duty tell you should be improved. Come
hither, my dear; kiss me, and do not
look so frightened. Well, now, about
this letter, you need not answer it yet;
of course you must be allowed time to
make up your mind. In the meantime I
will write to his lordship to give him my
permission to visit us at Ashtown. Good-
night, my love.'

And thus ended one of the most
disagreeable, not to say astounding,
conversations I had ever had. It would not
be easy to describe exactly what were
my feelings towards Lord Glenfallen;--
whatever might have been my mother's
suspicions, my heart was perfectly
disengaged--and hitherto, although I had
not been made in the slightest degree
acquainted with his real views, I had liked
him very much, as an agreeable, well-
informed man, whom I was always glad
to meet in society. He had served in the
navy in early life, and the polish which his
manners received in his after intercourse
with courts and cities had not served to
obliterate that frankness of manner which
belongs proverbially to the sailor.

Whether this apparent candour went