Let them expose a weakness,--I insist on my right to seize the advantage; let them defeat me, and I allow their right to destroy."-- [The author need not, he hopes, observe that these sentiments are Mr.Paul Clifford's, not his.] "Passion," said Augustus, coolly, "is the usual enemy of reason; in your case it is the friend." The pair had now gained the summit of a hill which commanded a view of the city below.

Here Augustus, who was a little short-winded, paused to recover breath.

As soon as he had done so, he pointed with his forefinger to the scene beneath, and said enthusiastically, "What a subject for contemplation!" Clifford was about to reply, when suddenly the sound of laughter and voices was heard behind.

"Let us fly!" cried Augustus; "on this day of spleen man delights me not--or woman either." "Stay!" said Clifford, in a trembling accent; for among those voices he recognized one which had already acquired over him an irresistible and bewitching power.

Augustus sighed, and reluctantly remained motionless.
Presently a winding in the road brought into view a party of pleasure, some on foot, some on horseback, others in the little vehicles which even at that day haunted watering-places, and called themselves "Flies" or "Swallows." But among the gay procession Clifford had only eyes for one! Walking with that elastic step which so rarely survives the first epoch of youth, by the side of the heavy chair in which her father was drawn, the fair beauty of Lucy Brandon threw--at least in the eyes of her lover--a magic and a lustre over the whole group.