ably disappointed. My heart was perfectly
free, and all my feelings of liking and
preference were in favour of Lord
Glenfallen; and I well knew that in case I
refused to dispose of myself as I was
desired, my mother had alike the power
and the will to render my existence as
utterly miserable as even the most ill-
assorted marriage could possibly have done.

You will remember, my good friend, that
I was very young and very completely
under the control of my parents, both
of whom, my mother particularly, were
unscrupulously determined in matters of
this kind, and willing, when voluntary
obedience on the part of those within their
power was withheld, to compel a forced
acquiescence by an unsparing use of all the
engines of the most stern and rigorous
domestic discipline.

All these combined, not unnaturally,
induced me to resolve upon yielding at once,
and without useless opposition, to what
appeared almost to be my fate.

The appointed time was come, and my
now accepted suitor arrived; he was in
high spirits, and, if possible, more