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 cannot imagine he should not, and yet But I cannot speak on this subject. Whatsoever befalls him, Teviot will always be to me an object of envy."

"What do you mean?" said Helen, quietly; "there can have been no letters later than mine from him. He said he should be glad to get away from Lisbon, that it did not agree with him; he did not feel well. Colonel Stuart, you have not heard that he is really ill?"

"No, nothing of the sort; it was not to himself I was alluding. I was thinking of you. I cannot be calm and prudent where your happiness is concerned; and yet it was only a vague report."

"Oh! then do not tell it to me," she said, relapsing into her previous coldness. "If you had known anything connected with his health, you would have done well to tell me—any other reports I would rather hear from himself" She rose as she spoke, and without even a look at him left the room.

She went straight to Lady Walden, who was, for a wonder, not in the nursery. "Amelia," she said, "I cannot bear that Colonel Stuart. I do not know what he means. I cannot understand his looks and his manner. He has been trying to frighten me with some report which he says concerns my happiness. What business is it of his whether I am happy or not? Amelia, what does he mean?"

Lady Walden had seen looks of Colonel Stuart's that had aroused her suspicions, and she was sufficiently aware of his character and habits to have a distinct perception of his meaning; but she had no intention of enlightening Helen's innocent mind, and said, with an air of indifference, "Oh, nothing at all probably. He delights in petty mysteries, and in interference in the affairs of other people; and he fancies himself a good adviser, though it generally appears to me that his advice is wrong."

"Wrong or right," said Helen, "I do not wish for it,