"And what things, dear Lilias? This is rather vague. "Oh, every thing about every body, they are all so mysterious." "Well, so they are," he said laughing: "I find them so myself. I can quite fancy how you feel, like a poor little fly, caught in some great web, and surrounded by spiders of all kinds and dimensions, each weaving their separate snares." 66 Precisely; and now I want you to explain all the spiders to me; you must classify them, and tell me which are venomous, and which are not," she said, laughing along with him. "I wish I could," answered Walter, "but they are quite beyond me-they are not in my line at all, I assure you. I never could keep a secret in my life; but I will do my best to enlighten you. I can tell you certain peculiarities at all events. Suppose we make a sort of catechism of it; you shall question and I shall answer." "Very well," said Lilias, entering into the spirit of his gayety, "and so to begin-Why does Lady Randolph look so strangely at Sir Michael, and always seem anxious to go out of the room whenever he comes in ?" "Because she hates him," replied Walter. "How very strange; people seem to hate a good deal at Randolph Abbey; but is it always their nearest relations, as in this case?" "Why no; as you proceed in your catechism I doubt not we shall have occasion to mention certain hatreds in this household, which are in no sense affected by natural ties." "Well, to proceed," said Lilias; "why does Gabriel hour after hour keep his eyes fixed on Aletheia, with a strange look which makes me fancy he thinks she would die if he were to cease gazing on her?" "Because he loves her," answered Walter. "But she does not love him," exclaimed Lilias, with a woman's instinct. "Most certainly not." "There is so much I have to ask about her. Tell me why it is that she has such imploring eyes. I never, on a human face, saw an expression of such mute entreaty; I saw it once in the wistful look of a poor deer which they killed on our Irish hills. I remember so well when it lay wounded, and the gamekeeper came near with the knife, it lifted up its great brown eyes with just such a dumb beseeching gaze, but that was only for a moment. It soon died, poor thing; and with Aletheia, that mournful supplication seems stamped on her countenance, as though her very life were to be spent in it." "Ah! if you ask me about Aletheia," said Walter, "I am powerless at once. I can tell you nothing of her; she is a greater mystery in herself than all the rest put together; this only seems plain to me, that her existence is, for some unexplicable reason, one living agony.' "If I thought so I should be so angry with myself for having felt prejudiced against her, which, I confess, I have done, for a reason I could not name to you. She is so cold and statue-like, I thought she seemed lost to all human feeling; but if it be suffering, and not insensibility, which makes her move about amongst us as if she had been dead, and forced unwillingly to live again, I should try to overcome the sort of awe with which she has inspired me." "I believe it matters little how you feel respecting her, for you will never conquer her impenetrable reserve; even poor Gabriel, who seems fascinated by her to a marvellous extent, has ever struggled vainly against her implacable calm. It is seldom, I think, that one human being can so lavish all his sympathies upon another, as he has done on her, without gaining some sign of life at least; but he tells me it is as though the living soul within her were cased in iron; he cannot draw it out of the dungeon where she seems to have buried it, to meet even for a moment his own ardent spirit." "But I hardly wonder at this, if she does not love him," said Lilias. "You mistake me,” replied Walter: "I do not expect that she should return his affection; but she seems utterly unaware of its existence; she appears ever to be so intent in listening to some voice we cannot hear, that all human words are unheeded by her; those deep, beseeching eyes of hers are ever gazing out, as though the world and all the things of it, were but moving shadows for her, because of the greatness of some one thought which is alone reality to her; yet that there lives a most burning soul within that statue of ice, I can no more doubt than that the snows of Etna hide, but do not quench its fiery heart. "And does no one know the secret of her life?" asked Lilias. "No one, that I am aware of-none at least, now living; that her father did, whose idol she was, I have reason to think from some remarks of Sir Michael's; he himself knows possibly somewhat more than we do, though assuredly not the real truth, nor more than some external peculiarities of her position. I have heard, however, that before she would consent to come here, even,for six months, and that with the chance of being chosen as the heiress, she made certain conditions with her uncle respecting the liberty she was to be allowed. I presume this to refer chiefly to a strange visit which she receives one day in every month, on which day alone I believe has any human being seen her moved." "And who is this visitor?" exclaimed Lilias. "That is more than I can tell you; and all I know of him