"Ma'am," interrupted Mrs. Dalrymple's maid, entering the room, "Lady Burnham is at the door, waiting for you."

"I am not going out to-day," answered her mistress, rising. "I have changed my mind."

"Oh my patience!" uttered the maid, "what's this? Why, ma'am, it's never your bonnet !"

She stooped over the two pieces in astonishment: then she went to pick them up, but her mistress was too quick for her.

be

No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre: I fear the same may said of woman. "Bother the bonnet," was the undignified reply of Mrs. Dalrymple, as she kicked the pieces further away. Ann humbly followed them to the far-off corner, and there took them into her hands. "Reach me another bonnet," said Mrs. Dalrymple; "I think I will go, after all. What's the use of staying brooding in-doors?”

“Which one, ma'am?”

"Oh, I don't know. Bring some out."

Alice took her departure, as an array of bonnets, new and costly, were being displayed for her sister's difficult choice.

Mrs. Dalrymple went down, and took her seat in Lady Burnham's carriage. The latter was full of pleasurable excitement, and imparted to Selina some particulars she had learnt of the marriage festivities about to be held in a family of their acquaintance, to which they were both invited. Lady Burnham was then on her road to Madame Damereau's, to order a suitable toilette for it, one that would eclipse everybody's but the bride's. Mrs. Dalrymple, in listening, momentarily forgot her cares: when carried out of herself by the preparations for these pomps and vanities, she occasionally did so. Do not let the reader demur to the sense implied by "the preparations." It was only when carried away by the excitement of the preparations that she did so forget: in the enacting of the pomps and vanities themselves, when they were before her in all their glory, and she made one of the bedizened crowd, her nightmare was then sure to be upon her; the skeleton in the closet would, at those festive times, be exceeding prominent and bare. The reader may be a philosopher, a grave old F.R.S., very learned in searching out cause and effect: I am not so he will account for this much better than I shall, if he wants it accounted for.

From the discussion of the wedding programme, the breakfast in the morning and the ball in the evening, Lady Burnham proceeded to the attire: what she meant to wear herself, and what she recommended to Selina. Selina's mouth watered; and the carriage stopped at Madame Damereau's. Mrs. Dalrymple's orders there amounted to 901.

That same evening Mrs. Dalrymple was dressing for what Sam Weller's friend called a swarry, when her husband entered the room. "Selina, here's somebody down stairs, asking to see you."

"Who?" rejoined Mrs. Dalrymple, her pulses quickening; which they were apt to do now, at any similar vague announcement.

"A lady. Mrs. Cooper, I think James said when he showed her in. I came away, not knowing her."

Selina knew that there was a Mrs. Cooper in the establishment of Madame Damereau, a partner, she fancied, or book-keeper, something of that. She had seen her once or twice; a ladylike woman who had been reduced.

"Let Mrs. Cooper come up here," she said to the maid. we don't want you.'

Oscar,

"Thank you for telling me, Selina. I was not thinking to remain.” He passed into his dressing-room as he spoke, closing the door, and Mrs. Cooper entered.

"I come from Madame Damereau," she began, taking the chair that "She hopesSelina pointed to.

"For goodness' sake speak low!" interrupted Mrs. Dalrymple, in illconcealed terror. "Mr. Dalrymple is only in the next room, and I do not wish him to hear all my private affairs. These London walls are thin. She wants money, I suppose."

"She hopes, madam, that you will make it convenient to let her have some," said Mrs. Cooper, sinking her voice to a whisper. "A small portion of the bill."

66

"I expect I shall soon be able to do so," replied Mrs. Dalrymple. "Just now I cannot."

66

"That is but trifling, com

Only a few hundred pounds," she said. pared with the whole sum, which amounts now to

"Oh, I know what it amounts to, I can guess it, near enough," hastily interposed Mrs. Dalrymple. "In the course of a week or two I will see

what I can do."

Poor Selina, at her wits' end for excuses, had said "in the course of a week or two" so many times now, that Madame Damereau had got tired of hearing the phrase.

Mrs. Cooper hesitated, not much liking her errand. "She bade me say, madam, that she was extremely sorry to cause inconvenience, but that she cannot execute the order you gave to-day, unless she previously receives some money."

"Not execute it i" uttered Selina, with flashing eyes. mean by saying such a thing to me?"

"What do you

"Madam, I am but the agent of Madame Damereau. I can only speak as she requires me."

