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the age of six-and-forty, nor renounced the idea of marriage herself. She was pompous in language, extravagant in dress, and passionately fond of cards and dice.

"Miss Fanny, her daughter, was really a pretty girl, and, without describing her features, you may conceive what she was, by comparing her to the most interesting charmer you know. However, she was below the standard of comparison with Mrs. Arden, although a family likeness might be traced. Sighing and crying had given a paleness to her cheek, that looked like melancholy; but as hope still cheered her in prospect, she wore not the gloom of despair; nor did she smile at grief. No; she met disappointment with courage and passion, determined, that since mamma would not give her the man of her choice by fair means, ingenuity should accomplish it by some means; and that by no means would she be forced to pronounce the little monosyllable that should make her the wife of Sir Harry L――, or of any other, except her own dear Edward.

"Sir Harry L-— was a dashing young baronet, and the proprietor of a large estate near Arden

Hall. He was a silent member of parliament, but no man had more to say to the ladies; considering himself a perfect master of killing glances, and melting expressions, he never thought but of himself and his own gratification. Many victims had already fallen to his artfulness, and heartlessly he left all of them in pursuit of new attraction. Mrs. Arden was by far the highest game he had ever chased. He saw her united to a man that might have been her father; knew that love never forged such chains; said he pitied her; and laid his plan with consummate art, by approaches through the sister, for her destruction and his own gratification. He did not want courage, although a bit of a dandy : having distinguished himself in five or six bloodless affairs of honour, he considered himself a veteran in such campaigns; looked big, spoke, and laughed with something very nearly like contempt for others, and made the amiable to every pretty woman, as though he dreaded neither repulse nor correction for impertinence.

"I found Sir Harry almost an inmate of Arden Hall. He invited himself to dinner whenever h pleased; lost his money to Mrs. Arden's mother

at backgammon, with such a good grace, that he gilded her heart; made himself not inoffensive to the General; found that it was his wisest course to be cautious with me; knew that he was hateful to Fanny, yet worried her with barking love; and secretly watched his opportunity for making a favourable impression on Mrs. Arden. I disliked the man from the first, and on most occasions we shunned each other, without showing a pointed wish to do so. Of course I felt bound to be commonly courteous to any guest of my friend, and I could not reasonably complain of Sir Harry for not pressing his acquaintance on one who internally declined it.

"Of the other visitors at Arden Hall, and the numerous circle of the General's society, I feel it unnecessary to speak. They were, like associates in all other large circles, envious of each other; proud and haughty to their inferiors; ambitious to outshine one another, even to the injury of happiness and fortune; and, gratified at every exposure of character, railing against others for petty faults, of which every one was guilty.

"Weeks and months passed away in a perfect

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whirl. The General required his nightcap five nights in the week, when Mrs. Arden, her mother, and sister were just commencing their At homes, or ordering the carriage. But his friend Hal was there to chaperon the ladies, and Sir Harry being forced to bend his stiff neck to Miss Fanny, Mrs. Arden nearly always fell under my protection. She seemed fully sensible of my attentions, and for a long time received them as those of a brother: most certainly I tendered my civilities in that sense alone, and though I felt, deeply felt, magic in her touch, yet I exerted every nerve to display indifference. No syllable passed my lips but such as conveyed profound respect, and, as far as I could command my eyes, they never testified my heart's emotion. Yet, in a very short time, I remarked a total alteration in Mrs. Arden's manner towards me. If I failed in any attention, she seemed hurt, and her colour rose; if we remained tête-à-tête, she left me to keep up the ball of conversation by myself, merely answering by monosyllables, whereas before, her share in entertaining was considerabl She often sighed, and sometimes I thought a bl suffused her cheeks, when no remark or incid

called forth emotion. Occasionally she appearedto show ill temper towards me, at others her manner was kinder than I desired, and the pressure of her arm aroused thoughts in me which I sedulously strove to suppress. I thought sometimes that she looked at me with tender languishment; the idea would vanish, and a flirtation with Sir Harry would possess me with a notion that he was her favourite. In fact, she went such lengths with familiarity, that scandal began to whisper, and nothing but Sir Harry's dangling after her sister kept rumour from bursting forth; for society at large concluded that a marriage was actually to take place, although Sir Harry had never put a question on the subject to poor Fanny. That was what she wanted, in order to get rid of him. Delicacy of course prevented her from showing airs of dislike to a man whom she could not pretend to say had serious views respecting her. This was deep management in the dandy. He touched the weak side of the mother, and made her believe that he must cure the heart he intended to secure of all former impressions before he ventured to make a proposal. Meanwhile he saw every thing taking the turn he

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