty to reveal to his fa- instinct; and their accidental departures from usage ther. He had brought Gertrude under no engage- and convention, are received as improvements on ment. He had merely devoted himself to a course established forms. The laws of society are like of life, and a purpose which others might deem grammars and dictionaries of the vernacular tongue, romantic and extravagant, perhaps presumptuous, made for the use of those who cannot learn the and there was no need that any other should be language without such aid. But the man of genius admitted to his thoughts, and put in condition to and taste knows that these works are based on the compare his high aspirations with the feeble and authorities of writers of the very class to which he unavailing efforts to which they might prompt. belongs, and, without condescending to the instrucHis secret was hid in his bosom; and it could only tion of pedagogues, takes his place among those be seen that, from that night, his views were lof- who give the law to language-invents new idioms, tier, his purposes more definite, his measures bol- and coins new words, and makes mankind his der, his spirit more enthusiastic, and his whole debtor, by giving a voice to thought not heard becharacter roused to new energy. A force of mind, fore. Thus, too, an elegant and accomplished not before suspected, was developed; and he rush- woman places herself above the authority of forms ed forward in the career of life with a vigor and and usages; in departing from them she improves rapidity, compared with which his former progress them; she seems to "catch a grace beyond the seemed but the measured step with which the racer reach of art" and becomes "the glass of fashion advances to the starting post. and the mould of form." CHAPTER IV. Gertrude Courtney was one of these gifted beings, and the impression she made on the brilliant circle into which she was now introduced, filled her with delighted amazement. She was not-no A cordial and flattering welcome awaited Ger-woman can be-indifferent to such things; and the trude in Washington. Her aunt, Mrs. Pendarvis, first time that she retired to her chamber, after a perfectly understood the situation and circumstan- fashionable soirée got up by her aunt to welcome ces of Dr. Austin and his family, and was well her appearance; as she stood before the glass to aware that her sister was desirous that her daugh- remove the ornaments from her jewelled hair, she ter's career should speedily terminate in marriage started at beholding a form of light, that seemed to to a man of worth and especially of wealth. This belong to another sphere. There it stood, robed wish, so natural and so reasonable, Mrs. Pendarvis in the hues of the sky, the cheek glowing with exsaw no reason to condemn, and was happy in an citement, the lips smiling and parted, as if to utter opportunity to aid in its accomplishment by any the thoughts of a beatified spirit, and the eye honorable means. To her therefore, at her own beaming with unearthly brightness. Could this request, had been committed the task of ordering glorious image be the reflection of herself? She dresses and selecting jewels. In each of these a must test the reality of what she saw. She smiled, sumptuary limit had been prescribed, Mrs. Pendar- and the smile was answered. She waved her vis claiming, in every particular, the right to trans- snowy hand and rounded arm; she parted the ringcend it at her own expense, and Mrs. Austin being lets on her sunny brow. The figure did the same, quite willing that she should do so. Such, in the and, in each action, displayed new beauties; she end, was the result of the magnificent tastes, and stretched forth her arms as if to embrace the bebenevolent generosity of Mrs. Pendarvis, that Ger- ing that seemed rushing to meet her embrace; but true, who left at home nearly the whole of her the envious glass interposed, and they folded on her simple country attire, found herself suddenly the bosom in all the rapture of delighted and innocent mistress of a wardrobe splendid beyond her con- self-admiration. ception. She had never before visited a city; but the intelligent and polished circle in which she moved at home, had made her familiar with all the established forms and maxims of general society. In the thoughts of that delicious moment, Henry Austin had no part. In the figure before her, she saw nothing to identify it with the simple country girl, who, but three nights before, had rested her head upon his trusting bosom. Then she thought | young lady, and she was happy in the thought that Now, self was her cherished friend, so endowed with the gifts of nature and fortune, might chance to make the desired impression. Scarcely had she laid her head upon her pillow, when this reflection occurred to her, and bitterly The morning came and Gertrude looked in vain did she weep at the thought. She had not been in her mirror for the same brilliant figure that had unfaithful to him, even in imagination; but she had dazzled her eyes the night before. She was paler forgotten him, and the disparaging comparisons, and her countenance was somewhat sad; but others which