is that I have heard his sharp quck step, which certainly is the step of a man, going across the hall to the library, where Aletheia receives him; and an hour or so later I have heard the same tread as he leaves the house; then the galloping of his horse sounds for a momeut on the gravel, and that is all that any one at Randolph Abbey hears of the only friend she seems to possess." "Does even Gabriel not know him?" "He may have seen him; but he does not know him, I am sure; it is quite wonderful how little knowledge he has acquired concerning Aletheia, considering the means he has taken to penetrate her secret-means which, I confess to you, I should have scorned to employ, even though, like him, my dearest interests were at stake; for instance, he has actually more than once tracked her in her mysterious morning walks.” "What! does she walk every day," said Lilias, in astonishment; "I found her this morning lying quite exhausted in the verandah. She must have been to a great distance; surely she does not do the same every day?" "Every day, so far as I know, she does walk to precisely the same spot, and that several miles distance; it is certainly beyond her strength, for she is often in a state of frightful exhaustion when she returns; but even in the coldest spring mornings she used to leave the house, long before it was light, to make this pilgrimage; it seems she wishes to avoid the observation she would incur later in the day." "Then it was cruel of Gabriel to follow her." "It was; but I think he is often maddened to find how his great love comes beating up against the rock of her impenetrable calm, like waves upon the shore, leaving no trace behind." "Do you know," said Lilias, with a wondering look in her cloudless eyes, "I think Gabriel has his mysteries too, like every one else in this strange house. I can understand his watching Aletheia, if his whole heart is for ever turning to her, as you describe; but it is not her alone, for in the short time I have know him, I am sure he has managed to find out more about me than ever I knew myself; those soft blue eyes of his seem to look so stealthily into one's soul. I am convinced he could tell you every thing I have done and said the whole of this day. You know Sir Michael made me stay with him ever since morning, but I never passed out of this room without meeting Gabriel in the passage. "That I can easily believe. I always feel as if Gabriel acted in this delectable abode the part of a cat watching innumerable mice; he has an anomalous sort of character; but one of his qualities is sufficiently distinct, which is a very acute penetration; he can divine the most intricate affairs from the smallest possible indications. For my own part, I make not the slightest attempt to conceal my innermost thoughts from him; happily I have nothing to hide, but if I had, I should let him know it at once; it would save all trouble, as he would infallibly find it out." "But what do you mean by an anomalous character?" asked Lilias. A sort of double nature; he seems to me to have naturally good impulses on which some guiding hand has ingrafted a calculating disposition that sorely warps them; he has no control whatever over his passions, yet the most perfect over his outward words and actions, whereby he effectually conceals them when he so pleases. Certain it is, that he has an indomitable will to which every thing else is subservient; but much of this inconsistency of his character may be attributed to his position; here he is the nephew of Sir Michael Randolph-the possible heir of Randolph Abbey; but he was educated by a person whom we know to be of low station, and I believe must be equally so in mind." "His mother?" asked Lilias. "Yes; I know nothing of her, nor does he ever allude to his past life. I do not even know where she lives; he is simply ashamed of her, I presume, and I sometimes think we should have the key-stone to Gabriel's character in a violent ambition, were it not so neutralized by his not less violent love for Aletheia. Dear Lilias, why do you start so, what do you see?" "He is there," she said, half frightened, and glancing to the open door through which, with his soft steps, Gabriel was gliding. "Of course, considering whom we were speaking of," said Walter, laughingly, "it is an invariable rule, you know. Come along, Gabriel," he added, turning to his cousin," "I need not mention that we were discussing you, as by the simple rule of cause and effect, it was that circumstance which produced your appearance." "Not by my overhearing you," said Gabriel, quickly. "My dear fellow, there was not the least occasion for that; you were obeying a mysterious law, which is summarily stated in a proverb quite unfit for ears polite; but your arrival is most opportune; your services will be very available to Lilias and myself; allow me to offer you a chair, and invest you at once with your office." "And how am I to be made useful?" said Gabriel, attempting, by a forced smile, to sympathize in Walter's playful manner of viewing the subject. "Why, you must know," and he laid an emphasis on the word must, for Lilias's behoof, "that Miss Lilias Randolph and I have begun a course of moral