310 EPISODE FROM AN UNPUBLISHED NOVEL. 



cretion ; I saw her seldom, except at the opera, and those public 

 places into which she was assiduously introduced, after she had been 

 presented at Court. My hopes that the kindness with which she 

 always addressed me, when we met, was the consequence of sympa- 

 thetic affections, were eager; but they were fully counterbalanced by 

 my fears. The suavity of her manners was such, that all might have 

 hoped the same: ill-temper itself could only address her with a 

 smile, and leave her with a bitter sigh, that it was not like her ; yet 

 the flattering thought that there was something peculiarly compla- 

 cent in her manners and her speech to me was too delicious not to be 

 cherished. 



As the family had foreseen, her beauty became a topic of general 

 admiration, and various proposals soon were made, but none of which 

 yet equalled the expectations of her father. 



More than twelve months had passed, during which I had never, 

 but once, been five minutes alone with Lady Elizabeth ; and that 

 once was passed in mutual silence, though with incessant endeavours 

 on my part to speak, without the power to utter a single word : the 

 only audible sign that escaped me, when I heard foot-steps approach, 

 was a deep and heart-felt sigh. It broke from me suddenly and 

 spontaneously. Happily, to the heart of my adored lady, this silence 

 and this sigh spoke with all the eloquence, not of Demosthenes, but 

 of love. 



With the express purpose no doubt to deter me from any attempts 

 I might venture to make, I was made acquainted with the expecta- 

 tions of the father and the family, relative to this highly gifted 

 sister. When the scandal of the day made clandestine matches the 

 subject, all these persons inveighed against them with pointed acri- 

 mony ; and the dishonourable conduct of both the parties was repro- 

 bated by them with an effervescence of disgust and odium, such as 

 nothing but the dread of a similar misfortune could have inspired. 

 From the visible and increasing coolness which was observed towards 

 me, it was evidently their wish to drop my acquaintance ; but this, 

 though I was deeply wounded by it, my love would not suffer me to 

 notice. I seemed insensible to any change, and neither my conduct nor 

 rank in life would authorize an open affront. However, I more than 

 once had the irksome sensation that, except to one and of that dear 

 one I had no certainty except to one, my presence rather gave pain 

 than pleasure. 



I continued in this vacillating state of compulsatory silence, uncer- 

 tain hope, and apprehensive alarm, till the long-dreaded event at 

 length came : it was told, not to me, but in my hearing, and, as I 

 then suspected, and was afterwards assured, for the express purpose 



that I should hear, that Lord , heir apparent to the Duke of 



, had, with his father's consent, made proper proposals to Lady 



Elizabeth ; that is, such as were too advantageous to be refused. 

 The confusion, or rather the terror, of my thoughts was too great not 

 to be visible in my countenance, which not only became suddenly 

 pale, but for a moment so ghastly as to create alarm. Wine was 

 brought ; I drank some from a tumbler ; my spirits returned, and I 

 endeavoured to account for being so strangely overcome by the first 



