and on receiving it, she had vowed never to part with it; and for a long time she wore it day and night suspended from her neck. One day when the Count D'Rosonio had, I believe, answered a letter that she sent him in a manner that displeased her, she took. the portrait from her bosom.

"Here (said she to me), hide this from my sight; would I had never seen it.' I did not presume to reply, but I placed the portrait in a casket that contained her jewels.

"For some time she continued a prey to melancholy, and at last she declared to me a resolution of retiring from the world, and ending her days in a convent. She quitted Naples, and I accompanied her to the monastery which she had fixed upon as her future residence. With tears did I see my beloved lady enter this gloomy abode, ', never more to leave it; but all places,

she said, were now alike indifferent to

her. She generously recompensed my past services, and I returned to Naples, where I remained till I entered your service, signora."

The Signora Sforza was now convinced that the portrait was that of Valeria's father; but she kept the discovery to herself, as she rightly judged that a knowledge of it could not afford her young friend any pleasure.

The year was three parts gone when Alberto ventured to return. The joy that sparkled in the eyes of Valeria, assured him of that welcome which her faultering tongue almost refused to give him; and when the first congratulations were over, she was obliged to leave the room abruptly, in order to give vent to her tears.

The signora found her on her knees, in her own apartment, in fervent prayer. "Oh, my beloved mother! (cried she,) what transcendant happiness would be mine, did I but dare to enjoy the en

viable lot that offers itself to me; but memory poisons the delightful hope of future bliss."

The signora raised and pressed her to her bosom. Every thing that maternal love could inspire, did she say to banish the apprehensions of the timid girl. "Never, my beloved Valeria (cried she), never will you be less dear than you are at present to our hearts. Cruel indeed must that being be that could attach reproach to innocence like yours."

At the earnest intreaty of the signora, Valeria quitted the convent for some time; and accompanied the family of Sforza to Naples. "A sight of that world which she has hitherto been prevented from mixing with, will be of use to her spirits (said the signora to the lady abbess); and the event proved that she was right. Valeria was amused, and her mind was diverted from brood

ing over its own cares. But though adulation followed her footsteps, yet

Valeria saw not amongst her numerous admirers any one that her partial fancy could compare to Sforza. Her spirits became gradually better, and that native vivacity, which had been one of her greatest charms, again sparkled in her eye, and wantoned in the dimples that played round her lovely mouth.

Laura Sforza, not less than Valeria, was admired by the youth of Naples. Less lovely, she was infinitely more attractive than her sister Julia, in whose bosom ambition only reigned; and to the wish of contracting a splendid alliance, she would willingly have sacrificed every prospect of domestic comfort. Don Juan De Santenos, a rich and noble Spaniard, but much advanced in life, and of a haughty and stern temper, was struck with the charms of the Signora Julia; and notwithstanding her mother's avowed disinclination to the match, Julia persisted in determining to give him her hand.

"As the wife of Don Juan (said

Signora Sforza), you will, my child, be possessed of rank and riches above your most sanguine expectations; but you will speedily find the insufficiency of either to procure happiness; that, in the married state, must spring from a similarity of temper and disposition, and from those unobtrusive virtues that teach us to bear with each others defects; but a moment's reflection will serve to show you how vain is every hope of that kind. Don Juan is stern and imperious, and his wife will find herself a slave, though surrounded by splendour and magnificence."

"I will own to you, my dearest mother (cried Julia), that a splendid alliance is necessary to my felicity, I was not formed for a domestic life; to shine and to dazzle are necessary to my happiness. As the wife of Don Juan, I shall enjoy all that I wish for; consent then, I beg of you, to the wish of your child."

Thus urged, the signora no longer