"The man I marry must have two things, virtues and vices--you have
neither. You do nothing, and never will do anything but sketch and hum
tunes, and dance and dangle. Forget this folly the day after to-morrow,
my dear Ipsden, and, if I may ask a favor of one to whom I refuse that
which would not be a kindness, be still good friends with her who will
always be

"Your affectionate _Cousin,_

"BARBARA SINCLAIR."

Soon after this effusion she vanished into Perthshire, leaving her cousin
stunned by a blow which she thought would be only a scratch to one of his
character.

Lord Ipsden relapsed into greater listlessness than before he had
cherished these crushed hopes. The world now became really dark and blank
to him. He was too languid to go anywhere or do anything; a republican
might have compared the settled expression of his handsome, hopeless face
with that of most day-laborers of the same age, and moderated his envy of
the rich and titled.

At last he became so pale as well as languid that Mr. Saunders
interfered.

Saunders was a model valet and factotum; who had been with his master
ever since he left Eton, and had made himself necessary to him in their
journeys.