THE STAGE BOX BEAUTY.
BY MRS, M. V. SFENCER.
CHAPTER I.
Hawny Beauchampe was the son of a decayed gentleman, who, after the duo number of attacks of gout; diced and left his only child to starvation, But from this evil the young orphan was preserved by a maternal uncle, who, being an old bachelor, and pos sessing am income far beyond his wants, at once took charge of our hero, and resolved to educate, perhaps to adopt him. Accordingly the young orphan was pro- vided for at = public school, and subsequently at an academy, until bis uncle’s death, an event which hap- pened just as Beauchampe was entering on his fifteenth yeor. The death of his patron, however, did not leave Henry unprovided for; indeed the world looked on it as rather a happy,event for our hero, since it left him the possessor of an estate worth ten thousand a year, The devise, however, was fettered with one condition. It was made a contingency necessary to the enjoyment of the estate by Bosuchampe that he should marry @ niece of his uncle, whom the kind hearted old man ‘had adopted ‘@ fow years after he had done the same act for Henry. This clause, however, afforded no uncasiness to any of the parties, since all reasoned that the young heir would only be too glad to take the estate encumbered by @ lovely wife, for the protégee of the uncle, although Beauchampe had never seen her, bore the character of being exceedingly beautiful.
Accordingly Beauchampe grew up considering himeelf the possessor of his uncle's estate, as much ae if it was slready under his coutrol, Ample provision had been made in the will for the education of the young man. ‘As he waa naturally of cousidersble ability, he passed through college with eclat, and at eighteen took his diploma at the head of his class, His guardian pro- posed that he should devote the three remaining years of his minority, which were generally devoted to the stady of a profession, to.travelling abroad; and accord- ingly Beauchampe sailed for Europe under the guidance ofa tutor. Hert he was absent for two years and a half, It cannot be supposed that travel was without its effect on-hia mind. But happily he had no common amount of sense, and ho passed safely through the temptations of foreign life, without becoming either a fop or a buf foon. Naturally, however, of a poetic, we might say romantic temperement, he increased this tendency by loitering along tho vine-clad hills of the Rhine, and Tistening to the legends of that fascinating region. But, although few mrn were more romantic at heart, his life of fashion when in the great cities of- Paris or London, tanght him to disguise his sentiments; and of all the
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gay companions he met in the salons of the great and proud, not one would have suspected hie real character.
“Ah! De Burgh,” said he, one morning in the Park at London, to a fashionable acquaintance, “you heave got hack from the continent, and I am glad of it, for £ have to aail in a fortnight for New York.”
«Indeod—why, I thought you were not going uniit the acason was over, and hero it has just begun. Are you serious 1”
«Never more s0 in wy life, Time bas slipped away 0 rapidly of late that I find the poriod when I muet be in America Jose at hand—the more, since I received a lettor from my guardian yesterday, in which hoshints at my approaching majority, and says it would be but polite for me to be at home realy to fulfil the betrothal which my unele made for me.”
“Ah! T have heard of that—is the lady pretty ”
“She is said to be as beautiful as an Houri !””
“She brings you a fortune, my dear fellow, and that would raise a Gorgon into a Jeda,” said De Burgh, patting the neck of his restive steed. .
“Well, I don’t know,” said Beauchampe, «but that, if I had ever seen any one to love, I might give up for- tune and ll, You taughineredulously. But you littie know me. However, since 1 have never yet felt the passion I may as well marry my uncle’s profégce as now”
“ Ha—ha,” said De Burgh, “ you are quite resigned ! One would think you were sbout to suffer martyrdom. It is a good excuse—that inability to love. But come to the opera to-night, and we will test whether your heart is made of adamant.”
« Why—is there a new prima donna, or is the queen to be there, or will there bea row=—what is it? Thaven’t gone near the opern for a week, having just come up to- day from Liverpool.” :
“T went there the hour after I reached town, and shall go there nightly until the opora closce, or this mysterious beauty disappears. Know then that face appeared in the stage box last night which hag set the town mad. Whose it was no ono has been able to find out. The manager is deaf to bribes and prayers alike. All we can Jearn is that sho is a guest of some friend of his, At any rate the face is new, and when a glimpse of it can be caught behind the curtain you think you are looking on an angel's. Come tonight and sce if your heart witl provo unconquerabile.”
“J accept the challenge,” said Beaucharnpe, and the two friends parted.
CHARTZR IT,
“Tg sbe not beautiful ?” said De Burgh. His companion did not seem to heed the question, hut, gazed, a8 if transfixed, up to the stage box, where a deli- cate hand might be ecen holding back the curtain. A �
