592 Life of Count RiLmford. 



" MY DEAR COUNTESS, As I have your real welfare 

 sincerely at heart, it would give me much greater satisfaction 

 to hear that you were safe in France under your father's protec- 

 tion than to see you in London, or elsewhere. It is not rea- 

 sonable for you to expect that I should give up the necessary 

 attentions to my own relatives, or risk a relapse, by hurrying 

 hundreds of miles about the country, merely for the sake of 

 passing a few hours with you this year. You might expect it 

 from a lover, but not from a friend. And as you are now come 

 to settle in Europe, I may hope to have many other opportuni- 

 ties of enjoying your society. Allow me to add that I do not 

 well comprehend what you are doing, but I begin to doubt from 

 your letters whether your experience of the world has yet given 

 you that coolness of head and discreet judgment which your 

 father was so desirous of your acquiring. Among the persons 

 you mention the only one whose character I know well is Dr. 

 Blane, and I believe you will find him of more use than all the 

 rest put together. So take care not to disgust him. How you 

 can attach so much consequence to seeing a play, when you 

 have such great interests at stake, is to me incomprehensible. 

 You now see that it will be necessary for you to return to 

 Plymouth, whence you ought never to have gone. You must 

 judge from what you learn about your passport what is the 

 proper time for quitting London." 



He adds some advice about the house at Bromptcn, 

 and he tells her, when she shall see her father, to say to 

 him " that it will undoubtedly be for his interest to let 

 it, as no good can attend the keeping it, as at present, 

 to perish." 



It would seem as if the Countess, however impatient 

 she might be to reach her destination at her father's 

 home, was inclined to improve her opportunities while 

 detained on her way. The tone in which her evidently 

 discreet and faithful friend, Sir Charles, indulges in his 

 letters to her plainly implies that, while he had be- 



