"I fear me," (said Miss Macalpine, shaking her head,) they'll no' do: this is no' the season for transplanting." "Nay, dear Alpinia, say not so: I will make it the season. You know the French maxim, ce qui est differé est perdu! To plant a flower or a pleasure, give me the present moment! What do you say, Lord Mowbray ?" she added gaily. To a mind not wholly sophisticated, there was something delightful in this wholesome appetite for innocent enjoyment; and Lord Mowbray felt it renovate his being, as he replied, "Well, Lady Emily, I must confess that I should like to sun myself in the atmosphere of your happy nature! But" (turning to Lady Frances) "these are only the susceptibilities of the moment :-they cannot last." Lord Mowbray did not know that, on the contrary, they were the healthful principles of an innocent mind; susceptibilities indeed they were, arising out of a much more stable source than he dreamt of in all his philosophy. "What nonsense!" said Lady Frances, shrugging her shoulders. "I am not so sure of that either,” rejoined Lord Mowbray; "I only regret my inability to share the feeling." "Indeed!" rejoined Lady Frances coldly; and, at the same time, Sir Richard Townley and the General appeared in sight. "Well," said the good General, "what have you been about, and what sport have you had? Frances has doubtless read her book twice over, and Lord Mowbray has caught me a famous dish of fish." Both parties pleaded guilty of omission, but assigned many weighty circumstances in extenuation; Lady Frances was frozen with the cold; Lord Mowbray had certainly caught his fish-but then the fish had broken his rod, and thus put a final end to his attempts for that day. "Oh! it's all just as it should be," exclaimed the General; "we have had a day's harmless diversion; and if it has tried my honest friend Tom Pennington's temper; that's all the harm, in fact, that has been done. I beg Frances's pardon though; I forgot her fine shoes! And now it is time that we return home, for more sweet hours have been wiled away than we have taken account of. The happy, they say, never count the hours; yet that is not my opinion either; we grow misers, I am certain, of our treasures, and learn a wonderful precision, on the contrary, in our estimate of time, in proportion as we truly enjoy it.” "Oh yes! dear uncle," said Lady Emily; "I have been asking every moment what o'clock it was, I was so afraid that we should not have been able to have dug up the lilies; but we have effected every thing that I wanted to do, and the day has completely answered to me." "I wish every day may so answer to you, my dearest and best!" "A kind, kind wish!" replied Lady Emily; "and one that I am sure will be fulfilled, so long as you love me!" And thus saying, she passed the General's arm through her own, and the whole party took the road to the carriages. When they reached them, it was found that Colonel Pennington still loitered behind; and after waiting a full hour for him, he sent word that he had hooked a fine salmon-trout; and were he to attempt to land it in a hurry, he should break another rod. He begged the party, therefore, to return home, and promised to follow as soon as he had finished his day's sport. The pony phaeton was accordingly left to convey him, and the produce of his skill, back to the hall; while the remainder of the party, being disposed of in the other carriages, commenced their route homewards CHAPTER III. Awake! the morning shines, and the fresh field MILTON'S PAR. LOST. NOTWITHSTANDING the fatigues of the preceding day, Lady Emily, "with spirits pure, and slumbers light, that fly the approach of morn," was early up. "April showers bring May flowers," 'tis said; "and so they have," cried she, opening her window, and looking out at a scene not less fresh and fair than herself. "Come, Frances rise! it is a shame to lose this beautiful morning. Sister! sister! awake!" as she undrew the curtains of her bed." What! |