“Do not allow yourself to be thus moved, I pray you; but what I have to say is, that three months ago, we gave the Signor notice that we should require his services no longer, as we had reason to believe his visits were becoming something more than mere professional calls, and to our great consternation, we found that Miss Grosvenor was not entirely indifferent to his marked attentions.  I was the last to believe that Miss Grosvenor could so lose her self-respect and standing, as to look upon a poor professor, who gains his bread by his own exertions, as a favored competitor for her hand, and, it was not until I saw with my own eyes, that I could credit what I had heard.  I was satisfied in time, that his rapt admiration as he gazed upon her, was something more than enthusiasm that she had excelled even his most ardent expectations; and the expression of her beautiful face, as she concluded, might have been the envy of a greater than the Signor.  We dismissed the Signor, but he still continued his visits, under the plea that it was his custom to give a few additional lessons at the close of a course, and if he might be allowed, he should consider it a valuable acquisition to his own musical powers, to continue for a time his exercises under Miss Grosvenor’s superior talent.”

As Mrs. Santon paused, Delwood, in a state of frenzy, exclaimed,—­

“It cannot be!  I will never believe that she is false to me, even though she should declare to me with her own lips, that another’s claims upon her affections were paramount to my own!  Excuse me, madam, but I think there must be some dreadful misunderstanding in regard to the facts which you have stated.  No!  I would scorn myself if I had a doubt of her innocence! and if such a thing might be possible, I would die rather than be forced to believe it!  I will tell her this very day what I have heard, but I will not degrade myself, or forfeit her trust, by asking her if it can be so!”

“Be calm, my dear friend,” said Mrs. Santon; “compose yourself, I pray you, and take my advice in the matter.  Say nothing of what you have heard to any one, but come here to-morrow morning at ten, when the Signor will make his appearance, and from a private window, opening from the conservatory, you may, unknown to any one, witness for yourself the truth of what I have said.”

“I will follow your advice, inasmuch as I will reveal to no one what I have heard, until I become like myself,” said Delwood, endeavoring to compose himself as he heard the light step of the Sea-flower in the hall; and as she entered, he arose to depart, pleading a slight indisposition as an apology for his abruptness.

The calm, spiritual eyes of Natalie looked out upon him, as he walked rapidly down the street, for she could not but notice an estrangement in his manners; but she did not mistrust that an arrow, poisoned by sin in its vilest form, had been aimed at his heart.

The starry heavens of that night told that another day had gone to be with the past, and innocence laid her head upon her pillow and slept, unmindful of plots of guilt, engendered of sin, which might prove for her a draught of bitterness.