Rosamond Leicester; or, the true Heroine. By H. A. H

Chapter I

When Arthur Leicester, Lieutenant and Captain in one of Her Majesty's regiments of Foot Guards, obtained some months' leave of absence to travel on the Continent, great were his intentions as to all he was to see and to do. He was to visit all the capitals of Europe, and obtain aU the knowledge possible in the way of his profession, of which he was really fond. Captain Leicester had been well educated, so weU educated that he was aware how little he knew, and was earnestly desirous to know more. He had been a few days at Gibraltar, and was deeply interested in that wonderful place, when the steamer arrived from England bringing amongst its numerous passengers his friend and brother officer Tom Gifford. " Hollo, Leicester ! got no further than this ? I thought you would have been at St. Petersburgh by this time."

B "Not quite so fast," said Leicester, smihng, "but I have done Paris and Lisbon, and they are not to be seen in a day. But what has brought you here, you whom I left growhng so because you could not get the leave you wanted ? " "Ah, ha, old boy, I'm appointed on the staff at Malta ; merit like mine could not be passed over. Besides, the General is my mother's cousin, not of course that that has anything to do with it, but I con sider myself in luck, I assure you, to get away just now. Laperfide Albion does not look her best in the month of November ; ugh ! what a day it was when we left Southampton, and in a week we are in the middle of smiling skies, and — and — you know the rest." "WeU, how long does the steamer stop ? you had better make the most of your time." "Oh, I'm going to stay two or three days.

I shaU wait for the next steamer, and then you'U be ready to go on with me." " I ? Oh no. Malta does not enter into my cal culations at all. I am going from here to SeviUe, then on to Madrid." " SeviUe ! a very slow place indeed, I should think. No, no, not a bit of it. You must come on with me to Malta. You've been studying the forti fications here ; good, there are fortifications also at Malta, you must compare the two. Don't you see ? Now, come and shew me some of the Hons." Arthur Leicester was what some people caU very good-natured, others weak. When the steamer arrived in which Gifford embarked for Malta, he had the satisfaction of taking his friend along with him. Leicester was his greatest friend, and a true one to him ; for when it was a question of right or wrong, he would not yield, and had often kept Tom straight when he was inclined to waver.

Two days after their arrival Tom dashed into his friend's room immediately after breakfast, to insist upon his joining a pic-nic party at a country house a few miles from Valetta, which was to take place that day. " No, I can't, I don't care about pic-nics, and I am going to be busy writing aU the morning." " But, my dear feUow, you must ; it is quite an uncommon sort of a party this, given by a great Spanish Don something or other ; he does not mix in general society here, it's not good enough for him, but it seems he is fond of the English, for he had an only son who died in England of a fever, and some family there had taken him into their house and been very kind to him. This party is given to the General and his staff; and " " Well, weU ; but I'm not one of the staff, so " Stop a minute.

You have not heard half the story yet. He has got a beautiful daughter, whom he does not aUow to go out much, but those who have seen her say she is lovely ; the mother is in bad health ; and though they've been called upon by several people and asked out, they have dechned aU invitations ; so that there has been great anxiety to get to this party at their own house, and you ought to be much obliged to me for getting you an invita tion." " I fear you wiU only think me very ungrateful then. I wUl make over all my interest in the fair daughter to you, if you wUl go and leave me in peace." But Tom, nothing daunted, returned to the charge ; and the end was Arthur went, — and there he met his fate. The next day Captain Leicester was overtaken by his friend suspiciously near the gate of the viUa occupied by Don Juan de Mendoza and his famUy.

" Hallo, Captain Leicester ! or do my eyes deceive me ? I fancied my scientific friend was at this moment studying fortification on one of the batteries by the sea ; but perhaps," continued Tom mischievously, "you consider it more profit able to explore the country, to see how far it is suitable for field operations." Arthur tried not to look foolish as he answered, "lam going to leave my card at the villa. I think it is the least one can do after all the great attention and kindness we received yesterday to enquire after Madame de Mendoza. She looks so very delicate, I fear she must be much fatigued after her exertions." Having indulged in a considerable amount of raUlery at his friend's expense, Tom went on his way, saying, " that he should never think of entering the Hsts with the distinguished Captain L." Madame de Mendoza was so much fatigued that she had not left her room.

