ings; and Francesca, who by this time had formed many slight and pleasant acquaintances, no longer found that a crowd was such very dreary solitude. She passed from one gay companion to another, greeted with numberless slight flatteries, alike listening and forgetting with a smile; honoured by a few words of compliment from Anne, and a look still more flattering from Louis, who at that moment found the homage which surrounded him on such a public occasion somewhat irksome, when a glance only could follow the lovely creature who flitted past.
I believe there are few who have not, even in their gladdest hours, felt how nearly gaiety and sadness are allied; a shadow steals over the spirits, like a cloud over the moon, soft and subduing, perhaps transitory, but not the less dark for the moment.
It was with a sensation of relief that Francesca parted with her last companion, and glided away to a lonely spot in the garden. The lamps, the music, came softened from the distance; the turf before her was silvered only by the moonlight. The moss at the foot of an old chestnut served her for a seat; and a trellis-work covered with honeysuckle separated her from the adjacent walk, the arch opening into which was just beyond. She
