A BREAKFAST, AND — BROKEN BONES. 147 



fused, for within a fortnight Emily married her lover, 

 a young nobleman of great worth and talents, and on 

 her would all my father's wrath have fallen. He 

 would not. He answered my father,'at the end of three 

 days which had been allowed him for his decision, as 

 he should not have answered him, and on the third 

 day was married at Gretna Green to the choice of his 

 heart. No sooner did papa hear it than his word was 

 kept, as we all knew it would be. Charley succeeded 

 to my mother's fortune of a few annual hundreds, and 

 I am the unhappy heiress of more than as many thou- 

 sands, but that inheritance I never will receive. Sir 

 Henry has never once even named his name since he 

 accepted a staff appointment in Canada, and sailed 

 thither with his charming and excellent young wife, 

 and it only excites his anger to hear him named, above 

 all, with praise. I knew that you would naturally 

 name him, when to do so would have been injurious to 

 him, perhaps ruinous, and painful to yourself. It was 

 this which made me wish to speak with you alone for 

 five minutes ; and, therefore, I told you frankly that 

 I was glad papa was not at home when you came in. 

 I thank you. Colonel Fairfax, that you have taught 

 me that it is unwise, if not unwomanly, in a young 

 woman to speak frankly, or I should say bluntly, to a 

 gentleman." 



There was something in her manner, in her beauti- 

 ful calm dignity, sincere truthfulness, and severe 

 straightforwardness of purpose and deed which struck 

 Fairfax very forcibly. Here was a character such as 

 he had never met before — an intellect of the firmest, 

 a disposition of the softest. A mind so clear, a will 

 so purely strong, united with a soul so gentle, and a 

 form so lovely, he had never before encountered — 

 never dreamed of. He knew, too, that if he had not 

 really wronged her, or misinterpreted her motives in 

 his own mind, he had given her deep cause to believe 



