It was almost immediately known and
reported that I was an heiress, and of
course my attractions were pretty generally
acknowledged.

Among the many gentlemen whom it
was my fortune to please, one, ere long,
established himself in my mother's good
graces, to the exclusion of all less important
aspirants. However, I had not understood
or even remarked his attentions, nor
in the slightest degree suspected his or
my mother's plans respecting me, when I
was made aware of them rather abruptly
by my mother herself.

We had attended a splendid ball, given
by Lord M----, at his residence in Stephen's
Green, and I was, with the assist-
ance of my waiting-maid, employed in
rapidly divesting myself of the rich
ornaments which, in profuseness and value,
could scarcely have found their equals in
any private family in Ireland.

I had thrown myself into a lounging-
chair beside the fire, listless and exhausted,
after the fatigues of the evening, when I
was aroused from the reverie into which I