she had expected to draw between him and might have seen, though she saw it not, a softened those by whom she was now surrounded, had not beauty in her meek and downcast eye, that might been made. She had, in truth, been pleased-de- belong to that higher realm, where rapture is mellighted. Some of the happiest moments of her lowed into holy bliss. She selected her simplest life had passed, and no part of her happiness had apparel; her hair was plainly parted on her brow; flowed from him; and no care of his happiness had and she entered the breakfast-room, with an air so occupied her mind. She felt guilty, she knew not gentle, so modest, so humble, that Col. Harlston, of what. She was sunk in her own estimation, who was already there, felt assured that the charms for the moral reflection of herself, as seen in the which had bewitched him the night before were stillness of the night, had none of the unearthly but the least of her attractions. To his eye she beauty of the figure she had beheld in her mirror. seemed formed to realize the beautiful idea of the She shrunk from the thought of being continually exposed to influences which might change her into a being so different from that her Henry loved; and heartily did she wish that she had not given of human nature. her promise to ride the next morning with Col. Scottish maiden, when, after having been bathed in the purifying waters of fairy-land, she returned to earth, freed from all the infirmities and passions In this mood Gertrude felt little interest in the Harlston in his phaeton., But there was no re-business of the morning and promised herself no tracting. Colonel Harlston was a bachelor, in the prime of life, a member of Congress of respectable talents and unquestionable honor, handsome, of a high aristocratic family, agreeable manners and great wealth. His sense of these advantages was manifested no otherwise than by that quiet pride which sits so gracefully on a well bred and modest man, and is the surest indication of essential worth. In his feelings there was nothing mercenary, and the idea of any thing mercenary in affairs of the heart was abhorrent to his principles. He was the last man in the world to think of marrying beneath him, but in estimating the merit of a lady he was not one to take money into the account. In short, he was a man of high honor and great merit, and no mother could desire a more fortunate match for her daughter. pleasure in the fashionable dejeuner, to be followed by a drive of all the assembled company, to see the little that is worth seeing, in that great city of dust and distances. But she rated her pretensions too low, to think that she had a right to yield to all the impulses of her feelings, and to suppose that others were bound to think her very agreeable, or even to bear with her, while doing nothing to contribute to the satisfaction of the party. She readily seconded the efforts of those who tried to rally her spirits, and was so far successful, that, by the time the equipages drove to the door, she had an eye to admire their splendor, and a heart to find pleasure in being whirled along in the most beautiful of old-fashioned vehicles, a phaeton drawn by four superb bays. When placed by Col. Harlston, she felt the propriety of cultivating such a state of feeling as might make her conversation These qualities had already secured to him agreeable to him; and thus her own sense of prethe friendship of Mrs. Pendarvis, and made him a sent duty engaged her to keep down those thoughts favorite object of her extensive and elegant hospi- and sentiments, which, but the night before, she tality. He made one in all her parties; he had had fondly vowed to cherish at all times and under the entrée of her house; as he rose in her esteem all imaginable circumstances. Thus it is that woher manner towards him daily wore more and more men, often placed, by causes over which they have the air of kindness, until he had learned to look no control, in false positions, are condemned to upon her as a sincere and valuable friend. In all stifle their deepest convictions, and to disengage this she had no views for herself or any other; themselves for the time from those fixed principles but when the proposed visit of Gertrude was an- of thought and action, so necessary to consistency, nounced to her, it inevitably happened that she respectability and happiness. In his intercourse thought of the possibility that he might not be in- with the other sex, man is always the regulator of sensible to the charms of her niece. Of these circumstances, and thus master of himself. He indeed she had heard so much, that such a result is free to choose his company, his occupations and seemed quite probable. The great difficulty, as amusements, all of which, in the case of a young she had learned from Mrs. Austin, was to find one woman, depend on the choice of others. Passive, capable of exciting an interest in the mind of the yielding and accommodating from the necessity of her position, the very excellence of her nature love misery, and, without the means of doing these makes her the victim of the artful or inconsiderate things, she felt as if she