ELLEN NEVILLE. 169 
herself, who for more than twelve months had scarcely- 
seen any one saving the rustic inhabitants of the farm¬ 
house, should listen with pleasure to the conversation 
of one who was every way her equal, and whose name 
had never been mentioned but with respect, even by 
the Royalists, against whom he had drawn his sword. 
With such ease did he glide from one subject to an¬ 
other, that, to the great astonishment of Phoebe when 
she came up, she found them seated side by side in 
the old summer-house, he reading, and the Lady Ellen 
listening with delight to the beautiful passages which 
he kept quoting from the “ Mask of Comus.” Many a 
happy hour did the general and the Lady Ellen after¬ 
wards spend together; he remaining in entire igno¬ 
rance respecting her rank and station, saving that her 
whole family, with the exception of herself, had per¬ 
ished during the wars; but as any further allusion 
to the subject seemed to cause the lady pain, the young 
general kindly forbore to question her. 
As the winter approached, the affairs of the nation 
called General Marchmont up to London, to meet the 
assembled parliament, and during that period he fre¬ 
quently corresponded with the Lady Ellen, for her 
image was ever uppermost in his thoughts; and no 
