operation; when she had done it, and retired, he turned to the count.

"I have most probably to thank you for my life (said he), since without your assistance, I do not think that I could have reached my own house; when we have supped, I will relate to you all the circumstances that urged me to the act which you witnessed."

They now went into another apartment, where a magnificent supper was laid, the most exquisite viands, graced the board, and the most delicious wines, in goblets of gold, tempted the marquis and Montalva in vain; they neither did honour to the repast, which was soon concluded, and when it was over the marquis addressed Montalva as follows:

"You see before you, sir, the Marquis de Santenos, sprung from one of the noblest families in Spain, and master of a princely fortune; I entered life with the happiest prospects; while I was yet very young, I saw and loved

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Donna Maria de Guzman; neither her birth nor fortune were equal to mine, but the graces of her mind and bosom, were such as to render her a wife for an emperor: she heard my vows with complacency, and as I stood high in the favour of her relations, we were speedily united.

"For some time, nothing could exceed the felicity that I enjoyed; my Maria, at the end of a year, brought me a son; if you have ever been a father, you may conceive the pleasure which I derived from this circumstance; with what delight did I behold my wife, bending with the sweetest smiles over her infant as it received nourishment from her bosom; never did she appear so beautiful in my eyes, as when employed in the tender offices of maternal love. I had, when I first married her, believed my happiness incapable of increase, but I saw it daily augment, and I bent in fervent grati

tude to that almighty power, who had allotted me so large a portion of bliss.

"Don Carlos de Padilla had been the friend of my youth, but accident had separated us for some years; he had travelled, and though we promised to correspond with each other, it was a promise that he did not keep; and he returned to Madrid in something more than a year after my marriage. He hastened to my house, I received him with the utmost warmth, and introduced him to Maria, as a man, whom I re garded with the affection of a brother. To be my friend, was a sufficient recommendation to the favour of my wife, and her behaviour to him was equally friendly and attentive. Don Carlos is, or rather (continued he sighing), was, one of the handsomest men in Spain; he had the weakness and vanity to suppose that his person and accomplishments had caught the heart of my wife, and in a short time he presumed to make dishonourable overtures

to her. The marchioness, who, to the natural dignity of virtue joins that pride, inherent I believe in every noble Castillian, repulsed him with scorn and indignation; but fearful of endangering my life, she did not acquaint me with the traitor's perfidy. This well meant precaution of her's, was the source of all the uneasiness which I have since suffered; Don Carlos conceived against her the most implacable hatred, and he resolved, to risk every thing in order to be revenged.

"He began by infusing into my mind a suspicion that the marchioness's love was not equal to my own; the delicate reserve of my Maria became to the jaundiced eye of jealousy, coldness and indifference; I doated upon her, and from the moment I suspected that her regard was inferior to mine, I was miserable: I became gloomy, and the marchioness wondered at, without suspecting the cause of the alteration in my behaviour.

"Amongst the number of my friends was a young Englishman, of the most engaging person and address; he had exiled himself from his own country on account of his ill success in an affair of the heart. The English are naturally a grave people, and the misfortunes of Lord Clerimont had given to his manners a seriousness, and at times, a melancholy, that was far from unpleasing to a Spaniard. The young Englishman won my friendship, and at my desire the marchioness was particularly attentive to him.

"The kindness of your lovely wife (said he to me one day), frequently opens those wounds which it is meant to heal; when I see her smiling cheerfully on your guests; when, with the benevolence of an angel, she endeavours to chace away my sorrows by the soft accents of peace and consolation, she brings to my recollection the similar virtues of that adored being whom I have for ever lost; and, for