"True," answered Selina, softening; "it is not your fault. But I must bave the things. You will get them for me, will you not?" she said, in an accent of entreaty, feeling that she was speaking to a gentlewoman, although one who but held a situation at a milliner's. Oh, pray use your influence! get her to let me have them.".

66

Mrs. Cooper stood in distress, for she was one of those refined spirits who cannot bear to cause, or to witness, pain. "If it depended upon me, indeed you should have them," she answered, "but I have no influ

ence of that nature with Madame Damereau. She is not one to allow the slightest interference, on my part, between her and her ladies were I to attempt it, I might lose my place in her house, and be turned out again to struggle with the world,"

"Has it been a harsh world to you?" inquired Selina, pityingly. "Oh yes," was Mrs. Cooper's answer, "or I should not be where I am

now.

And I am thankful to be there," she hastily added: "I would not seem ungrateful for the mercy that has followed me in my misfortunes." "I think misfortunes are the lot of all," spoke Selina. "What can I do to induce Madame Damereau to furnish me these things?"

"Perhaps you had better call and see her yourself, madam," replied

Mrs. Cooper, relapsing into her ostensible position. "I will try and say a word to her to-night that may prepare her."

"I will see her to-morrow.

Thank you," replied Mrs. Dalrymple, ringing for Mrs. Cooper to be shown out.

:

Mrs. Dalrymple finished dressing and went forth to the evening's gaiety with what spirits she might. On the following day she proceeded to Madame Damereau's, but the interview, although Mrs. Cooper had said as much as she dared, was not productive of good. Madame was obstinate and obdurate. Not exactly insolent: she was never that, to her customers' faces but she and Mrs. Dalrymple both lost their temper, and the latter was impolitic enough to say some cutting things, not only in disparagement of Madame's goods, but about the "cheating prices" she had been charged. Madame Damereau's face turned seagreen, and the interview ended by her stating that if some money was not immediately furnished her, she should sue Mr. Dalrymple for the whole. Selina went away sick at heart; for she read determination on the incensed lips of the Frenchwoman.

Proceeding home and entering her own room, she threw off her things and sat down to think. She did not sit long: her mind was in a state that forbade it—a chaos, driving to desperate action.

"How is this woman to be pacified ?" she uttered. "What a fool I was to provoke her! Two or three hundred pounds might do it. Where am I to get them? If she carries out this dreadful threat and appeals to Oscar! Oh!" she shivered, "I must stop that. I must get some from him: I will try at once. Ugh! what a curse the want of money is !"

She descended the stairs and entered the dining-room, where her husband was sitting. He was at the table, writing letters, and seemed to be in the midst of business and accounts.

"Oscar."

He looked up. "What is it?"

"Oscar," she said, advancing and standing close to him, "can you let me have a little money ?"

"No, that I can't, Selina. and can only do it by halves. for the present."

I am settling up some payments now,
Others I am writing to put off entirely

He had bent over his writing again, as if the question, being answered, was done with.

"Oscar, I must have it."

"What money do you mean? Some for housekeeping? I can let

you

have that."

"No, no: for myself. I want-I want-two hundred pounds," she said, jerking it out. She did not dare to say three.

66

He put down the and turned towards her in displeasure. pen Selina, I told you before we came to town that I could not have these calls upon me, as I had last year. You know how very small our income is, and you know that your extravagance has already crippled it. The allowance I make you is greater than I can afford: I cannot give you

more."

"Oh, Oscar, I must have it," she exclaimed, in excitement, terrified at the aspect her situation presented to her. "Indeed I must-even at

an inconvenience."

"To squander away in folly!"

"No. If it were only to squander away, I might do without it, and I cannot do without this."

Mr. Dalrymple looked keenly at her, and she shrank from his gaze. "Let me know what you want it for; that I may judge of the necessity you speak of. If this is inconvenient to you, Selina, you must be satisfied with my refusal."

"Well, then," she said, goaded into the avowal, "I owe it."

"Owe it! Owe two hundred pounds! You!"

So utter was his astonishment, so blank his dismay, that Selina shuddered inwardly. If her owing two hundred thus impressed him, what would become of her if ever he learnt the whole truth!

"And I am pressed for it," she faintly added. "Pray let me have it, Oscar."

"What have you gone in debt for?"

