There was a silent assent, and Eleanor, who had been standing apart, went round to the other side of the carriage to say good-b'ye.

"It is good-b'ye, really,-for long, for ever in some ways, Blanche," she whispered.

Eleanor, it is cruel to say so; but time will show."

Yes, time will show ;" and, trying to appear indifferent, Eleanor once more said, "good-b'ye," and, putting her arm within her father's, turned away.

Blanche watched them, as they stayed to give some directions to a man who was to follow with the luggage; and, when at last they were lost to her sight, felt as if Eleanor's words were prophetic.

But the painful foreboding was soon forgotten. The earl's voice recalled her to happiness; for, delighted at being freed from all restraint, he now gave free vent to his affection, and pointing to the range of richly-wooded hills, the green meadows, and neat clustering cottages, he told her that all she could see was her own; that earth for him had but one treasure; and that, whilst she was spared to him, nothing would add to his enjoyment, except by ministering to hers.

"Now," he said, when the winding road brought them full in front of the castle, "look, once more; there is no view of it like this."

Blanche looked, and her heart throbbed within her as she realized for the first time the grandeur of her future home. Rutherford Castle stood upon a high promontory, which rose almost perpendicularly from the banks of a deep-flowing stream. The most ancient part of what had once been a fortress of considerable strength was built upon the solid rock, and the huge blocks of masonry could scarcely be distinguished from the impregnable walls of nature's

formation: but the advance of civilization had induced the Lords of Rutherford, from time to time, to add to the original stronghold, at first a lower tower and massive wings, then gateways, and turrets, and quadrangles, till the castle, stretching over the crest of the hill, formed a pile of building which, although irregular in outline, was still as a whole singularly imposing. Immediately in front of the castle was a broad space of smooth turf, and from this the ground to the left fell in a bank thickly planted with trees, which, as it neared the river, was broken by grey moss-grown rocks. But the most striking points of scenery were not discoverable from below; and when Blanche clasped her hands in ecstasy, and declared that she had never imagined any thing half so beautiful, the earl smiled contentedly, and, bidding the postilions hasten, he sat in silence listening to her exclamations, as every step in advance brought them some fresh object of beauty.

The high battlemented gateway was passed, and the carriage entered the park; and, after a drive of about half a mile, slowly ascended the hill. As they approached nearer and nearer to the castle, Lord Rutherford roused himself from his leaning posture, and, gazing from the window, seemed endeavouring to recall the long-past scenes which were associated with nearly every object that met his eye. Blanche, with an instinctive delicacy of sympathy, did not attempt to interrupt him: her pleasure was no longer openly expressed, and it was not till the carriage stopped before the heavy portal, and a glorious landscape, with a foreground of rock and river, and a distance of far-spreading woods and pastures, and fields ripening with the golden corn, was disclosed before her, that she exclaimed, "Papa, it does not seem like earth!"

At the sound of her sweet voice, the earl awoke

from his reverie. "It shall be paradise to you," he said "if mortal power can make it so; and, alighting from the carriage, he hurried her forward into the hall.

The servants were assembled to receive them; and the earl presented Lady Blanche to them as their mistress. "Your mistress now," he said emphatically, as much as she must be in years to come; and as he spoke many eyes of admiration and respect were turned to the gentle girl, who so gracefully and meekly returned the reverential salutations of her dependants.

Lord Rutherford's impatience scarcely waited till the necessary introduction was over. Proudly and firmly he passed on through the splendid apartments; yet, if Blanche had watched his countenance, she might have seen that all was not equally firm within. It was but the outline of a marble bust which caught his attention, but he quickened his steps, and compressed his lips, whilst he turned to see whether the bright fair features of his child did indeed resemble the cold but matchless beauty which the hand of art had so exquisitely sculptured.

Blanche followed him, bewildered by the novelty of her situation and the strangeness of all she saw ; so different from St. Ebbe's, with its few simple rooms and modern furniture. The dark oaken panellings and grotesque carvings, the rich yet cumbrous cabinets, the heavy gilded cornices, and faded tapestries, were of the fashions of centuries past; and Blanche, though delighted to behold what she had so often in imagination pictured, yet felt something of awe steal over her, as they traversed the empty chambers which for years had been disused; and which, even when the castle was filled with guests, had been considered more as a necessary incumbrance than as at all conducing to its conveni