continued she, turning again to Isabel, "do you remember the lady we are to call upon to-morrow afternoon ?" "No ; who do you mean ?" asked Isabel. 66 Why old " -here her voice sunk to a whisper, not so low, however, but that Frederick's acute ear detected sounds similar to " Old Margaret, the fortune teller," and he readily divined the nature of their intended visit. "6' You don't call her a lady ?" returned Isabel, smiling. " Hush !" said she in a whisper, "I would not have your brother know we are going for the world." Frederick, however, left the room as if to give them opportunity to complete arrangements for the call on "Old Margaret," a withered hag who had acquired some notoriety among the young ladies of the city for her shrewd conjectures and predictions, with regard to the all-important object with them, a happy marriage. Sarah Williams was a beautiful girl ! Her's was the dark featured loveliness of the sunny south, of which clime she was a native. Here eyes were full, lustrous orbs of a midnight blackness, which, when she was animated, flashed with an expression that thrilled to the heart. Her hair was of the like color, and usually bound up in luxuriant folds at the back of her head, or flowing down her neck in long wavy tresses, and her brow was as bright and sunny as her own native sky. Her teeth were of a pearly whiteness, and her cheeks, though wearing the " shadowed livery of the burning sun," were of such a transparent hue as to reveal the bright blood gleaming through, and tinging their darkness with a roseate light, as the setting sun gilds the shadows of early eve. Her figure was petite, but graceful—and its outlines were full and symmetrically rounded. Her step was light and free as the wild gazelle's, and her laugh broke upon the ear like her voice, with a clear, ringing tone, melodious as the swell of an organ. She was an orphan ; her parents both dying of a prevailing epidemic, while she was in her twelfth year of her age, leaving her almost penniless. By this calamity her deceased mother's brother became her guardian, and she left the south to become a resident of his family in this city. Here her loveliness and sweet disposition won her many friends, and her relatives almost idolized her, while she in return loved them, and strove in every manner to manifest her grateful feelings for their many kindnesses. From their unrestrained intimacy she had unconsciously won the heart of her cousin Frederick to a deeper feeling than that warranted by their tie of relationship, which, although she herself remained in ignorance of it, was observed with pleasure by her doating relatives, and they were delighted at the idea of her becoming, at some future day, their daughter and sister as well as cousin and neice. CHAPTER II. ABOUT four o'clock on the succeeding day, two young ladies might have been seen walking with hesi-
tating steps down one of the narrow lanes of Kensington, as if unused to the location, and hardly confident of being in the proper path they wished to pursue. They were dressed in elegant and fashionable style, and their air and manner plainly bespoke them residents of some more notable street than the one they were at the time traversing. Their figures were erect and graceful, strongly contrasting with the thick waists and round shoulders of the coarse and vulgar-looking females who jostled rudely past them, with an occasional expression of ridicule at the fragile forms and sylph-like motions of the two strangers. They kept their features closely veiled, however, and glided on , too timid to bestow even a glance in return, and passing down the entire length of the street, turned into a still more narrow court or alley, where, with a few steps, they stood in front of a low, dark, mysterious looking frame house, which, to say the least of it, bore evident marks of Time's decaying fingers over the whole extent of its exterior. Here they paused, and whispered together for a few moments, and from their gestures and looks of mistrustful curiosity at the low entrance to the humble dwelling, each seemed anxious that the other should have the honor of pioneering the way within ; but, however, through the modest diffidence usually attending real merit, or from some other more cogent reason, both timidly persisted in declining the acceptance of such distinguished priority. At length they ended the generous contest by both advancing at the same time and together- one knocking noiselessly with her fingers at the panel, while the other clung tremblingly to her left arm as if for support and protection. They now listened for some minutes in breathless anxiety ; but hearing no sign of life inside, she was constrained to knock again-and again, thrice repeated, each time the weight of her blows slightly increasing as she acquired from the delay a little fresh confidence, until they sounded three distinct lady-like taps, when the noise of shuffling feet was heard, and the door was slowly opened by a short, withered old yellow woman, who, with a scowl on her features, in a gruff toned voice inquired their pleasure. "We wish to speak with the woman who foretells fortunes," was their timid answer. "Then please to step in-I am her," said the old hag relaxing the frown upon her face, as far as the dignity of her profession would admit. The young ladies,-whom the reader has ere this surmised to be our two cousins, -advanced and seated themselves upon a sort of wooden bench, which served for the accommodation of visiters in lieu of a sofa, when she entered an adjoining room, and gave them ample time to wonder what she could be about, or what had become of her. At length she returned again and briefly asked which of the young ladies would like first to learn
