long been searching for her, and who had traced her at last by the
picture Clarence Hervey had caused to be exhibited.

With the utmost magnanimity, Hervey, although he saw a successful rival
for Belinda's hand in Augustus Vincent, rescued him from ruin at the
gaming-table, and induced him to promise never to gamble again.

"I was determined Belinda's husband should be my friend. I have
succeeded beyond my hopes," he said.

But Vincent's love of play had decided Belinda at last. She refused him
finally in a letter which she confessed she found difficult to write,
but which she sent because she had promised she would not hold him in
suspense once she had made her decision.

After this Virginia Hartley confessed to her attachment for one Captain
Sunderland, and Clarence was free to avow his passion for Belinda.

"And what is Miss Portman to believe," cried one of Belinda's friends,
"when she has seen you on the very eve of marriage with another lady?"

"The strongest merit I can plead with such a woman as Miss Portman," he
replied, "is that I was ready to sacrifice my own happiness to a sense
of duty."

* * * * *