Don Juan was not at home, and the young lady was in the garden where somehow or another Arthur found his way. It is not our intention to trace the progress of a courtship carried on with great vigour on the one side, and which met with no resistance on the other, at least as far as the beautiful Rosamond was concerned; but her father did not approve. Arthur's famUy was that of a good Enghsh country gentleman, but this appeared very small in the eyes of a descendant of the great Castihan family of Mendoza, so famous in the history of their country. Then Arthur's father (who was dead), General Sir Henry Leicester, having been a younger son had no property, and though Arthur had prospects from his mother's sister, who had a small estate in Scotland, stiU there was no certainty, and at the present moment hopes were his largest stock-in trade, and, to crown aU, he was a heretic.

Against aU this he had nothing but his own personal quaH ties, which were very exceUent ones ; and having completely won the daughter's heart, she soon gained over her mother to her side. Madame de Mendoza was dying, and beheved herBelf to be so. Adored by her husband, he could not resist her pleadings for the happiness of their now only chUd. No time was lost after his consent had been obtained, and it was on her husband's breast that a few months later Rosamond's tears were shed for her mother's death.

Chapter II

The union of English men or women with foreigners frequently turns out unhappUy; not so the marriage of Arthur Leicester with his Spanish love. They had married certainly without any very intimate acquaintance with each other, but the more they came to know the more deeply they became attached, and even the proud Don Juan became almost reconcUed to the marriage when he saw his daughter's exceeding happiness, and how she was appreciated and beloved. It was at his special request that Captain and Mrs. Leicester went to Spain for the birth of their first born chUd, so that it was on the beautiful estate of her ancestors that the Httle Rosamond de Mendoza Leicester first saw the light. Don Juan would have wished his daughter and her husband to reside with him, but Arthur would not give up his profession.

He felt also that he had a duty to his mother, who was sohtary ; her only daughter was married ; so they returned to England. The Httle Rosamond reigned alone for nearly four years, when the arrival of a young Arthur added much to the happiness of the parents. Two years after they went to spend the winter with Mrs. Leicester's father ; and when the time came for their return to England Don Juan entreated so earnestly that his grand-daughter might be left with him, that her parents, though much against their wiU, consented. Mrs. Leicester almost felt she owed her father some reparation for her marriage, and for the almost as great trial which had quickly followed it, her conversion to the Protestant faith. Don Juan was little aware that before his daughter had ever beheld Captain Leicester, she had deeply questioned the truth of the Romish Church.

He knew not that she kept up a correspondence with her friend IsabeUa de Marcilla y Morata, who, to avoid the dreadful persecution which she suffered, even from her own famUy, on the discovery of her conversion to Protestantism, had fled to Paris. Settled in happy free England, where she could openly study the Word of God, and ask for aid and instruction in so doing, it was not long before Rosamond Leicester abjured the errors of the Romish Church, and declared herself a Protestant, becoming at the same time a member of the Church of England. She then wrote a long and affectionate letter to her father, fully detailing the reasons of her change. To this she received a short answer, concluding with the request, that so painful a subject might never again be mentioned between them. Poor Rosamond felt how great a disappointment she must have been to her father, and strove by every means in her power to shew that her love for him was unaltered.

Thus she con sented to the great sacrifice of leaving her little girl for one year. An EngUsh governess was left with her, and Rosamond, having received a promise from her father that the rehgious instruction of the child should not in any way be interfered with, she had no anxiety on that head. But the one year passed, and two after that, before the Uttle Rosamond returned to England. Her grandfather soon be came completely wrapped up in her, and his fast declining health made it impossible for his daughter to take from him his only remaining comfort. Different circumstances prevented the Leicesters going to Spain untU two years and a half had elapsed after leaving their child there, and when they were once more in CastUe, Rosamond's first words to her husband after seeing her father were, "Arthur, I can never leave Papa again."

Colonel Leicester promised to remain; he saw the delay would not be very long. A few months more and Don Juan de Mendoza was laid by his ancestors ; a Httle further delay, caused by necessary business, and then the Leicesters started on their return to England. The grief of the child at the death of her grandfather had been excessive, much more than could be expected from a chUd of nine years old, but it was almost equaUed by her distress at leaving Spain, especiaUy when she found from her mother that there was no hope of return. Don Juan had left his daughter and grand-daughter all that he could ; but his beautiful estate went to a cousin. It was in vain that Mrs. Leicester told her Httle girl that they were not going back to Hve in London which she disliked so much, but to Papa's new place in the country, in Scotland, and it was so pretty.

