Elaine, The Lilly=Maid.

forgive me and take me back again . I can ' t get out of Theodora ' s ( -latches , somehow . 1 have , however , definitely made up my mind to leave next week , but am permitted to do so only on the condition that 1 come back for Christmas or the New Year . November 10 th . —I controlled the impulse which would have led me back to Elaine , and came up to town . It is better so . Sometimes I think my love for the lilv-maid was onlv a passing fancy , and that her parting words , " You liked

nie—because I seemed different to others—or was , perhaps , hard to win , " showed she knew me better , in her pure instinct , than I knew myself . T wonder how she feels towards me now ! Women are so different from men . I suppose our love , or what we call love , ig headlong passion , and soon burns itself out ; theirs , deep , slowly-awakening affection which increases and endures , only reaching its full perfection when man ' s has gone cold and dead . However , J need not go into metaphysics , which arc not in my line .

November 18 th . —I shall give up the idle , womanish habit of writing down stray facts , and events as they happen—only I find an odd , perverse sort of amusement in it , and like to look back upon what 1 have written . Poor , sweet Elaine ! What a despicable creature I am . Yet , though I am so cynically critical of myself , I take no pains to be better—it is too late . She would have roused the latent spark of good , if it exists—but that is all over .

December 22 ml ( Dewhurst Park ) . —I have had a horrible shock , and can hardly steady my hand to write . Poor Dewhurst—well , and strong , and jovial , last nig ht—was this morning found dead in his dressing-room . Frightful occurrence ! What a Christmas ! Heart disease , the doctors say . The wildest confusion prevails . Theodora is supposed to be prostrate , and is being described already as crushed and broken-hearted . I have not gone near her to speak a word of condolence . How can I—I ? There is a grim and repulsive sitire in the

idea . Poor fellow ! He was a simple , loyal soul , true-hearted , and—my trie-id . Ought I to stay for the funeral ? Not in the house , at all events . People ' s tom'ues are so easily set wagging . I must write some sort of note to Theodora , and send a verbal message by one of the servants to say I shall be hippy to render all the assistance in my power during this sad trouble , Ac ., ivo . When all is over , I think I had better clear out . I may find myself in an awkward position now Theodora is a widow . Elaine the fair ! Would you forgive me even yet , and blot out my misdeeds , if I came back humbly to ask you ' i January 21 st ( Monaco . )—Away from England and all its associations , influenced neither by one set of circumstances or another . 1 am able to reason

Elaine, The Lilly=Maid.

¦ clearly , and to recognise what a consummate piece of folly my last year ' s loveaffair with Elaine was . We should have been eminently unsuited to each other . How lucky it was we found it out in time ! I hope the dear girl may find some one who will be far more worthy than I ever should have been . It was a foolish episode , and best for both that it has ended . I came here to seek distraction , to

forget the lily-maid , and to keep out of Lady Dcwhurst ' s way for a time . I suppose Elaine has , in her turn , quite forgotten me , and has " got over it , " as we say . 1 don ' t think she could have cared So very much , or she would never have given me up so easily . Olive never writes—I have not had a line from her since that , time , at Mount , Vernon .

March 1 st . —I shall return home soon , as I am beginning to be tired of this life , and have lost more money than I care to count . I read a foolish , drivelling , obscure thing of Browning ' s yesterday— " In a Year , " and can ' t get its peculiar rhythm out ot my head . It goes on repeating monotonously in my brain , and makes mo think of Elaine . Not that she is ever likely to be " dying for my sake . " The notion is too absurd .

" Can't we touch these bubbles , then , Ilut they break ? " Pshaw ! It is veritable nonsense . Let me see It is about 12 months since 1 first saw her . Twelve months—and it seems but yesterday . What a regrettable incident it was , and what a fool I ! It can ' t be helped now , however . Maud Warren has evidently got tired of waiting and has consoled herself for my dilatoi-iness . 1 saw the

announcement of her marriage in the London papers of Tuesday . Theodora has written to me several times . I ' m afraid fate and expediency will carry me back to her ladyship yet . We are well suited to each other , and to say that is no flattery to either . She naturally expects me to marry her now no bar interposes . Well , it nmv be . It must come to that eventually I suppose .

March ilth . —Elaine is dead . Elaine is dead . Letnic write it down and try to realise or comprehend it . She is dead . Olive has written to tell me so . Dead . What are my emotions as that awful word stares me in the face ? I do not know : I cannot analyse them . The Lily-Maid , the White Flower ! Olive says it is I who killed

her . She drooped and pined after our parting , and was delicate aud ailing all ( lie winter . Then , on the 28 lh of last month she died—the very day I read those lines which afterwards haunted me with their fatal prophecy ! Oh , Elaine ! dead dead dead I can write no more .

Ad02802

INFANT ORPHAN ASYLUM , WANSTEAD . 1 ' ATKONS—IIKU MAJESTY THE QUEEN . —H . R . H . THE PRINCE OF WALES , MOST WUIWIIIPFUI . GUANO MABTBK . Annual Subscriptions are Greatly Needed and will be Thankfully Received , NEARLY 600 CHILDREN FED , CLOTHED , HOUSED , AND EDUCATED . The Managers ask for Help to Maintain this good Work in Unimpaired Efficiency . Bankors-Mossrs . WILLIAMS , DEACON , & Co . Office-100 , Fleet Street . HENRY W . GREEN , P . M . No 108 , Secretary .