Mauleverer had gone to Beauvale (the beautiful seat possessed by that
nobleman in the neighbourhood of Bath), with the intention of there
holding a series of sumptuous entertainments.

The first persons to whom the gay earl announced his "hospitable purpose"
were Mr. and Miss Brandon; he called at their house, and declared his
resolution of not leaving it till Lucy (who was in her own room)
consented to gratify him with an interview, and a promise to be the queen
of his purposed festival. Lucy, teased by her father, descended to the
drawing-room, spiritless and pale; and the earl, struck by the alteration
of her appearance, took her hand, and made his inquiries with so
interesting and feeling a semblance of kindness as prepossessed the
father for the first time in his favour, and touched even the daughter.
So earnest, too, was his request that she would honour his festivities
with her presence, and with so skilful a flattery was it conveyed, that
the squire undertook to promise the favour in her name; and when the
earl, declaring he was not contented with that promise from another,
appealed to Lucy herself, her denial was soon melted into a positive
though a reluctant assent.

Delighted with his success, and more struck with Lucy's loveliness,
refined as it was by her paleness, than he had ever been before,
Mauleverer left the house, and calculated, with greater accuracy than he
had hitherto done, the probable fortune Lucy would derive from her uncle.

No sooner were the cards issued for Lord Mauleverer's fete than nothing
else was talked of among the circles which at Bath people were pleased to
term "the World."

But in the interim caps are making, and talk flowing, at Bath; and when