mouth as Titian has given Philip the

Second.

He moved his eyes without

moving his head as Eleanor entered, and, though he looked surprised and uncomfortable, he calmly said:

"Who is this young person ?"

"This young lady is my guest-has been so for some time," said Miss Clairvaux, exerting strong mastery over herself, "and I have no concealments from her. Eleanor ! this gentleman-Mr. Foljambe-has come down here to compel my signature to that paper; if not by persuasion and argument, then by threats and by force."

"Oh!" exclaimed Eleanor.

"Pooh, pooh," said Mr. Foljambe.

"You have," said Miss Clairvaux with

flashing eyes. "Was a strait waiscoat no threat? Did you not squeeze my wrist, and say you would have no nonsense ?"

Oh, dreadful, dreadful," exclaimed Eleanor.

"You are making a fine mess of it,” said he impatiently. "Miss I have not the pleasure of knowing your name, nor do I know anything you have to do with the present affair—your friend here, Miss Clairvaux, who, I acknowledge, has been acting like a madwoman, though I never called her one, has been deaf to all argument, all persuasion on a matter nearly concerning us both, and I certainly did go so far as to say, in a loose sort of way, that a person so deaf to reason must be only fit for a strait waiscoat-rather a strong figure, doubtless, but used under irritation "

"He wanted me," burst forth Miss Clairvaux, "to sign away my entire interest in the property without reading the deed-"

"Pooh, pooh-"

"And when I sat down as if to sign it, but began to read it first, he took my wrist with one hand, and laid the other on the paper, saying 'I will have no nonsense

"Pooh, pooh-"

"You did, false man! because you thought
I was alone in the house!"

"Is it at all likely ?" said Mr. Foljambe,
much moved, and appealing to Eleanor.
"Does not it carry improbability on the
face of it ?"

"Indeed, sir, this—”

"See for yourself," he continued, waving
his hand towards Miss Clairvaux, "under
what excitement she labours-look at her
swelling veins, her flushed complexion, her
eyes starting out of her head-"

'And tell me whether she looks like a
sane woman. The fact is, painful as it is
to state it, that there is insanity in her
family-"

"False, false, Jasper Foljambe!" cried
Miss Clairvaux indignantly.

"Perfectly true, I assure you," said he,
shrugging his shoulders, and addressing

Eleanor with studied softness and selfcommand, "Her father drowned himself."

"Oh, that I should hear this!" groaned Miss Clairvaux.

"Hear this?" cried he, with sudden passion, turning sharp round upon her, "aye, and you will hear much more and worse than this, if you persist in acting in this insane way— "Eleanor! do you hear how he threatens

me ?"

"Mr. Foljambe," said Eleanor, looking steadily at him, though she trembled like a leaf, "it seems to me quite a simple thing, since you say Miss Clairvaux has mistaken the purport of the deed, to let her and me read it through quietly, and see if she has done so-"

"Oh, the idea!" said he contemptuously. "What should you know of law ?"

"Whatever may be the value of my opinion," said Eleanor, "I am at least entitled to form one."

"I deny the premisses."

"Let Mr. Debenham, then, look it over for Miss Clairvaux."

"Who is Mr. Debenham ?" said Mr.

Foljambe, evidently uneasy. "I never heard

of him before."

“He is a disinterested, spirited man, and a friend on whose judgment Miss Clairvaux can depend."

"Mr. Debenham is nothing to me, and I don't see what spirit has to do with it. Oh, I am completely wasting my time here, and I shall have no more bother. It is your own fault, Alicia, if I put the matter into proper hands."

That is precisely what you had better do," said Miss Clairvaux, "things are always best put into proper hands. There are no hands, however, that can compel me to sign a deed without reading it."

"Pooh, pooh! you might have read it, you know perfectly well; but you have made