Countess had been a very charming woman, of good family, but, like her
daughters, "sans dot;" and the infatuation which caused so imprudent a
connection not having lasted beyond the first year of matrimony, the
Earl had had plenty of time to repent and to calculate, over and over
again, how different the fortunes of his house might have been, had he
acted, himself, upon the principles he recommended to his son. It was
with some displeasure that he heard Edward's intention of giving up, for
a while, his pursuit of a desirable bride, and this displeasure was not
lessened by hearing that the truant intended prolonging his expedition,
for the purpose of visiting his mother's nephew, William Bellairs.

The journey, however, was made without any opposition on the Earl's
part. Mr. Percy spent a few weeks in Quebec, then the seat of
Government, and travelling slowly westward arrived finally at his
cousin's house at Cacouna. Mr. Bellairs was a barrister in good
practice; his pretty wife, a Frenchwoman by descent, had brought him a
fortune of considerable amount for the colonies, and knew how to make
his house sufficiently attractive. Both received their English relative
with hearty hospitality, and thus it happened that the even current of
Cacouna society was disturbed by the appearance of a visitor important
enough to be a centre of attraction.

The morning after the picnic Mr. Bellairs proposed to his guest that
they should drive along the river-bank to some rapids a few miles
distant, which formed one of the objects to which visitors to Cacouna
were in the habit of making pilgrimages. They went accordingly, in a
light waggon, and having duly admired the rapids, and the surrounding
scenery, started for home. Their way led past the Leighs' house and the
end of the lane leading to Mrs. Costello's. Mr. Bellairs pointed them
both out to his companion.