Scarcely considering whither he was going, he was in an instant before the folding doors of the hall. Coming out of the quiet and the dim light, the flare of the lamps, the whirl and con- fused motions, and the babel sounds of a ball- room, breaking suddenly upon him, blinded and confounded him. He pressed his brows hard together to recover his senses a little, and then entered the room. One who is unused to such scenes can scarcely tell his familiar acquaintances at first. Paul was in eager search of one, as he passed round the room close to the wall. He had just gone by without discovering her, when a well-known laugh, though louder than usual, made him suddenly stop. As he turned, Esther sprang forward in the dance as if going up into the air. A bright smile, full of pleasure, was in her face, as she gave Frank both her hands ; and as they bounded swiftly by Paul, without perceiving him, he saw the warm glow upon her cheek, her eyes turned a little upward, suffused and sparkling; her dark, floating curls rising, then just touching her snowy forehead, then lifted with the motion again, her bosom tinged with a delicate tint, and moving with a fluttering beat „ Heaven and hell!" said he to himself, "ye work side by side in this world, though with opposite intent." Every nerve in his body seemed to shoot and burn with electric fire. It passed off, and a sudden weak, sick feeling fol- lowed it, that he could scarcely stand. A cold damp stood on his pale brow and trembling hands. He drew behind a couple of gentlemen, who were talking together, looking on the dance, and leaned against the wall. For a while he dared not look up ; nor did he hear any sound till the conversation of the gentlemen suddenly drew his attention. „ What an exquisite figure, and how pliable and graceful," said one. "Every limb seems full of life." „ Yes," said the other, "and how sinuous the motions ; they run into each other like the swells of the sea. Oh, she's a very Perdita in the dance. And Frank was an elegant looking fellow before he went away, yet travel has im- proved him wonderfully. I would bet my head on't, that she is sighing this moment at thinking she said him nay, or had not waited to see him what he is now, that she might to-night unsay it again.' " Then she is a betrothed damsel, ha ? Poor girl, that she should be in such haste. I warrant ye, this dancing partnership will put thoughts into her head which a lover would hardly like finding there. It will be well for her by and by if she doesn't talk in her sleep." " If she can't teach her tongue silence then, 'tis a gone case with her already, for she was married long ago." "And what gallant knight won her? He must keep watch and ward, for in faith I'm half a mind to make off with her myself, could I bring her to it." „ No hard matter that, if report speaks her Lord truly. 'Tis a sort of Vulcan and Venus match, I'm told, and that he looks as black as if just out of a smithy; and is glum, and says nothing. By all accounts, they are dead oppo- sites in mind and body. She'll be on the wing all night, I vouch for it, and make up for the last month's caging." „ Poor girl, I pity her. But how could she find it in her heart to refuse Ridgley ? I should have thought that for a man like him, one asking would have been enough, any where." " Why, lord, she no more meant it, than she did to die a maid. The blockhead might have known she was a coquette, as everyone else did and that she was but teazing him. One with half an eye might have seen what a favourite he was with her. Why, she would have gone to church barefoot rather than not have had him. The fool took her in earnest, and went upon his travels, and she married to vex him. Silly things. Unless she wears the widow's stole they may pin their hearts out now— or else the stars must wink at it. But come away, I'll look no longer, lest I covet my neighbour's wife." — And off they moved, arm in arm, casting their eyes back upon Esther as they went. Every word they uttered entered Paul's soul. His brain felt to him tightened and hardened like sinews, with the dreadful thoughts that rose in his mind. In a moment, all the misgiving and surmises of his doubting and gloomy soul on which, till now, he scarcely dared send glance, were turned to certainties ; and his eyes fastened on them as if held by some charm. He pressed with his back against the wall with a look of horror ; and with fixed glaring eyes, as if crowds of spectres were rising up before him; and his hair stood up as if life were in it. Those near him observed his strange appearance, and drew softly back, looking at him and then at each other in silence, as if in wonder and fear at what they saw. He took no notice of what was passing, but seemed to be gazing on something terrible which none but he saw. The dancing had stopped, and a mysterious silence spread like a shadow over all that part of the room. Esther spoke in a clear, guy tone to some one by her. The sound struck his ear ; he gave a leap for- ward, his eye still fixed on the floor. — "Ha! are ye there ?" muttered he. — Presently a change seemed taking place in his mind, and he looked round him as if asking where he was. Mr. Waring, who observed something unusual had happened, went that way, and found Paul standing alone, his eye dull and wandering, his whole frame trembling, his lips livid, and the sweat standing in big drops on his broad, pale forehead. Seizing Paul by the arm, as he called him by name, and shaking him to rouse him, Paul started, giving the old gentleman a look of amazement. — " What mean ye, what's the mat- ter that you handle me thus? Ha, ha,— I did know you, old man. Your daughter's fair honest, is she not ; and loves her husband ah, truly, does she not? for she herself told him so.“