dissection of the inhabitants of this house, in which she acts the part of a young and very inexperienced surgeon, and I that of a most grave and potent doctor. We had just finished you off, and were proceeding to the dismemberment of the rest of the family; in this interesting study I think you can materially assist ns, seeing you have some very sharp and subtle instrument for this species of anatomy." "I was not aware I possessed any such," said Gabriel; "it would ill befit me in my position to make myself a judge of any here." "Now don't begin to be humble and make us ashamed of ourselves. I consider it quite an important matter to Lilias that she should know her ground here so far as possible; so let us parade the remainder of our dear relations before her as fast as we can." A strange smile passed over Gabriel's face, as if he doubted that the gentle Lilias, and the frank-hearted Walter, would discover much concerning that intricate ground on which they stood; but he made no remark, and simply said "And who stands next on the list after my unworthy self?" "That is for Lilias to determine; we wait your orders, lady dear.” "You are learning to speak Irish," she said, smiling. "A most likely consummation," murmured Gabriel. "Oh! I could say better things than that in Irish," said Walter, coughing off the slight confusion his cousin's remark had produced; "but you must really tell us whom you mean to propose for our inspection, or this council of war will last till midnight." softly. "Without Hamlet's madness, rather, I should say; for I cannot doubt, from all I have heard, that Hubert has a noble soul, though not one which would lead him, like the Prince of Denmark, to make to himself an idol of the principle of vengeance." "And Lilias is waiting meanwhile to tell us where she saw him," said Gabriel. "Is it Lilias or you who are waiting?" said Walter, laughing; "for my part, I frankly confess that my curiosity is greatly excited, so pray tell us.' And she did so at once, for there was not a thought of guile in this young girl's heart. She told how, in the quiet night, she had heard a solemn voice of music that had called her spirit with an irresistible allurement; "This council for the preliminaries of war," and how she had risen up and followed where said the low voice of Gabriel, giving an un-it led, till it had brought her into the prepleasant aspect of truth to an expression which Walter had carelessly used with no special meaning. sence of him of whom they spoke; but she went no farther; she said nothing of the conversation which had drawn those stranger For a moment Lilias made no answer; the souls more closely together than weeks of orthought which had been present with her dinary intercourse could have done; for she throughout the whole of this conversation, felt that Lyle had been surprised into speakand that which had alone, indeed, given it ing of his private feelings; and the subject any interest for her, was, that she might ob- of his infirmity was one she could not have tain some information respecting Hubert Lyle; brought herself to mention; the sympathy yet now that the time was come when she with which he had inspired her was of that must name him or lose her opportunity, she nature which made her feel as sensitive as felt, in a lower degree, something of that un- she would have done had the affliction been willingness to broach the subject, which we her own. Yet, though she did not enter into have to mention any secret act of self-devo-details, the deep interest she felt for him gave tion. The solemn music which had been the a soft tremulousness to her voice, which was means of leading her into his presence; the duly noticed by Gabriel, as he sat looking inunearthly serenity with which his soul had tently at her with the keen gaze which his looked at her through those eyes that re-meek eyes knew so well how to give from minded her of the still waters of some un-under their long lashes. ruffled lake, where only the glory of heaven is reflected; and above all, his infirmity, so meekly borne, had invested him with a sacredness in her mind which made her feel as if it was almost a profanation to speak of him to indifferent ears. With a slight trembling in the voice, which did not escape the quick perception of Gabriel, she said, "There is yet one of whom I would inquire-Hubert Lyle." Both her cousins started at the name, but Gabriel instantly repressed his astonishment, while Walter as freely gave vent to his. "Is it possible you have heard of him already? who can have been bold enough to mention him?" he said. "Why, I have not only heard of him, have seen him." I "And now," said she, "tell me who and what he is, he seems to occupy so strange a position in this house?" "Not more strange than cruel," said Walter; "he is the son of Lady Randolph, by her first husband; she had been engaged to Sir Michael before she met Mr. Lyle, who was his first cousin, but she had never cared for him, and yielded at once to the intense passion which sprung up between Mr. Lyle and herself; she married him, and from that hour Sir Michael hated him with such a hate, I believe, as this world has rarely seen. When his rival died, he