"What! what! Mrs. Neville usher a young lady into the world! Mrs. Neville take charge of manners and decorum! You astonish me! indeed, I must confess, I should never have imagined I have a great regard for Mrs. Neville, but I cannot say I should have ever thought of such a thing:" and she shook her petticoat in token of disdain.

The General assured her, that if he could have imagined, that with her many avocations, she could possibly have had time to escort a young lady to balls and operas, he would certainly have applied first to her; and, in saying this, his politeness trenched upon his sincerity; but he failed, nevertheless, of appeasing the ire of Lady Glassington. She had a great regard for her dear friend, Mrs. Neville; but that Mrs. Neville, whom, from long habit, she considered as under her tutelage, should be chosen in preference to herself, as the chaperon of a young lady of fashion, appeared incomprehensible; and drawing herself up, with one of her most frigid looks, she bid good morning, and swept out of the room.

"Her majesty, the queen, is in a passion," said Emily, who could not help laughing, as she re

entered the apartment, for she had followed Lady

Glassington out.

"Well, my dear Emily," said the General, "what is become of Mrs. Neville? and Alpinia, where is she? she has had a long conference with Lord Mowbray-did he not ask for us ?"

"Oh! yes, my dear uncle, he did, only upon hearing that Lady Glassington and Mrs. Neville were here, he said he had not nerves for them, and would call another time. Mrs. Neville was in a great hurry, as she always is, to get out of Lady Glassington's way, and went off almost immediately, but promised to call to take us to the Opera to-night, if you have no objection."

"No objection in the world, my best child. Go; for I shall be delighted to think that you are amused, and I can entrust you to Mrs. Neville with perfect confidence: living her whole life in, or about the court, a reigning beauty at one time, Mrs. Neville has always, nevertheless, kept the straightforward path. She was a good wife to a bad husband, and having done her duty by him,. declared that she would in future live a life of single blessedness, and she has kept her word, not for want of offers to do otherwise. The peculiar

ingenuousness of her character has preserved her own native good qualities intacte, in the midst of a factitious world; all art is defeated by her simplicity, all manœuvring is vain with a person who never manœuvres. Mrs. Neville never did harm, that good might come of it. She is, perhaps, too sincere; at least, too out-spoken for the world as it is; and her manners, I do not desire you should imitate; she sets up for an oddity, as it is called, and much is allowed to her that would not be tolerated in another; but she is respected and respectable; knows every body; is of high family, and highly principled; therefore, my sweet Emily, to Mrs. Neville I will entrust my greatest treasure; and whether she drops her gloves, or her pocket-handkerchief, or not, I had rather see you under her care, than in that of one, who, possessed of all the outward graces and proprieties in the world, which are calculated to shine in the world alone, if they are unaccompanied by her sterling good qualities. And now, Emily, I have some business to transact, and must not have any more inroads made upon my time. Good-bye, sweet child, till dinner. Yet stay-if Frances comes, I shall of course see her."

When Lady Emily was alone, she began to

wonder that she had never heard from Frances since the latter had left them; for although the sisters were too unlike in disposition and in taste, to be a great loss to each other's hourly amusements, still Lady Emily's youthful heart had all the bloom of that beautiful instinct fresh upon it which is implanted by the hand of the Creator; and she thought, that not to love one's relations, particularly any thing so near and dear as a sister, was quite impossible. While she sat musing upon this careless indifference in Lady Frances, a note was put into her hand; it was from her sister.

"I give you joy, my dear Emily, of being in town; how fortunate you are to have escaped so soon from that dull prison, the Hall. I thought there was some such hope in the wind when you professed yourself so mightily well pleased, not to remove thence: my love to my uncle, and say I shall wait upon him to-morrow morning. I did intend to have been with you to-day, but I cannot have the carriage. My best regards to Miss Macalpine. Yours affectionately. F. L."

It was a heartless kind of note: Lady Emily

N 5

felt it was.

Yet there was nothing positively to say against it. How many notes and letters are written of the same sort, that give heart-aches to those who receive them, and cost the writer no trouble at all! Lady Emily dispatched a tender one in return, with affection and delight, running over to the very turn-downs of the paper; and, in the pleasure of having heard from her sister, forgot the manner. She gave a translation of it, however, wisely, to her uncle, which came very much sweetened, through the fond medium of her affectionate interpretation. The disrespectful mention made of the General's favourite place, was what Emily felt to be unkind, so she left that out. The intermediate hours between the morning and the dinner, were spent in certain arrangements of the toilette, in which all women, wise and foolish, young and old, can contrive to beguile a few hours occasionally, without putting any great force upon their inclinations.

During dinner Miss Macalpine entertained the General, and did not positively displease Lady Emily by sounding the praises of Lord Mowbray, whom she declared to be a young man of extraordinar' endowments; and she continued in this