must be miserable. So measures of those who thus regulate her destiny. she thought in her own case, and so she was apt In the conversation of Col. Harlston there was to think for others. She loved her sister. She nothing of that rich fund of thought to which Ger- remembered to have loved her niece as a child; trude was accustomed, and which made that of and now that she saw her an amiable, beautiful Henry at once interesting and instructive. Had and fascinating woman, she found herself drawn it been so, it might have justified a more favorable toward her, almost with a mother's love. The opinion of him, but it might also more frequently heart puts forth its affections, like the filaments of have reminded her of the friend that was away, a creeping plant, which stretch themselves around thus provoking comparisons, which partiality would in quest of their appropriate objects. Not finding not have failed to make disadvantageous to her these, they wither and die; but others again spring companion. Had there been any thing to awaken forth, and darkly grope after that to which they tender and romantic sentiments, those sentiments may cling. Such is the feeling of maternity. It would have carried her away to her rural home. belongs to the sex, and appears even in infancy. She might have sighed, but her sighs would have It next displays itself to younger brothers and sisbeen for Henry. But the small talk, the badinage, ters; and to the last, it reconciles the unfortunate the raillery, the little gossip, and all the conven- old maid to coldness and neglect, if she can but tionalities of a man of fashion had no such effect, get leave to love the children of those who slight and struggling as she did to shake off a load from her. It preys upon the spirits of the childless her spirits, this strain of conversation was more wife, and suggests all sorts of caprices, and seeks amusing, and more acceptable than any other. a succedaneum sometimes in lap-dogs and kittens, She was wiled away from herself-cheated into self-complacency, and returned from her excursion with a heightened color, a brighter eye, and renovated spirits. She had found Col. Harlston very agreeable, but she felt that she only looked upon him as a gentleman and a pleasant companion, and that, even when most interested in his entertaining conversation, her thoughts had often turned to her lover. Thus finding nothing to reproach herself with, she was restored to perfect composure and serenity. The afternoon was spent in writing to her mother. The thoughts uppermost in her mind were such as she dared not communicate, and the little occurrences of the day necessarily formed the staple of her letter. These it was not prudent to exhibit in the same light in which they appeared to her more sober thoughts. It was in better taste too to paint them couleur de Rose, and by doing this, their seducing influence on her mind was renewed and strengthened. CHAPTER V. sometimes in flowers, painting, embroidery, or any thing which may be recognized as its own creation. To such the desire to appropriate the children of others is irresistible, and a lovely orphan, or the child of a poor relation is received as a god-send. It was this strong instinct, in the heart of Mrs. Pendarvis, that fastened upon Gertrude, who seemed designed by Providence to supply to her the place of children of her own, and her interest in the future welfare of the poor girl seemed hardly less intense than that of her own mother. She herself indeed lived in affluence, but without the means of making a permanent provision for her niece. On becoming a widow, she had commuted all her interest in her husband's estate for an ample life annuity; and to this she had so exactly adapted her charities, her benevolences, and the scale of her establishment, that each successive year left her neither richer nor poorer than it found her. Her death, of course, must put an end to all the resources which others found in her bounty; and she therefore had as much reason as Mrs. Austin herself to wish to see Gertrude respectably and comfortably settled in life. To this purpose her aid had been invoked, and she prepared to lend it by all means consistent with the high duties which, in her estimation, woman owes to herself, to her sex and to society. The efficiency of Mrs. Pendarvis's coöperation was not less than her zeal. No woman could be better suited to the task she had undertaken. Her Mrs. Pendarvis was a kind, benevolent woman, cheerful in temper, social, hospitable, bountiful. But she was a woman of the world. Society was the element necessary to her existence, and the laws of society were the laws of her second nature. The very kindness of heart, which made her seem indifferent to money, did but give her a arrangements had all been made in advance. The deeper sense of its value. Her enjoyments were very existence of Gertrude was kept concealed all expensive. She could neither indulge her hos- from the gentleman whom above all she wished to pitable spirit, nor advance the prosperity of a friend, see captivated by the charms, and successfully nor do an act of charity without money. She seeking the favor of