transferred this miserable, bitter feeling to the son, Hubert, simply because the widow had, in like manner, turned all the deep love she had felt for the dead 486 with the most ardent gaze on Lilias, that he might read to her inmost soul the effect of his speech; but it needed not so keen a scrutiny; the indignation with which it had filled her sent the color flying to her cheek, and kindled a fire in her clear eyes seldom seen within them. husband on the living son-not for his own merits, for poor Hubert has few attractions, but solely because he bears his father's name, and looks at her with his father's eyes. I believe she has even the cruelty to tell him so. She worships so the memory of her early love, that she will not have it thought her heart could spare any affection, even to her child, were he not his son also. It has always seemed to me the saddest fate for her unhap-sympathy to a suffering fellow-creature for py son, to be thus the object of such vehement hate, and no less powerful love, and yet to feel that he has neither deserved the one, nor gained the other, in his own person, but solely as the representative of a dead man who can feel no more." "Miserable, indeed," said Lilias, folding her hands as though she would have asked mercy for him; "how cruel! how cruel! but his mother, how could she marry Sir Michael when she so loved, and still loves, another? this seems to me a fearful thing." "Starvation is more so," muttered Gabriel. "Starvation!" exclaimed Lilias. "Yes," said Walter; "Mrs. Lyle and her son were actually left in such destitution at her husband's death, that she certainly married Sir Michael for no other purpose but to procure a home for herself and her child. How it came to pass that she was in this extreme poverty, I know not; report says that it was the result of Sir Michael's persecution of Mr. Lyle in his lifetime; but I can hardly believe this of our uncle." "No, indeed," said Lilias. "One thing is certain, that it sorely diminished Sir Michael's delight in marrying the woman he had loved so long, to find that he must submit to the continual presence of her son in the house; but she forced him to enter into a solemn agreement that Hubert was always to reside with them, and he agreed, on condition that he crossed his path as seldom as possible. This part of the arrangement is almost overdone by poor Lyle, who is, I believe, like most persons afflicted with personal infirmity, singularly sensitive and full of delicate feeling. He never leaves his own rooms except to go to his mother's apartments, unless Sir Michael happens to be absent, when Lady Randolph generally forces him to make his appearance among us. believe his only amusement is playing on the organ half the night, as you found him." I "And do none of you ever go to see him, and try to comfort him," exclaimed Lilias; "do none befriend him in all this house?" "You forget," said Gabriel, hastily, evidently desirous to prevent Walter from answering till he had spoken himself, "that any one who sought out Hubert Lyle, and made a friend of him, would incur Sir Michael's displeasure to such a degree that he would strike him at once off the list of his heirs, and the penalty of his philanthropy would be nothing less than the loss of Randolph Abbey." As he said this he bent his eyes withhold their due tribute of charity and "And who," she exclaimed, "could dare the sake of the fairest lands that ever the world saw! who could be so base, for the love of his own interest, as to pander to an unjust hatred, the evil passion of another, and join with the oppressor in persecuting tune! Can there be any such?" she added, one who is guiltless of all save deep misforin her turn fixing her gaze upon Gabriel. A triumphant smile passed over his lips; her answer seemed precisely what he had hoped it would be; but Walter anxiously exclaimed: would not act so, Lilias; I never should have Pray do me the justice to believe that I reason for not visiting Hubert; but, to tell thought of the motive Gabriel assigned as a the truth, I have no desire to do so, because I believe him, from all I have heard, to be a poor morbid visionary, who desires nothing so much as solitude, and with whom I should not have an idea in common." him any kindness for this reason, I trust," round in great surprise, "I never heard you "I know him, perhaps, better than you softened expression of Lilias's face, which do," said Gabriel, watching, with delight the been calculated to produce the effect he deproved to him how artfully his words had sired. He read in her thoughtful eyes, as easily as he would have done in a page of fair writing, how she was quietly determining in that hour that she would seek by every means in her power to become the friend of this unfortunate man, and teach him how sweet a solace there may be even in human sympathy, and that, all the more, because had chosen for his sitting-room one of the her worldly prospects would be endangered very meanest and poorest in the house, with thereby. It would prove to Hubert that her a single window, low and narrow, which friendship had at least the merit of sincerity, looked out on a deserted part of the grounds. since, in her