conclude necessary: this I know, if these people stay here to-night, I shall remain in my own room." Ellen carefully and anxiously attended to all she said, yet this discourse gave her no clue by which to unravel the mysterious speeches of St. Aubyn. After spending an hour in the nursery, both ladies returned to the drawing-room, and sent a servant to know if coffee should be carried into the study, or if Lord St. Aubyn and his guests would join the ladies. Orders were given for tea and coffee in the study; and Lady Juliana could not restrain her curiosity enough to refrain asking who was with Lord St. Aubyn: from the servant she learned that the party consisted of his Lordship, Mr. Mordaunt, his clerk, and two strange gentlemen, one elderly, the other young, and apparently in ill health. This confirmed her surmises, and soon after tea, not wishing to see Lord De Montfort, should he make his appearance, she retired to her own room, leaving Ellen and Laura together, with a strict injunction to the former not to be kept up too late. Ellen's anxiety made her somewhat silent; and Laura, never very talkative, easily fell into her present humour, so that for some time very little conversation passed between them. Laura was netting, and Ellen attempting a drawing; but her hand was unsteady, and her attention divided, therefore finding she should not succeed, she threw down her pencil, and listened in silence to a loud equinoxial wind, which howled around, and shook with "murmur not unlike the dash of ocean on his sounding shores" the ancient trees which grew near the mansion. A chilling sensation insensibly stole upon her, and at length, to break the melancholy silence of the apartment, rather than that she wished to speak, she said, "'Tis a rough night, and cold." "Yes," said Laura; and they both drew nearer the fire. "Do you know Lord De Montfort?" asked Ellen. "I have seen him when a boy," replied Laura, "and think I should know him again, though six or seven years make a great alteration at his age." "Was he handsome?" "Yes, but not so much so as his sister." "Is he like her?" "A little, but of a darker complexion: her's was a clear lively brown; dark hazle eyes, full of spirit, and indeed at times of scorn, a Grecian nose, full lips, the upper one curled a little, which gave a haughty air to her countenance; Edmund was thinner, paler, and his eyes had a softer look." "Edmund is his name?" "He has a long list of names, according to the Spanish custom; but his sister always called him Edmund, which was his father's." "I wonder whether we shall see him?" "Of course,--I suppose so," said Laura, with some surprize: "it is too late for him to quit the Castle to-night, and he will without doubt pay his compliments to you before he departs." "I think," replied Ellen, "from what Lady Juliana said just now, that St. Aubyn and Lord De Montfort are not on very good terms, that made me doubt whether he would stay the night."