Year: 1865

| Scc JHuJ you UTc lllOIc VlNcIJCtl
than offended by the extreme audac.
| ity of my mode OF addressing you,
which perhaps strikes you as less
eccentric, in the midst of this motley
crowd, than it otherwise might; but
assure you that I have no wish t.
appear original or impertincnt; am
actuated by very different motives.
Before entering this ball room Ire
ceived letter containing intelligence
of most perplexing and annoying
nature, and which has thrown me in
to n state Of the greatest anxiety.
| am placed in position of some
difficulty, and without assistance
from you feel can scarcely cXtri.
cate myself How ever mad you
may and must think me to be, with
this in view, l venture to beg your
permission to ask you two more
questions. They will no doubt strike
lyou as odd ones for a perfect stran-
ger to make. But you have the
option of choosing to listen to them
or not"


BY this time our quadrille had come
to an end, and leading me to whore
my mother was sitting, my partner
said, ...


snake your decision, and tell me
of it when you waltz with me, as
trust you will when the next dance
is OVER


! agreed to this, and he left me-
When lie came to claim my hand rs
the first notes of the deuXtemps
struck up, my curiosity urged me to
grant his request, and he put ques
ton the first to me, after the first
round. ..


"Your Christian name?"


"Constance."


GLOW fortunate" exclaimed my
partner


! Number two, after the second
round.


"Wbat fortune, if any, may you
Ipossess?"


"Only thousand pounds


"Lucky again." muttered he
"One moro question, the last and
most important one, l will, if you
allow me, make to you in letter eX-
Iplanation, which having read, trust
you will not be so cruel rs to refuse
your aid. May / wiite to you or
not?'


This was not to be answered at
once or without consideration.


81 do not press you now, but hope
to have Your favorable answer to my
earnest request when you leave the
cloak-room," said he, returning Inc
to my mothers side.


What an odd circumstances! Did
ever a girl have such strange part.
ner; Little else but him and hi
funny questions did l think Of Cor
the rest of the night. The more
thought about il the more reluctant
| felt TO refuse his explanations, and
before the time for our departure ar
rived, had resolved to accept his
proposal Of writing to mo. lie might
say what he choose, but | was a free
agent still, and would take care not
to commit myself to anything. /
could tell my parents about it at some
future time, but there could be no
harm in receiving q letter l had
made up my mind that having heard
so much, would know more; and
Nwhen on leaving the cloak. room
encountered my hero of the night,
! acceded to his urgent request, then
hastily repented.


81 return to London in a day or
two" said he, "and you shall receive
a letter before start"


1 can scdrcely describe how
strangely ] felt all the next day. |
could hardly believe that l had not
been dreaming-that there was no
reality about the affair. At all
events, my partner had hecn playing
a practical joke. 1 should Of course
have no letter. But / should have
felt disappointed if none had arrived,
and passed that and the next day
in state of feverish expectancy
At last the looked for epistle came,
and tearing it open, l read The OK
PLANTATION, which ran thus:


"Dear Miss Fortescue-I feel very
grateful to you for allowing me to
make full explanation of what must
appear to you to have been my eX.
traordinary behavior to you on the
night Of the ball, and if, after the
perusal of this letter, you will con-
sent to give me your assistance, my
gratitude will be boundless; for in.
deed you will help me out of great
difficulty, one through which my
happiness might be shipwrecked un-
less can manage to evade it. !
must tell you all, from the beginning,
before | can expect you to judge of
the case. When was about fifteen
years old, my father, who was then
my only surviving parent, died, lcav-
ing me to the'carc and guardianship
of his half brother, who was twelve
years his junior, then just twenty
eight years of age. My fathers mar
riage had been an unhappy one, and
his dying request to my uncle was,
that he would use his utmost endeav-
ors to prevent me from contracting
an early marriage, that my Judgment
and taste should be so far formed
as to render and imprudent choice
4 less probable. True to the promise
thus eXacted. nv uncle, as GREW