LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1067, 28 November 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE TWO SIBYLS. ( Concluded .) He resolved that he would see Sir Percy and settle a few business matters with him ; but he must leave in the morning before Lily should appear. He could not, he dared not, see her—hear her ask him to give her up to another. Give her up ! She was not his; he had refused to let her bind herself by any promise, and he had nothing to say as to her marriage. But she need not know how he suffered ; ho would write her a letter wishwishing her every happiness, and asking her to forget that any tie had bound them together. When this was done he resumed his watch for Sir Percy; but he had had a fatiguing day, and gradually his waking misery was merged in no less painful dreams, so that he did not hear the party return home. They had returned early on Norval’s account; and when the butler delivered Nerval's message to Sir Percy, Lily begged that she might see him first. Before going into the library she took off her ball-dress, removed her jewels, loosened her hair, and put on a simple white dress. When Rose saw her she clapped her hands, and said she could fancy herself at Glenach again. But this was not quite the Lily of Glenach. There was a new dignity in her bearing, a deeper feeling in her expression; the child had entirely disappeared, and the woman taken her place; even Lady Low-tln-r’s term of happy wifehood had not altered her so much. When Lily softly opened the library door Norval was not disturbed ; and she knelt b ifore him and watched with anxiety his pained expression as he slept. But her presence, though he knew it yyt, axefted au iu<

fluence over him. Gradually his features elaxed, and a smile parted his lips. Then ne woke from a dresm of Glenach and Lily r o find her beautiful face before him, looking it him with a sweeter fender gaze than his !ream had pictured. With a joy she was clasped to his heart, and fora few minutes neither spoke. Then, in the midst of his joy, the image of Neville rose before Norval. Hastily releasing Lily from his embrace, he retired a step or two. * What of Neville, Sibyl?’ She looked ut>, surprised and hurt at the change in his voice. ‘ Have you seen him V Then she added, smiling, ‘ He and I have a petition to lay before yonr gracious lordship to morrow. ’ He looked half relieved. ‘ Lily, you are not, you cannot bo mocking me—or him. I must have dreamt tonight when I heard him say you had made him the happiest man in London. See, I have written you a letter of congratulation, and intended to leave London without seeing you.’ When he began to speak, Lily drew up her head proudly, and would have indignantly spurned the imputation of doubledealing; but she remembered the look of suffering on Norval’s face when she saw him first, and she saw that, however innocently, there had been given him some cause for doubt. Tears stood in her eyes as she said, ‘ You have misunderstood, Norval; but nothing should have shaken your faith in me. 1 could never have doubted you. Mr Neville is engaged to be married to Kate Dalton, Hose’s cousin, and is waiting till he gets a living to give up his fellowship and settle down. I have, with Sir Percy’s approval, and subject to your consent, offered him the rue in my, or rather the one in our, gift, and it was for that ho thanked me tonight. But why did you not speak to me when you were so near ? I saw you in the mirror in front of us, and when I turned you were gone.’ All was clear now, and Norval was happy; that loving expression was called forth by tho sight of him, and the conversation he had overheard was but another proof of her tenderness of heart. Soon the door was partially opened, and Bose’s voice was heard asking, ‘ May we come in?’ and she and Sir Percy joined them. After mutual greetings, Lady Lowther proposed an adjournment to the dining-room to supper; and a very merry and very happy party assembled round the table, Norval and Lily having to submit to a good deal of banter from Rose. A shadow passed over Norval’a face for a moment when Sir Percy asked,

‘ What of Glenach. Cameron ?’ ‘ I have not seen it since the new owner took possession, and I do not expect to see it again.’ hose looked mischievously at Lily. * Who has bought it?’ said Lady Lowther * some Glasgow soap-boiler, who will paint the house Rob Roy tartan ?’ ‘ I cannot find out who has bought it; but I hear he is laying out a great deal of money very judiciously.’ Norval looked at Rose’s laughing eyes, Lily’s blushing look of consciousness; but he was bewildered, till Percy said, ‘I understand it has been bought by a wilful woman, who has persuaded her weak guardian to expend a great deal of money on it, preparing .it for her reception after her marriage. Is'it not so, Rose ? Before Lily could disclaim this intention, Norval had taken her hand and pressed it passionately to his lips. ‘ That is the reason you were so willing to give up your old guardian and choose another ? ’ ‘Yes; you were not vexed, were you? You know you told me nothing would induce you to purchase Glenach for me.’ ‘ And she agreed to take me in your stead,’ said Sir Percy,‘on the flattering condition that I was to do whatever she desired me; and a very tyrant I found her, as you will too when it is too late.’ ‘ I believe Lily’s principal reason for buying Glenach was that she might have the privilege of the ministrations of Mr M'Larty,’ said Rose.’ ‘ Then she had better advertise it for sale again, as he removes immediately to a wider and more congenial field of usefulness in a manufacturing town.’ ‘ And is a minister appointed in his place ?’ asked Lily. ‘Yes. Fortunately the publican has no more eligible relations, so he has allowed us to have a gentleman this time. Now that he is going, I think I must tell you, Lowther, of a scene I witnessed last summer in our neighborhood. ’ With infinite humor Norval described the scene between Mr M ‘Larty and Rose by the river-side, of which he had been an unseen witness. To Lily it cleared up one or two things she had not been able to understand, and she and Sir Percy enjoyed the story|immensely, the latter remaining strangely blind to Rose’s part in it till Rose said, when he had finished, ‘How could you know? I never told anybody. ’ Sir Percy turned round to her in great astonishment. ‘You don’t mean to say —’ ‘Yes, dear, I do mean to say—Goodnight. Come, Lily, it is time for young people like you to be in bed; and she vanished almost before Norval could reach the door to open it. It is hardly necessary to say that Norval’s scheme of going abroad was abandoned, and that Mrs Cameron was made happy by haaring that, instead of losing her son, she was to recover Lily and her home. After their marriage Norval and Lily went to reside on Lily’s estate in England, and together made the acquaintance and improved the condition of her tenants and dependents. But part of the summer and the autumn months were always spent at Glenach, and there the two Sibyls often recalled their first eventful visit to the Highlands of Scotland.