humility, she imagined it could Hubert liked it all the better for this, as there possess no other;-but Gabriel had no time was no flower-garden or green-house near to to say more, for Sir Michael at this moment bring the head-gardener, with his trim, majoined them, and Lilias, rising up, said she thematical mind, amongst the wild beauties believed it was late, and turned to go into of nature. The grass was left in this part to the other drawing-room. Sir Michael look- come up against the very wall of the house, ed sharply at the trio, and, as Walter follow- and the ivy and honeysuckle which grew ed his cousin, he turned to Gabriel with con- round the window were allowed to penetrate siderable irritationalmost into the room. Fortunately, the noble trees which filled the park stood somewhat apart in this place, and their arching branches formed at this moment a sort of framework to the most glorious picture that ever is given to mortal eyes to look uponthe lucid sky of night, filled as it were to overflowing with radiant worlds, each hanging in its own atmosphere of glory. "How came you here, sir; I left those two together?" "They invited me to join them, or I should not have intruded," said Gabriel, with his customary meekness, but a smile curled his lips, which he could not repress. Sir Michael saw and understood it at once; he paused for a moment in thought, and then deciding, apparently like Walter, that it was no use to conceal any thing from Gabriel, and more advantageous to be open with him at once, he said "Gabriel, understand me, if your quick eyes have divined any of my plans, it will work you no good to thwart them." "But, possibly, it might avail me were I to further them," said the nephew, very softly. "It might," said Sir Michael; "the broad lands of Randolph Abbey could, with little loss, furnish a handsome compensation to the person who should assist me in placing therein, the heirs I desire to choose." It was no wonder that Hubert turned from the low, dark room, so dimly lit with its single candle, to look upon this the bright landscape of the skies. Within, the scene was certainly uninviting. The heavy deal table, the scanty supply of chairs, the plain writingdesk, evidently many years in use, were the only objects on which the eye could rest, excepting a few books and a small piano, the gift of Aletheia, with which, greatly to his astonishment, she had presented him one day-for she was as completely a stranger to him as she was to all the rest of the family, and had always avoided intercourse with him as much as she did with every one else. This thoughtful act of kindness on her part, however, produced no increased acquaintance between them, as she shrank from hearing his expressions of gratitude on that occasion, and, indeed, they seldom met. Aletheia was never in Lady Randolph's rooms, where alone Hubert was to be met, excepting at rare intervals, when Sir Michael was absent. Gabriel's reply was merely a significant look of acquiescence, and the old man, bestowing on him a smile of approbation such as he had never before vouchsafed him, went away well pleased. He was firmly convinced that he had enlisted in support of the plan that was already a favorite one with him, the individual amongst all his heirs who he was the most positively resolved should never inherit the Abbey, both because he rather dis- Hubert sat now at the window; he had liked him personally, and because he could laid down his heavy head upon the wooden not forgive him his mother's low birth. Could ledge, and his hands fell listlessly on his knee. he have seen the sneer with which Gabriel | He seemed full of anxious thoughts, and sighlooked after him, he would have been some-ed very deeply more than once. From time what unpleasantly enlightened as to the real value of the ally he had obtained. VI. THE DEAD FATHER IS MADE THE PERSE- VERY strange was the contrast between the splendid drawing-room, blazing with light and heat, where the Randolph family were assembled, and the small room in the other wing of the house which was occupied by Hubert Lyle. It contained barely the furniture necessary for his use, and this was by his own desire, for it was already sufficiently bitter to him to eat the bread dealt out so grudgingly, and at least he would not be beholden to his stepfather for more than the actual necessaries of existence. Sorely against his proud mother's wish, he to time, apparently with a violent effort, he looked up and gazed fixedly on the tranquil stars, seeming to drink in their pure glory, as though he sought to steep his soul in this light of higher spheres; but ever a sort of trembling passed over his frame, and he would sink down again oppressed and weary. This was most unlike Hubert Lyle's usual condition. He was a man of the most ardent and sensitive feelings; but, at the same, possessed of that moral strength and truthfulness of soul which can only belong to a great character-by this last expression we mean that he was what few are in this world, neither a deceiver nor deceived. He did not deceive himself in any case, nor would he allow life to deceive him; he saw things as they really were, and he permitted not the bright color |