that young lady. There was was as free from selfishness as belongs to the na- no need to cultivate new acquaintances, to form ture of woman; but the most disinterested do not' new intimacies, to change the fashions of her I have felt it to be an act of justice to give this sketch of the character of Mrs. Pendarvis; as I am not sure, that it will be fully developed by the history of transactions in which she was herself deceived, while seeming to deceive. The other characters I shall introduce to the reader may be left to display themselves. house, or to enlarge the sphere of her hospitality, | But there was nothing in this to prevent her from or her style of entertainment. Dinners, balls, cordially cooperating with her sister, in the attempt routes, dejeuners and soirées were in the ordinary to give such a direction to Gertrude's affections as course of things, and Gertrude fell into the system might lead to the enjoyment of all the comforts of as a mere accident, in reference to whom nothing affluence, as well as the delights of love. appeared to have been done or intended. Indeed Mrs. Pendarvis was notoriously no manœuvrer, but a woman of the greatest openness and sincerity. Kind, affable and cordial in her manners, she professed no friendship that she did not feel, and never affected to find pleasure in any thing that did not please her; and, least of all, in the society of the dull, the illiterate, the common-place, or the vulgar. The little party at which Gertrude had first seen Magnificent in her habits, splendid in her tastes, Col. Harlston was arranged before hand to take aristocratic in her feelings and notions, independent place the day after her arrival. No trumpet was in her circumstances, and confident in the attrac-blown before her, and as the weather had delayed tion of her manners, person and conversation, she her a day longer than had been expected, her very felt sure of her place in society, without the least existence was unknown to the gentleman until, on wish to occupy any other. She courted none, but his entrance, Mrs. Pendarvis said to him, with a to those who pleased her she knew how to be gracious but careless smile, "My niece, Miss pleasing, while, regardless of the wealth or station Courtney, Col. Harlston." Having said this, she of all others, she bore herself toward them with left things to take their own course. an air graceful and courteous indeed; but in which they were sensible of a something that made it impossible to enter the charmed circle within which her friends and favorites revolved around her. tain that Gertrude would see enough of the gentleman, to enable her to discover and appreciate his merit; and so highly did Mrs. Pendarvis estimate that, as not to doubt that any lady whom he should distinguish by his preference, might be honestly expected to return his affection. In one particular she plainly saw, that her wishes had not been disappointed. The charms of Gertrude had manifestly not been lost on the Colonel. The different phases of her character, exhibited in Mrs. Pendarvis was a right-minded woman. the exciting gaiety of the evening party, the sober She had loved her husband and been happy in his decorums of the dejeuner, and the sprightly conlove, and had never learned to think that merce-versation of the morning drive, were all fascinanary considerations should ever drive a lady into ting, for all were graceful, and, at the same time, the arms of any but the man of her choice. Yet obviously simple, natural, unaffected. It was cershe was prudent and no enthusiast, and honestly believed that the heart is not so absolutely independent of the sense of duty and the faculties of reason and prudence that there may not be room for the exercise of some judgment, in the very act of falling into love. Of one thing she was sure:that there is much in the power of those who are Even in London a new face is said to produce entrusted with the choice of a young lady's asso- an excitement; but in a place like Washington, ciates, and that to the neglect or abuse of that haunted, from year to year, by the same set of huspower are to be attributed many of those indis-band-hunting damsels, the advent of a lovely creacreet alliances which are commonly charged to ture, like our Gertrude, was a subject of intense the imprudence of youth. The parent chooses the interest. That evening the door-bell of Mrs. daughter's company, has constant opportunities to Pendarvis was rarely silent, until a quiet "not at observe the tendencies of her inclinations, and full home" had sent away the whole tribe of visitors, power to withdraw her from pernicious influences. and left the ladies to the calm enjoyment of a doWho is to blame, if she becomes enamored of a mestic téte a tête. In this Mrs. Pendarvis acted man who should never have been admitted to her not less from judgment than inclination. She had presence; of a libertine, whom her brother intro- no mind that the taste of Gertrude for the pleasures duces as his esteemed friend; of a shallow cox- of fashionable society should pall by too hasty encomb, whom her father treats as if he were a man joyment; nor that her power to please should