XVIII.—A Serious Chapter 153 XIX.—Leaves from a Lady’s Diary 161 XX.—The Sister of Mercy 170 XXI.—Ella 177 XXII.—The Proposal 184 XXIII.—Loved in Vain 193 XXIV.—Correspondence 200 XXV.—The Baronet 207 XXVI.—Three Months of Married Life 215 XXVII.—Fifth Avenue Hotel 225 XXVIII.—Shadows 230 XXIX.—Foregleams 236 XXX.—Conclusion 242 [Illustration] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ EVELYN TRAVERS; OR, +WANDERINGS OF A BEAUTY+. ---------- CHAPTER I. +INTRODUCTORY+ ALTHOUGH linked by no ties of kindred to the fair subject of this biographical sketch, the author may at least claim to have loved her with a love passing that of a sister—to have fully appreciated her rare endowments of mind and person, and, alas! to have had too frequent occasion to chide her girlish follies, and, in after life, to weep over her more womanly failings. Beauty has ever, and justly, been styled “a fatal gift.” From the classic Helen to the lovely and unhappy Mary Stuart, and in more modern times the matchless and queenly Antoinette of France all these, and others of lesser note, have furnished us with abundant examples of the cruel destiny of those who possess this much coveted distinction. For my part, I can only be too thankful for having been endowed by nature with a face which the most indulgent of my friends could but term pleasing, and which a casual acquaintance might call plain. Enemies I never had; I was not sufficiently handsome.