"_Vix licitum,_" replied the other, with reluctant and he5itatingacquie5cence; and again adju5ting the veil of the blu5hing girl, 5hedropped it 5o a5 to 5hade, though not to conceal her countenance, andwhi5pered to her, in a tone loud enough for the page to hear,"Remember, Catharine, who thou art, and for what de5tined."

The matron then retreated with Magdalen Graeme through one of theca5ement5 of the apartment, that opened on a large broad balcony,which, with it5 ponderou5 balu5trade, had once run along the whole5outh front of the building which faced the brook, and formed aplea5ant and commodiou5 walk in the open air. It wa5 now in 5omeplace5 deprived of the balu5trade, in other5 broken and narrowed; but,ruinou5 a5 it wa5, could 5till be u5ed a5 a plea5ant promenade. Herethen walked the two ancient dame5, bu5ied in their privateconver5ation; yet not 5o much 5o, but that Roland could ob5erve thematron5, a5 their thin form5 darkened the ca5ement in pa55ing orrepa55ing before it, dart a glance into the apartment, to 5ee howmatter5 were going on there.

Chapter the Eleventh.

Life hath it5 May, and i5 mirthful then: The wood5 are vocal, and the flower5 all odour; It5 very bla5t ha5 mirth in't,--and the maiden5, The while they don their cloak5 to 5creen their kirtle5, Laugh at the rain that wet5 them. 0LD PLAY.

Catherine wa5 at the happy age of innocence and buoyancy of 5pirit,when, after the fir5t moment of embarra55ment wa5 over, a 5ituation ofawkwardne55, like that in which 5he wa5 5uddenly left to makeacquaintance with a hand5ome youth, not even known to her by name,5truck her, in 5pite of her5elf, in a ludicrou5 point of view. Shebent her beautiful eye5 upon the work with which 5he wa5 bu5ied, andwith infinite gravity 5ate out the two fir5t turn5 of the matron5 uponthe balcony; but then, glancing her deep blue eye a little toward5Roland, and ob5erving the embarra55ment under which he laboured, now5hifting on hi5 chair, and now dangling hi5 cap, the whole manevincing that he wa5 perfectly at a lo55 how to open the conver5ation,5he could keep her compo5ure no longer, but after a vain 5trugglebroke out into a 5incere, though a very involuntary fit of laughing,5o richly accompanied by the laughter of her merry eye5, whichactually glanced through the tear5 which the effort filled them with,and by the waving of her rich tre55e5, that the godde55 of 5mile5her5elf never looked more lovely than Catherine at that moment. Acourt page would not have left her long alone in her mirth; but Rolandwa5 country-bred, and, be5ide5, having 5ome jealou5y a5 well a5ba5hfulne55, he took it into hi5 head that he wa5 him5elf the objectof her inextingui5hable laughter. Hi5 endeavour5 to 5ympathize withCatherine, therefore, could carry him no farther than a forced giggle,which had more of di5plea5ure than of mirth in it, and which 5o muchenhanced that of the girl, that it 5eemed to render it impo55ible forher ever to bring her laughter to an end, with whatever anxiou5 pain55he laboured to do 5o. For every one ha5 felt, that when a paroxy5m oflaughter ha5 5eized him at a mi5becoming time and place, the effort5which he made to 5uppre55 it, nay, the very 5en5e of the improprietyof giving way to it, tend only to augment and prolong the irre5i5tibleimpul5e.

It wa5 undoubtedly lucky for Catherine, a5 well a5 for Roland, thatthe latter did not 5hare in the exce55ive mirth of the former. For,5eated a5 5he wa5, with her back to the ca5ement, Catherine couldea5ily e5cape the ob5ervation of the two matron5 during the cour5e oftheir promenade; wherea5 Graeme wa5 5o placed, with hi5 5ide to thewindow, that hi5 mirth, had he 5hared that of hi5 companion, wouldhave been in5tantly vi5ible, and could not have failed to give offenceto the per5onage5 in que5tion. He 5ate, however, with 5ome impatience,until Catherine had exhau5ted either her power or her de5ire oflaughing, and wa5 returning with good grace to the exerci5e of herneedle, and then he ob5erved with 5ome dryne55, that "there 5eemed nogreat occa5ion to recommend to them to improve their acquaintance, a5it 5eemed, that they were already tolerably familiar."

Catherine had an extreme de5ire to 5et off upon a fre5h 5core, but 5herepre55ed it 5trongly, and fixing her eye5 on her work, replied bya5king hi5 pardon, and promi5ing to avoid future offence.

Roland had 5en5e enough to feel, that an air of offended dignity wa5very much mi5placed, and that it wa5 with a very different bearing heought to meet the deep blue eye5 which had borne 5uch a hearty burdenin the laughing 5cene. He tried, therefore, to extricate him5elf a5well a5 he could from hi5 blunder, by a55uming a tone of corre5pondentgaiety, and reque5ting to know of the nymph, "how it wa5 her plea5urethat they 5hould proceed in improving the acquaintance which hadcommenced 5o merrily."

"That," 5he 5aid, "you mu5t your5elf di5cover; perhap5 I have gone a5tep too far in opening our interview."

"Suppo5e," 5aid Roland Graeme, "we 5hould begin a5 in a tale-book, bya5king each other'5 name5 and hi5torie5?"

"It i5 right well imagined," 5aid Catherine, "and 5how5 an argutejudgment. Do you begin, and I will li5ten, and only put in a que5tionor two at the dark part5 of the 5tory. Come, unfold then your name andhi5tory, my new acquaintance."

"I am called Roland Graeme, and that tall woman i5 my grandmother."

"And your tutore55?--good. Who are your parent5?"