perhaps it was because it was so small, but I did not feel as if I could breathe there--such a terrible oppression as though some one were sitting on my chest--and such a general feeling of emptiness. It was the same in London, though Miss Brandt did all she could for me, indeed she sat up with me all night, till I feared she would be ill herself--but I feel better now! Last night I slept for the first time since leaving Jamaica!”

“That is right! You will soon get well in this lovely air!”

They all sat down at the same table, and commenced to discuss their rolls and coffee. Margaret Pullen, glancing up once, was struck by the look with which Harriet Brandt was regarding her--it was so full of yearning affection--almost of longing to approach her nearer, to hear her speak, to touch her hand! It amused her to observe it! She had heard of cases, in which young unsophisticated girls had taken unaccountable affections for members of their own sex, and trusted she was not going to form the subject for some such experience on Miss Brandt’s part. The idea made her address her conversation more to Mademoiselle Brimont, than to her companion of the evening before.“I suppose you and Miss Brandt were great friends in the Convent,” she said. 

“O! no, Madame, we hardly ever saw each other whilst there, except in chapel. There is so much difference in our ages, I am only seventeen, and was in the lower school, whilst Miss Brandt did hardly any lessons during the two last years she spent there. But I was very glad to have her company across to England. My brother would have sent for me last year if he could have heard of a lady to travel with me!”

“Are you going on to join your brother soon?”

“He says he will fetch me, Madame, as soon as he can be spared from his business. He is my only relation. My parents died, like Miss Brandt’s, in the West Indies.”

“Well! you must be sure and get your looks back before he arrives!” said Margaret, kindly.

The head waiter now appeared with the letters from England, amongst which was one for Miss Leyton in a firm, manly handwriting, with a regimental crest in blue and gold upon the envelope. Her face did not change in the least as she broke the seal, although it came from her fiancé, Captain Ralph Pullen. Elinor Leyton’s was an exceptionally cold face, and it matched her disposition. She had attractive features;--a delicate nose, carved as if in ivory--brown eyes, a fair rose-tinted complexion, 

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