more mixed kind. Her affection he certainly was decided on winning; but what to do with it when won was a point he had considered as little as possible—to chance he trusted the destiny of that young and innocent heart. Just at present, even her slight services were of infinite value. Disappointed in a scheme of personal aggrandisement which he had been led to form on the accession of Richard to the Protectorate, he had rashly engaged in a conspiracy for the restoration of the exiled family. He trusted, in his own neighbourhood, especially during Lord Avonleigh'a absence, that his influence would be considerable; and a rising of some extent had been planned, and a promising scheme laid, to surprise the castle at Southampton.
The recesses of the forest answered well the purposes of concealment, and Lucy was useful both as an unsuspected messenger, and also for the intelligence she was able to obtain. She, poor girl, in the meantime, was lulled in that waking dream,—the dearest and the most evanescent of all the visions wherewith the heart beguiles the care and the sorrow of actual existence.
But if Lucy was restless with the fever of hope and joy, Francesca was as sleepless on her unquiet pillow, from far other causes. The bitter recollections revived by the sudden appear-