"Various things," she answered, not caring to avow particulars. he looked steadfastly at her, waiting for the truth. "Dress."

But

"The compact between us was that you should not go in debt," he said, in a severe tone. "You have behaved ill to me, Selina."

She bent her head, feeling that she had: oh, feeling it terribly, just then.

"Is this all you owe? All?"

"Y-es." But the falsehood, as falsehoods ought, trembled on her lips.

Without speaking another word, he unsealed a paper in which were enclosed some bank-notes, and handed several to her, to the amount of two hundred pounds. "Understand me well, Selina, this must never occur again. These notes had a different and urgent destination."

"What an idiot I was, not to ask for the other hundred!" was her mental comment, as she escaped from the room. "I wonder whether

Alice could lend it me ?"

She next applied to her sister, but Alice could not assist her. And night came on, and she went to rest, no further advanced than before.

To rest! It was a mockery of the word. Mrs. Dalrymple passed it, partly in tossing and turning from side to side, partly in pacing another room-as her husband had told Alice he had known her to do; and when morning came and she arose, it was with trembling limbs, a parched throat, and a fevered brain.

Her whole anxiety was to make up this money, three hundred pounds; hoping that it would prove a stop-gap for the milliner, and persuaded that it would be useless to offer less. What was to come, afterwards, and how further stop-gaps would be supplied, she did not now glance at. That evil seemed a hundred and fifty miles off, compared with this.

A faint idea had been looming through her mind. At the commencement, it had neither shape nor form, but by mid-day it had acquired one, and was entertained. She had heard of such things as pledging jewels: she was sure she had heard that even noble ladies, driven to a pinch, so disposed of them. Mrs. Dalrymple locked her bedroom door and reached out hers, and laid them in a heap on the bed.

She began to estimate their value: she reckoned up what they had cost to buy: as nearly as she could remember and judge, it amounted to

full five hundred pounds. She supposed she might be able to borrow four hundred upon them: and she decided to do it. Then, if that harpy of a French marchande de modes was not pacified with a small sum, she should have a larger to offer her. Yes, and get the things for the wedding breakfast besides.

The relief this determination brought to the mind of Selina Dalrymple, few, never reduced to a similar strait, can picture. It almost took away her weight of care. The job of pledging them would not be a pleasant one, but she must go through with it herself, she had no one to trust. The glittering ornaments were still displayed upon the bed when she heard footsteps approaching the room, and some one knocked and called to her. She grew scared and terrified; for a troubled conscience sees shadows where no shadows are, and hers whispered that curious eyes, looking on those ornaments, must divine what she meant to do with them -whether the eyes were those of husband, maid, or sister; and she thought it was her sister's voice who now asked for admittance. With a hasty hand she threw a dress upon the bed, and then another upon the first, and then a heavy one over all. The shining stones were hidden

now.

II.

OSCAR DALRYMPLE was sitting over his after-dinner wine, and the street lamps were lighted, when a figure, looking as little like Mrs. Dalrymple as possible, stole out of the house; stole stealthily, and closed the door stealthily behind her, so that neither master nor servant should hear her. She had ransacked her wardrobe for a plain gown and a dark shawl, and her straw bonnet might have served as a model for a Quaker's. She had been out in the afternoon, and marked the shop she meant to go to. A renowned shop in its line, and very respectable, even Selina knew that. She hurried along the streets, not unlike a criminal: had she been going to rob the warerooms of their jewels, instead of offering some to add to their hidden stock, she could not have felt more guilty. When she reached it she hesitated, and could not make up her mind to enter: she took a turn or two before its front, she glanced in at its door, and its window, crowded with goods. She had never been in a pawnbroker's shop in her life, and her ideas of its customers were vague: comprising gentlewomen in distress, gliding in as she did, tipsy men carrying their watches in their hand, poor objects out of work, in dilapidated shirtsleeves, and half-starved women with pillows and flat irons. It looked quiet, inside; so far as she could see, there did not appear to be a soul. With a desperate effort of resolution she went in.

She stood at the counter, the chief part of the shop being hidden from her. A dark, vulgar-looking man came forward. "What can we do for you, ma'am?"

"Are you the master?" inquired Selina.

"No."

"I wish to see him."

Another presently appeared, and Mrs. Dalrymple was surprised. She had expected to see a common tradesman, of manners like the first, and he who now accosted her had the appearance and address of a gentleman; and of a sensible one, too.