HE London Season was over,

Tand Agatha Burton was not

engaged. Mrs. Burton had taken a house in Wilton Crescent, and done everything that could be done to forward her daughter's matrimonial interests, and was obliged to own that she had failed.

Mrs. Burton was a widow, with an income that was comparatively moderate. Agatha was her only daughter; but she had also a son, who was five or six years older than Agatha, and who had just got his Company in a cavalry regiment. If Mrs. Burton had lived in the country, she might have done so with the greatest comfort; but she had always been an ambitious, worldly woman, craving for excitement, so she preferred living far beyond her means for a certain number of months in London or Paris, and economising for the remainder of the year. Latterly she had felt justified in going even beyond her usual expenditure, in the hope that Agatha would marry well; and, up to the last few days before they left town, it seemed probable that her wildest dreams might be realized.

Agatha was only nineteen, and beautiful-sufficiently beautiful to be conspicuous among the hundreds of lovely women who are gathered together during the season in the million-peopled city. Agatha's was not a beauty that grew upon you; but it dazzled you all at once. The magnificent dark flashing eyes; the masses of raven hair, contrasting

VOL. X.-NO. LV.

well with a skin that was in colour almost like alabaster, save for the bright but delicate red of the lips and cheeks; nor was her figure less perfect than her face. Tall and slight, but finely rounded; her Grecian head set upon her shoulders with matchless dignity, and undulating grace in all her movements.

Agatha Burton had created quite a sensation in Town. On her first appearance in the parks, opera, or ball-room, Who is she?' had been the universal query; and she had, in consequence of the public voice of approbation, been received into circles which she otherwise might never have entered. Agatha had, of course, many admirers; and there were several men, any one of whom Mrs. Burton would gladly have welcomed as a son-in-law a year before; but Agatha's London successes had quite altered the case; and the very decided admiration openly expressed by the young Earl of Dunmore, made her enter heart and soul into the endeavour to secure such a brilliant settlement for her daughter.

Agatha's influences, during the last three years which she had spent entirely with her mother, had not tended to develope her best qualities; and she had, in a great measure, imbibed Mrs. Burton's love of power and admiration. She was dazzled by the chance of becoming a peeress, and lent herself with the greatest willingness to the idea of giving her hand to a man who she

B

knew in her heart she should always utterly despise.

The Earl of Dunmore was an only son; his father had died when he was quite young, leaving his mother his sole guardian. If there was one fear in the heart of the Countess, it was that he might marry; and his openly expressed admiration for Agatha Burton roused all her maternal jealousies. But the Countess was essentially a woman of the world; she always made a point of cultivating her son's friends, so that whatever was said or done might be done with her knowledge, in order that she might be able to exert a constant counter-influence. So she called on the Burtons, and squeezed Mrs. Burton's hand, and congratulated her on her daughter's beauty, asked them to her large parties, and check-mated them on all possible occasions. To see those two women together, you would have thought that their friendship was most sincere. Each had a game to play, and played it well-Mrs. Burton, to marry Agatha to the Earl; the Countess, to prevent the Earl from marrying Agatha. And to all appearance the Countess was likely to succeed; for although the Earl, who was weak and vacillating to a degree, liked Agatha as much as he was capable of liking any one, he stood still in great awe of his mother. This was perhaps, in a great measure, owing to the fact that, being a sickly boy, he had been sent to neither public schools nor college, so that home-influence had all his life been predominant; and at the age of five-and-twenty, he was in many things as dependent as he had been at fifteen. His appearance was far from prepossessing. Slight and sickly-looking; with small, light-blue eyes; very fair straight hair, which he wore rather long; and a receding chin, that helped to give an expression which at times became almost vacant;but he was an Earl, with 50,000l. a year, and the owner of Dunmore Castle; so all London united in worshipping the son of Mammon.

If subsiding into the 'Dowager' became a necessity, the Countess would rather have looked forward

to being supplanted by Lady Alice Wendover, the fourth daughter of the Earl of Carstairs, a pretty, fairhaired girl, over whom Lady Dunmore thought she might exercise unlimited authority, and thus retain her influence with her son; so on all occasions when she invited Agatha to her house, Lady Alice was there also. But although Lady Alice often went down to dinner on the Earl's arm, it was at Agatha's side that he would be found during the remainder of the evening.

When Agatha's brother, Captain Valentine Burton, got leave from Dublin, where his regiment was quartered, and came to visit his mother in Wilton Crescent, he was at once made the confidant of her plans and wishes, and entered into her views with a willingness that was, in a great measure, born of the hope that a large share of the advantages would probably fall to himself. Captain Burton-or Captain Val., as he was generally called by his intimate friends-was certainly very goodlooking, and, although selfish to a degree, was a most pleasant companion where he chose to make himself agreeable. He dressed well enough to be considered an authority; belonged to the best Clubs, rode the best horses, made a good book on the Derby, and was said to be desperately in love with a married lady of distinction. In appearance, although he had something of Agatha's haughty expression, he was as unlike her as possible, being much fairer, with eyes that had a shade of green in them, and light-brown hair, whiskers, and moustache. Taking him altogether, Captain Valentine Burton was a man who commanded a certain success, both with men and women: he showed his best points to the world, and was appreciated accordingly.

Mrs. Burton naturally expected that her son would be a powerful ally for the furtherance of Agatha's prospects; and at first it appeared more than likely such would be the case; for Lord Dunmore appeared delighted with his new friend, and sought his society on all possible occasions. But there was