of those who had learned to think and to feel early. Her mother, who
had died three years before, had taught her to do so, not alone for
her own sake, but also for that of her father; for the Duchess had
early felt the conviction that her own life would be brief, and knew
that the mind and character of her daughter must have a great effect
upon the Duke, whom she loved much, though she could not venerate
very highly.

With a heart, then, full of deep and pure feelings, with a mind not
only originally bright and strong, not only highly cultivated and
stored with fine tastes, but highly directed and fortified with
strong principles, with an enthusiastic love of everything that was
beautiful and graceful, generous, noble, and dignified--it is not to
be wondered at that, in the wide society of the capital, or amongst
all the acquaintances who thronged her father's house, Lady Laura had
seen no spirit congenial to her own, no heart with the same feelings,
no mind with the same objects. In every one she had met with, there
had still been some apparent weakness, some worldliness, some
selfishness; there had been coldness, or apathy, or want of
principle, or want of feeling; and the bright enthusiasms of her
young nature had been confined to the tabernacle of her own heart.

She had seen Wilton Brown but seldom, it is true, but nevertheless
she felt differently towards him and other people. There were
several causes which had produced this; and perhaps, as Lady Laura
was not absolutely an angel, his personal appearance might have
something to do with it, though less than might be supposed. His fine
person, his noble carriage, his bright and intelligent countenance,
the rapid variety of its expressions, the dignified character of the
predominant one to which it always returned, after those more