be of sense, when he might have drawn him out, and lost by the flagging of her jaded spirits. Above exposed him in her presence, so as to make her see and despise his folly? So reasoned Mrs. Pendarvis. Her natural kindness and sympathy would have made it difficult for her to stand between two hearts burning to be united; and her delicacy and The ladies then quietly plied their needles, and, pride of sex would never have endured the thought secure from interruption, talked of absent friends of forcing a pure-minded woman into the arms of and household anecdotes. one whom her heart did not own as its master. kindness of Mrs. Pendarvis soon made its way to all she wished to show herself chary of the jewel she possessed, and determined not to cheapen its value in the estimation of others, by keeping it constantly before their eyes. The frankness and "I am the elder of the two," said Miss Bernard: "a perilous confession for a spinster; and you must allow me the privilege of seniority to make the first advances. Gertrude, did you say?" turning to Mrs. Pendarvis, "Is that the name ? Well, mine is Laura, and you must call me so. We wont waste time, first in ceremony, then in dispensing with it, and then in apologies for having done so. We are friends from this moment. Gertrude's heart and banished all constraint. She| Gertrude certainly had none such; and, with a soon felt as if she had known her aunt all her life, moistened eye, she returned the pressure of Miss and thus unconsciously displayed all the beauties Bernard's hand, and again held up her rosy lips of her temper, heart and mind. In these Mrs. for the proffered kiss of peace and love. Pendarvis found all that she could desire in a daughter, and while she gazed and listened with delight, she secretly vowed to accomplish for her charming niece a destiny as brilliant as her various merit. The time for retirement was near at hand, when unexpectedly the door-bell tinkled, and presently a servant entered bearing a card. "A lady, Madam." But he had hardly spoken the words when Mrs. Pendarvis was on the stairs, and Gertrude immediately heard the voice of cordial welcome, answered with the bird-like laugh and cheerful ringing tones, that can only issue from the lips of a young woman. And so it proved, for in a few moments Mrs. Pendarvis returned, conducting a lady both young and beautiful, in a fashionable and rich travelling dress. "My niece, my dear. My friend, Miss Bernard, Gertrude." Gertrude rose to meet the new comer, who approached her hastily, and then, checking her step, gazed on her with an expression of intense admiration, and then, advancing more slowly, took her hand, and kissed her, with a tenderness that went to Gertrude's heart. "We shall be friends: I am sure we shall," said Miss Bernard, still holding Gertrude's hand. "But bless me, Mrs. Pendarvis, what a surprise you have prepared for me! Why did you not tell me of this ?" "I thought I had," said Mrs. Pendarvis with surprise. "Did I not invite you to meet my niece? I think I mentioned it in my note." But "O yes! You said you expected a niece. such a niece! I came expecting to see a genuine country cousin. But here !!" "I could but tell you what I knew. I have not seen Gertrude since she was a child, and you may see that she has in fact so much of the country cousin about her, that her face is burning at praise, even from a lady's lips, such as would hardly call a blush to your cheek if offered by a gentleman." "I hope Miss Courtney will pardon my rudeness," said Miss Bernard, again taking Gertrude's hand gently, and with an air of deferential tender"I hope she will pardon me. I have indeed been enough in society to learn to value the compliments of coxcombs at their true worth, but not enough to repress my feelings always when I ought. When Miss Courtney has heard as much hollow flattery as I have, the recollection of a burst of sincere admiration, even from one of her own sex, may seem like a green oasis in the waste of memory." ness. In uttering these last words, Miss Bernard's voice assumed a tone so slightly pathetic, that to the most practised attendant on the theatre it would not have suggested the least suspicion of art. Are we not?" And here again the rattling, reckless voice sunk to that "deep yet melting tenderness of tone," which goes, at once, from heart to heart. "We will be friends; and I will teach you as much as you ought to know of the ways of this bad world, and you may teach me, if you can, what, once unlearned, I fear is never learned again, the sweet simplicity that baffles art and triumphs over it." For this once art triumphed over simplicity. The heart of Gertrude was won, and she retired to rest, happy in the acquisition of a friend so intelligent, so kind, and doubtless so sincere. [To be continued.] Seen where the spray clouds sever. Thou takest the irrevocable leap, Niagara, Calm in thy conscious power, Rich with tribute from five broad lakes, Niagara, The waiting ocean's dower; As when thou first wast made. Beautiful art thou to the eye, Niagara, But more with thy mighty voice, Niagara, Thou mov'st me with delight. There is no harshness in thy varying tones: |