During the first periods of her being thus occupied, Martin much frequented her society, when she used often to converse with him respecting the employment which the Count of Artois had given her, and to show him the papers she had copied. It was in the course of one of these conversations she happened to say, that not only she could write a fair legible hand, but that she also possessed the act of copying the writings of others so correctly, as to make it extremely difficult for any one, in comparing them together, to decide which was the original, and which the counterfeit.

Martin declared, that when Devion first named this, her power of imitation, he did not give much heed to it, but that after events had recalled it to his mind. "It was between three and four months ago," he continued, " that he perceived a marked change in her manner towards him; for, instead of then conversing familiarly with him, as formerly, upon her occupations, and treating him as one to whom she owed her advancement to the Count of Artois' confidence, she not only evinced an extreme jealousy of all questions put

by him, but evidently avoided his society as much as possible."

He had felt hurt and offended at this falling off and reluctance on her part to associate with one to whom she, in fact, owed her good fortune; but had considered it in no other point of view than that of ingratitude; and imagined that she, being now retained as one of the Count's household, had grown too proud to associate with an old acquaintance, whose fortunes permitted him not to make so fair a figure in the world as she herself did. Not choosing, therefore, to court the society of one who seemed to be ashamed of his, he had gradually dropped the acquaintance.

At this time, also, she had a private chamber assigned her in the palace; this was situated at a great distance from the other apartments, and she used often to retire to it alone; and when occupied in writing, always fastened the door in suchwise as to secure her from any sudden intrusion. He remembered having once called there on business; and when, after much delay, she at length let him in, her countenance betrayed evident marks of confusion.-The table was

covered with papers, which she seemed not to have had sufficient time to put away.

It was about a fortnight or three weeks gone by, that hearing of the business relative to the Count of Aitois' heben chest and its contents, the fact she had once mentioned-of her being able to counterfeit writing,-occurred to him. He did not at first give it all the importance which he since believed it to deserve; and, indeed, had flung it aside, and thought little about it; but when the matter came to be bruited abroad, and it was in every body's mouth, that the Count of Artois had founded a claim to the province of that name, upon signatures, suspected of being forged; connecting her assertion with the circumstance of her being so often closeted alone, he had thought it probable that she might have falsified the writings in question.

Under this impression, and with that natural desire we all have of solving mystery, he had once gone to her, in order, if possible, to discover if she had really forged the signatures. He began by conversing with her on the footing of an old acquaintance, and talking about the

general occurrences which had happened since they last met; but suddenly changing the current of his conversation, he attempted, by a direct question, to entrap her into an acknowledgment of the fact he wished to know.

In this endeavour he had been partly successful; for although she had denied having had any thing to do with writing the papers, or any knowledge of them, and had even expressed resentment at being suspected of such an action, she had nevertheless shown such evident marks of confusion, both in countenance and manner, as to leave no doubt upon his mind of her guilt.

Unsatisfied with this mental conviction, and desirous of receiving a formal avowal from herself, he had lately again gone to her chamber, and pressed her hard with questions: but to no purpose. He had also laid before her the advantages she might expect to reap, by boldly coming forth, and avowing herself to have been employed by the Count of Artois to forge the signatures. He told her she might reasonably expect that Count Otho, out of gratitude to her for making evident the falseness of Robert's claim, would overwhelm her with riches.

Here, Otho, (who had hitherto sat by in perfect silence, listening to the tale) hearing his name pronounced, raised his head, and looked towards

the speaker with an expression of countenance which rather seemed to mark displeasure; but immediately again drooping it, he resumed his former position.

Louis also turned his eyes towards him, but it was with a far less tranquil glance than that of Otho.-A frown furrowed his brow for a moment -but he was silent.

The man seemed somewhat disconcerted at the anger thus shewn by his lord-(for Martin was one of his dependants) and remained silent some moments in seeming ignorance of what had caused the reproof-then recovering himself, continued.

He said, that having represented these things to Devion, she had paused a moment, seemingly to ponder on them; but that, after an apparent combat with herself, she appeared to have made up her mind; and then she faintly persisted in denying the fact. Whether this proceeded from faithfulness to her employer, or fear of the punishment he might inflict on her if she betrayed