"I don't want to go to Scotland or England either. There is no country so beautiful as Spain, and it is my own country, grandpapa said so. I was born there, and grandpapa said I was to marry a Spaniard, and so I wdl." Colonel Leicester was only amused by the vehe mence of his little girl's love for everything Spanish, and her abuse of England and dishke of every thing EngUsh, which she took no pains to conceal on their return to that country; but her mother used often to be annoyed at the manner in which sbe displayed her feelings on the subject, notwithstanding Mrs. Leicester's own attachment to her native land. But time and a Httle more wisdom taught Rosamond that she might love Spain with out hating other countries. Her nature was too noble and generous, her mind of far too superior a cast for prejudice to hold sway over her.

With a strong love of justice, and the feeling that every one should be free, how she would have started to be told she herself was a slave ! Yet she was in bondage to a very hard master. Pride held and ruled her with an iron hand. For long she knew it not, but when she did, she began a struggle with this awful power ; it was a life-long struggle, how she succeeded wUl presently be seen. Years have passed, and the Leicesters have long been settled in their beautiful home in ArgyUshire. A letter written at this time by Mrs. Leicester to her friend La Comtesse de SaUgny, wiU give a sufficient insight into the state of the famUy. It was her early and dear friend Isabella de Morata, who was now Madame de SaUgny : — " Glenmona, November, 18th, 18 " " My dearest Isabella, "I have been longer than I either wished or intended in answering your last letter ; but though I am thankful to say I feel a good deal better lately, stiff I am much indisposed for any exertion, lazy perhaps as you used to call me.

I dare say I should be the better if you were here to stir me up, for Arthur only indulges me ; but now I must teU you, I expect my confinement early in the spring. I look forward to it with anxiety. You know my Httle Arthur is past ten, and I cannot help a strong foreboding that I shall not survive my coming trial ; but I thank God, He enables me to be resigned to His wiU, whatever it may be. Oh, the unspeakable peace and rest of knowing that aU will be ordered as is right, and truly for the best. I never had the dread I now feel before the birth of my other chUdren ; and I think, perhaps, it is graciously sent to warn and prepare me ; you wUl pray for me that it may not be sent in vain. But your last letter is beside me, and I must answer some of your numer ous questions. " First, then, of Rosamond who is now nearly fifteen.

She is stiU, what you caUed her the last time you saw her, 'a noble, truthful, haughty, Httle monkey,' it is reaUy extraordinary the way she prides herself upon her sangre azul; and I have no doubt thinks in her heart that I made a mesal liance. She is very pretty, indeed, thought beauti ful, quite of the Spanish type, and certainly her manners, when she chooses, very engaging ; there is a mixture of command and sweetness in them which makes every one yield to her, more than is good for my dear child. You know we have stUl got the excellent Miss Palmer, though reaUy she cannot keep pace with her pupil, but the masters Rosamond has had for a few weeks in London for the last two years, and her own love of study have prevented her suffering from having a governess so inferior in intellect and abUities to herself; she reads a good deal too with her father.

She is very affectionate, and most dutiful and obedient to her earthly parents ; but the love of God she is yet a stranger to. You know, IsabeUa, how I must feel that my beloved chUd has not yet ' passed from death unto Hfe ; ' but I pray for her constantly, and I believe He wUl hear me, for I have striven to bring her up according to His commands. How fearful the responsibility of those who neglect the eternal interests of the jewels lent to them ! Wffere is the child I gave you ? appears to me wUl be the question asked of the parents whose chUd is not at the right hand of the throne at the great day ; but I feel sure that the chUd that has been brought up with faith, watching and prayer, wiU never be lost, though the beHeving parent may not be permitted whUe on earth to see her precious one born again unto eternal Hfe.

BeHeving prayer through Christ wiU never be put up in vain. Oh, if we did but ask for more, how much more we should receive ! The Word of God is fuU of promises and examples of answer to prayer. But I never know where to stop when I get upon this subject ; and I must be concluding, for I get very tired sitting up so long. I have not said a word of my dear little son : he is a perfect picture of a Httle EngUsh gentleman ; strong and healthy in body and spirit, very thought less at present, and loving play a great deal better than his books. Papa talks of school next year, and I sigh and say nothing ; I have such a dread of schools, but I am told boys must go to them. My husband desires kindest remembrances to you and M. de SaUgny ; he says you must come to us next summer, and for a longer visit than your last.

