Yet a flight guft of air, momentarily fwaying away the boughs which impeded the moon-light, it fuddenly fell on the figure towards which Delmont had actually determined to advance; he faw the face and form of the young perfon more diftinctly.-Was it the face and form of Medora he beheld ?-The refemblance must be ftrong, when seeing it as clearly as he now did, he yet hesitated a moment; but no!-it was not Medora. -Medora was rather taller, and certainly the face had not her features; yet there was fomething in the air of the whole perfon, and a likeness of tone in the sweet and plaintive voice, that had together fo ftrongly impreffed on his mind the hope of his having found what he fought, that the conviction of his being mistaken threw him off his guard, and by a fudden motion he was perceived by the two ladies, who obferving fo near them a person they might well fufpect of fome finifter purpose, fince he evidently fought to conceal himfelf, they both betrayed figns of fear, and haftily retreated towards the house.

Delmont, conscious that he had already acted improperly, and at once anxious to apologize and to relieve them from their apprehenfions, gave himfelf very little time to reflect before he hurried after them, and foon overtaking them, though fear quickened their pace, he befought their pardon. in a voice and manner that foon quieted their alarms, while it excited their curiofity.

Thefe two young women were Mifs Richmond, the only daughter of Sir Harry, and Mifs Cardonnel; who had obtained permiffion of Lady Mary (as the was herself in unusual health, and had Mrs. Grinfted with her), to pass three weeks with her favourite friend, at the magnificent feat of Sir Harry, where, not entirely to fet at defiance the opinion and the cenfures of the world, he had his daughter as his inmate during two or three fummer months.

As foon as the apprehenfions of these two lovely women had fubfided, by the conviction that it was a gentleman who fpoke

spoke to them, Delmont, with the franknefs natural to him, told them his name, and added-" I came into this country, and even into this neighbourhood, in fearch of a perfon whofe difappearance has caufed the greatest mifery.-I dread left my enquiries may be as fruitlefs here as they have already been in other places, but I will take care at least that my nocturnal rambles fhall not again be the cause of any alarm to you Mifs Richmond, while I hardly know how to ask, whether, in confideration of our families being well acquainted, you will give me leave to pay my refpects to you at a lefs improper hour, than that in which I fo inadvertently broke in on your evening retirement."

Mifs Richmond, who was extremely well bred, answered, that he was fure, were her father at home, he would be extremely glad to fee any one of the name of Delmont; and that even in his abfence, though she had not the fame powers of entertaining his vifitors, fhe believed the might

fay that none who bore that name could fail of a welcome."

Delmont, enquiring how long Sir Harry would be abfent, and hearing it was uncertain, defired permiffion to wait on Mifs Richmond the next morning, and on its being granted, he conducted them to the house whither they were returning, not, as they affured him, in confequence of the alarm he had given them, but of the dews falling fo profufely as to have wetted their thin fummer clothes, nearly as much as would have happened had they been expofed to rain. At the halldoor he took leave, his mind hardly diverted a moment, by this accidental rencontre, from the object which occupied all his thoughts, and continued the way he had been directed towards the Chalets.

To his new acquaintance, however, this accidental meeting was not a matter of fuch indifference. There was fomething romantic in it that had the air of an adventure, and Mifs Cardonnel, poffeffed of a naturally excellent, as well as

highly cultivated understanding, was not without a confiderable share of that fort of imagination, which produces what is termed a romantic turn of mind.

As her grandmother, Lady Mary, never thought any one who had yet offered, (though among the offers she had had were men of the firft confequence and fortune) equal to the merits and pretenfions of her dear Mary, they had all been declined almost as soon as heard ; and the heart of Mifs Cardonnel, now in her twentieth year, was abfolutely free from any impreffion.

;

Never, perhaps, did a man poffefs more requifites than had Delmont to win the affections of a young woman. His His perfon was uncommonly handfome, his manner easy without familiarity, and polite without formality, was remarkably attractive, and his fentiments, every one of which carried with them the conviction, that they were the refult of a reflecting mind on a good and generous nature, were so much in unifon with the feelings.