THE SMUGGLER'S WIFE. Why did she love him ?-curious fool be still, "There is George Hamilton and that dark, forbidden strangerfriend of his, coming across the meadow," said Jane Melton, as turning hastily from the window at which she had been standing, she seated herself at a table where her two elder sisters were busily occupied, the one with her needle, the other with her drawing, and added, "I hope to goodness, girls, they won't come here, for I cannot bear that Dudley, as George calls him, he looks so ferocious, except-except when--he--" "What?" exclaimed Elizabeth, laughing gaily; "how am I to interpret all this hesitating and stammering? pray explain yourself." "Well then, Lizzy, except when he looks on our Anna, and then his countenance relaxes, and, his eyes change their expression of wild ferocity to one of such sweetness and softness, that I could almost love him myself, but then in another minute he looks so terrible, that I quite shrink from him." "God forbid that you, or any one else connected with me, my dear Jane, should love so mysterious a being as this Dudley, whom I much fear is but a sorry companion for George," said Elizabeth, bending a piercing glance on Anna, who leaned over her drawing to conceal the burning blush that tinged her cheek, and the involuntary tear which sprang to her eye. Ah! I thought how it would be; here they come, look Elizabeth," exclaimed Jane. 66 Anna, dear, go and seek mamma, will you," said Elizabeth, anxiously, and the gentle girl had scarcely time to make her escape, ere the gentlemen entered, The fine black eyes of Dudley rolled round the apartment with evident anxiety, and then drooped with an expression of disappointment but too visible. He was a tall, noble figure, and possessed features at once elegant and repulsive; as Jane had remarked, there was a ferocity in his wild glance, which nothing but unusually softened feelings could change; it was one from which most would shrink appalled, but it had a power which none could appreciate unless they had experienced its influence; it might be likened to that the savage bends won the reptile which steals upon his path, and by which alone he pos sesses a spell to subdue it. Anna Melton had felt that mystic power, she was wrapt in the delusive wiles of the stranger; and opposite as were their natures, she deeply, devotedly, madly loved him. And he knew it; although but twenty-eight summers had shed their glories upon his head, yet was Dudley better skilled in the workings of human nature than most men who had doubled his years; he was conscious of the extent of his own power-that it was irresistable; that like the mountain avalanche, it would sweep all before it, and he scorned not to exert it to the utmost, when opportunity or inclination became his guiding star: He had been the school-fellow and favorite companion of George Hamilton, whose absence in India for some years had severed the intercourse for a time, but his return had re-united the chain of friendship, and they were again almost inseparable; alas! George knew not all, or his noble spirit would have shrank from association with Lewis Dudley.* Mrs. Melton was the widow of an officer, who had fallen in the Peninsular wars, and she had retired from fashionable life to a country retirement to educate her daughters, and economize upon the small independance she fortunately possessed. The family of George Hamilton had long been intimate friends of the Melton's, and thus it was that the young man possessed not only the entree of the house himself, but also the liberty of introducing a friend occasionally, and by this means the obnoxious Dudley had obtained a footing there, which he held with a tenacity the family could well have dispensed with: true, absolute rudeness might have had the effect of banishing him, but this Elizabeth strongly objected to, as involving the risk at least, of offending George, who had long been her affianced husband, and whom a few months would make so in reality. Mrs. Hamilton conceived Dudley too repelling ever to excite affection in the breast of any female, much less her own sweet retiring Anna; she had even expressed this opinion, but she saw not the blush of indignation that suffused her daughter's cheek on the occasion, or she might have been led to exert a more than common watchfulness. Dudley had never spoken of home, parents, sisters, or aught relative to his situation and connexions in life; he was generally cold, haughty, and reserved, and a passionate love of music, seemed to Mrs. Melton, Elizabeth, and Jane, the only link connecting him with social humanity; but there existed thoughts and feelings beneath that freezing exterior, which, if exposed, had astonished those whose shallow penetration failed to fathom them; the heart that cherished them was not radically depraved, but its native purity had been sullied by collision with an evil and sinning world. Such then was the being who now paced the apartment, (to which we have already introduced our readers) with quick and uneasy steps as if regardless, or at least unconscious, that it contained any save himself. The lively Jane gazed on him with a look in which dislike and scorn were mingled, but he either heeded, or saw it not, for his countenance still wore theimpress of deep thought and entire abstraction. 