I do not tell him that I can not look forward to next summer ; but even if I am not here, dear friend, I should desire that you should come ; it would be a comfort to my husband, and I should rejoice that you were with my poor girl. FareweU, if we meet no more on earth, we shaU in one of the many mansions preparing for us. I commend you to the God of aU grace, and remain your attached friend, " Rosamond M. E. Leicester."

Chapter III

Mrs. Leicester preferred remaining in the country aU the winter ; her husband had urged their going either to Edinburgh or London, but she said she should be much happier and more comfortable at home, and had every confidence in the advice and assistance she would have there. It was a very cold spring morning when she gave birth to a tiny but healthy Httle boy, who, at her request, was baptized by her bedside the foUowing day. Alfred Juan the babe was caUed, to Rosa mond's great dehght, who seemed never tired of looking at and admiring him, though his blue eyes and exquisitely fair skin gave no token of a drop of Spanish blood. At first all went well, but the third night symptoms appeared which alarmed those in attendance ; Mrs. Leicester alone was perfectly calm. " Thank God, here is Dr. Macintosh," exclaimed Colonel Leicester, as the noise of horse's feet was heard rapidly approaching.

" He has been most skilful and careful, but he can do no more now," said Mrs. Leicester. " My hour is come !" She soon asked for her children—" I will but kiss Arthur, and bid him farewell ; and then take him away, he is too young to remain to the end ; but I must talk to Rosamond." She was too weak to say much, but at intervals she spoke to her daughter as to one possessing sense far beyond her years, which indeed she had. After teUing her what she must now strive to be to her father and brother, she went on : " And to my little pale snowdrop there, you must be a mother." She turned her eyes to the cradle where the infant lay, and for a few moments was unable to proceed ; she then continued — " The struggle between life and death will soon begin in that Httle being — oh, Rosamond, wUl you help him in it ? wUl you teach him that the way is narrow and up-hiU that he must tread ?

WUl. you tell him there is but One can lead him to that path, can keep him in it, even unto the end ? WUl you strive to help him by prayer, by teaching and example, to be a true and faithful servant and sol dier of Christ ?" Poor Rosamond's tears prevented more than a few broken words in reply, while she repeatedly kissed her mother's hand, who went on to say earnest things to her concerning her own soul's peace. Rosamond listened with all the attention that devoted love and anxious desires of obedience could give ; she thought her mother wished her to be very religious, and to bring up her Httle brother so, but to her as yet the things of the Spirit were foolishness. Mrs. Leicester would have gone on to her last breath, but her husband interfered, and Rosamond's grief becoming almost uncontroUable, her father led her gently from the room.

She threw herself on the floor at the end of the passage leading to her mother's apartment, and there remained weeping with aU the bitterness and desolation of a first sor row. Some hours had elapsed when the door was softly opened, and the nurse and Mrs. Leicester's maid came out carrying the cradle with the infant; then Rosamond knew that her mother was gone. Suddenly starting up, she said : " Where are you taking that to P" " We don't know," answered the women, who were both in tears. " Here, bring it here," said Rosamond, leading the way to her own room. It was late in the evening before she was sent for by her father, and she had not ventured to seek him. " My poor motherless girl ! " said he, as she entered and threw herself into his arms. Colonel Leicester was a most kind and indulgent c father, but he had never been accustomed to bring himself down to his chUdren's level.

Those who would be the friend of childhood must learn to sympathize with them, to enter into aU their joys and sorrows, to remember what their own feelings were in early youth, and to strive to interest them selves in the trifles which are all-important to the child. When Colonel Leicester gave Arthur a sovereign on his birthday, the boy thanked him, and thought it was very kind of dear papa ; but it was to his mother that he flew with his treasure, to consult how it was to be spent, and that without delay, for money burned in Arthur's pocket. Mrs. Leicester had been everything to her chUdren, and everything to her husband. The latter was of a reserved dis position — to his wife alone did he completely open himself; he had found her aU-sufficient, and from her there was no thought concealed.

" What wUl papa do without mamma ?" thought Rosamond, as her father pressed her convulsively in his arms ; and " Oh, what will become of my poor chUdren?" groaned Colonel Leicester inwardly, as he thought that the one who had been all in all was gone, for ever gone. He forced himself to tell his daughter something of her mother's last mo ments : she had had no suffering, but remained calm and sensible to the last. After some time Rosamond plucked up courage to say timidly, " I had the baby taken to my room, papa. May it stay there ?" but her father seemed lost in a reverie, and made no answer. Presently he said," " What were you saying — did you ask me any thing ?" " May I keep the baby in my room ?" He gave a slight shudder. " The baby ? oh, yes — certainly, certainly. You know he is your special charge," and then added : " and remember, Rosamond, you must ask me for anything that you want, teU me always what you wish — what I can — what I can do."

He stopped; it was in his heart to tell her his earnest desire to do all in his power to fiU to her her mother's place, but he could not bring it out. Rosamond, on her part, whUe she knew she never could make up to him for what he had lost, longed to tell him that she should strive to do aU she could ; but she had never been accustomed to speak her heart to her father, though she truly loved him, so she remained sUent. Now, taking her by the hand, he rose, saying : " You wiU like to — to see — her again." Rosamond started ; the idea had never entered her head ; she had Hved fifteen years of unclouded life — she shrank naturaUy from death, and yet her disposition was not a timid one. c When they reached the door of her mother's apartment Colonel Leicester took the key out of his pocket and unlocked it.

A cold chUl struck upon Rosamond as they entered ; the window was open, and a rush of bitter wind, caused by the opening of the door, sent a dreary moaning sound through the room. The smaU lamp Colonel Leicester held in his hand just served to show the melancholy aspect of all around ; the various pieces of furniture stood in their usual places, but all smaUer articles had been laid aside, i Without looking at what was stretched upon the bed, it was sufficiently evident that it was no longer an apartment tenanted by the Uving. When the poor girl caught sight of the dim outline of the figure, covered from head to foot, the desperate clutch she gave her father's hand as she turned her head away, caused him to say, " You need not fear to look upon an angel's face," and advancing he took hold of the corner of the sheet to raise it ; but at this an uncontroUable panic seized Rosamond, and snatching away her hand with a low cry of terror, she turned and fled from the room.

She did not stop tUl she reached her own, where the warm glow of a bright fire, and the presence of the nurse and another maid who sat there, restored her. She threw herself upon her knees beside the cradle, and laid her head close to the little warm living being that lay there, and Hke music to her ear was the soft gentle breathing of the sleeping infant. The return of daylight the following morning restored Rosamond's courage, and she now would have gladly accompanied her father to take a last look at the beloved remains, but as he did not recur to the subject she did not venture to say so, for she feared he might have been displeased by her con duct the previous night. Colonel Leicester was not displeased, but blamed himself for having, at so ill-timed a moment, suddenly ushered his young daughter into the presence of death, and thought it better not again to propose it.

He enquired every morning after the infant, but never expressed any wish to see it, much to the nurse's indignation ; while Rosamond, fearing the sight might be painful to him, did not like to suggest it. About ten days after Mrs. Leicester's funeral, as Rosamond and her father were taking a slow turn in the garden, they came suddenly upon the nurse and baby. Rosamond immediately, with great tact, took it out of the nurse's arms, and raising a piece of Spanish lace (one of her pecuhar treasures) off its face, held it up to her father, saying, " Look, papa, how he has grown, and he is so good, he scarcely ever cries." , Colonel Leicester looked tenderly at the child as he said — " My poor Httle man, you have cost me dear," and after gazing at him for a minute, he turned away, but said to his daughter as they con tinued their walk— "You had better bring him down stairs a Httle every day now," an injunction Rosamond was not slow to obey.

The love of this infant soon became to her an engrossing passion ; endowed with strong powers of loving, she lavished them in no measured degree on her baby brother. Arthur often sadly complained that now he was not aUowed as formerly to rush into his sister's room at aU hours, and lay claim at any time to her services, now that mamma was gone, more than ever needed " Oh hush, Arthur, you can't come in here just now, the baby is asleep." Or, " You must wait a Uttle, I can't do that for you at present — I'm going to keep baby whUe nurse is at her dinner." Such answers to Arthur's wants often tried his patience (of which he had not a very large stock) sadly, and he had even gone so far as to declare that the baby was a nuisance ; but when the Httle offender was old enough to twist his tiny hands into his brother's thick curls, and give them a good tug, scratch his face, and perform other baby endear ments, the kind-hearted boy would submit with the greatest gentleness to be tortured, and would sit on the floor by the hour playing with his Httle brother, and inventing amusements for him.