0. A pretty humdrum party we are this morning, in good truth!" she exclaimed, after some minutes silence; "there is George twirling his thumbs and sitting so still and saint-like, one would imagine he had committed some heinous crime, and was performing penance, while Elizabeth fidgets with her work, and sighs, and reflects his looks as if she were a mirror-a detec table pair truly. Then there is Mr. Dudley, pacing the room with mechanical and melancholy precision; looking very much as if he had lost something, (I don't pretend to guess what) and was endeavouring to find it, while I, like a caged bird, am longing to be free, that I may wing my flight over the bright green meadows which gleam so invitingly yonder, in the warm sunshine! Ah! Lizzy, Lizzy, there is a gorgeous butterfly on that rose-bush; what a treasure for our collection; b autiful creature! I must have it," and opening one of the long windows that led to the garden, away she bounded, her bright ringlets streaming on the light summer-breeze, and her footsteps scarcely bending the green sward beneath them, while the merry-hearted George, eager for a frolic, sprang after her, and both were lost to sight in an instant. "Happy, happy hearts; Oh! how beautiful is innocence," exclaimed Dudley, mechanically turning from the window, and speaking unconsciously aloud. Elizabeth raised her eyes and gazed upon him; his cheek was pale, and his lips quivered visibly. Gracious heaven, Mr. Dudley, you are ill, very ill!" she alarmedly exclaimed; "what can I do, what can I get for you ?" and her hand touched the bell-rope. "Nothing, gentle Elizabeth, nothing;" he returned, recovering himself by a violent effort, and staying her hand, "it was but a momentary pang that shot athwart my brain; perchance the memory of some by-gone hour there are few, lady, who have not some bitterness mingled with the honey of existence." Your words are but too true, sir; alas! how often by our own headstrong follies do we forge the very links that are destined hereafter, to fetter us to remembrances which can produce nothing but unavailing sorrow, and undying remorse." The full dark eye of Dudley quailed beneath the unwavering look which Elizabeth bent upon him; he spoke not, but sighed heavily, and leaned over Anna's drawing to conceal the deep emotion that agitated him, and she fancied she beheld a tear fall on the sketch he was examining. The unusual absence of Anna, annoyed Dudley more than he cared to allow, even to himself; he had heard from Jane that she was at home; why then did she shun him ?-could it be that he had deceived himself, and that Anna only smiled upon him in friendship?-No, no, it could not, for when her mother and sisters had looked coldly on him, her greeting was always the more gentle, her glance the more kindly, as if she would fain soften the rang their unkindness necessarily occasioned, and at these moments Dudley's heart had glowed with emotions, which were both new and beautiful to him, and he resolved to encourage the blissful dreams that almost etherialized his spirit, even although they should but prove a spell of misery to darken his hereafter with unceasing gloom. He had sometimes indulged in visions of future happiness, pure and unalloyed, with Anna Melton, when she should be his beyond the power of mortal to divide them, and the difficulty of obtaining that desirable consummation had weighed heavily on his soul; the coward heart, albeit, undaunted by difficulties or dangers, sank for a time almost despairing, until the fatal penetration, with which mankind are so eminently gifted, taught him that she loved with all the pure devotion of woman's first affection. Mrs. Melton's approval, he knew, would never sanction their union, and there was only one course for him to pursue; he must win her without demanding that, or not at all: delay, he perceived would be dangerous, and he at once determined to take a decided step towards the accomplishment of his wishes. It was evening; the sun had shed his last rays over the earth, and the tops of the tallest trees, only, were tinged with his departing glories; twilight was stealing gradually over the eastern heaven, and the small birds were one by one hushing their music into stillness, and all, save the nightingale, hastening to repose; it was in truth, "The hour when fancy and remembrance weave when Anna Melton, leaning on the arm of Lewis Dudley, strolled, in deep conversation through the grove which formed part of the grounds surrounding Mrs. Melton's habitation. Anna spoke, long and earnestly she spoke, but her voice was low and broken. "Why do you urge me to take a step which must prove the grave of our mutual hopes," said Dudley, in a reproachful tone; "do not your mother and sisters regard me (me the unoffending in word or deed) with hate and distrust? would they not spurn me from their doors, merely for the crime of loving you, could they do so without a sacrifice of self? do they not, I repeat, look on me with suspicions as degrading to themselves, as injurious to me; and would they dare trust your happiness with one, who although he would willingly forfeit existence to save you a momentary pang, could scarcely gain credence even were he to do so?" "You are too hasty in your judgment, dear Lewis, indeed you are; my mother and sisters may be too anxious for my welfare, too watchful over my peace, but they are not, they cannot be unjust." "This then, Anna, is to be the eternal barrier between us; I will not submit to plead, where I cannot command respect; it would be too great a sacrifice of that I owe myself. And now, Anna, farewell; I had thought my hopes at length rested on a changeless shrine; I had concentrated the whole store of my hoarded affections on one sole object; I had dreamed of long years of unalloyed bliss, hallowed by one smile, soothed by one divine, adored presence; the vision has fled, and left my heart, riven and desolate, but how desolate none can tell." 66 Lewis, Lewis, stay, in pity stay, do not deem so harshly of me!" exclaimed Anna, catching his arm as he was departing, and drooping her head on his shoulder, she wept bitterly. Dudley smiled triumphantly as he gazed on the subdued girl, for he felt she was his own; heart and soul, his own. Nay, do not weep thus, lady, it will but make our parting the more bitter," he said, in a cold and haughty tone, following the advantage he had gained, "these tears ill befit one for whom so many brilliant prospects are smiling; go, then, and may you be happy; my love, at least is devoid of selfishness; in the glow of the sunshine you will, perchance, sometimes think of him to whom all seasons and all climates are alike indifferent." "I cannot, cannot bear it," frantically uttered Anna, "aught but this your coldness, your unkindness, your reproaches, I |