Lady Middleton, as he withdrew. "What have I to do with advancing his interests, which I dare say, was the sole object of his visit? I have no desire to see such a thorough grub in partnership with Sir Matthew."

In compliance with the earnest solicitations of Cecilia, her mother now agreed to withdraw from London; but, submitting to the absurd regulations of fashion, even while she professed to have thrown off its yoke, she would not betake herself to the sea-side, though it was recommended as best adapted to restore her daughter's depressed spirits, because it was not yet the modish season. A retired cottage was accordingly hired at a few miles distance from London, so that Sir Matthew could occasionally run down to them. Here they passed three months in tranquil seclusion, Lady Middleton, who carefully eschewed the perusal of the scandalous Journals, wherein she was still condemned to figure, doing her best to forget the mortifying failure of the soirée musicale, the insult she had received from the Duchess and her friends, the still more annoying slights

of the overreaching Lady Barbara, and the manifold and humiliating vexations heaped upon her by the sham Sir Dennis. Cecilia, little sensitive as she was, could not so easily recover from the shock she had experienced. Her late distressing and degrading disappointment seemed not unlikely to entail consequences that might cling to her for the remainder of her life; few suitors, she suspected, would face the ridicule or the contempt of the town by claiming a hand which had so nearly been bestowed upon a valet; and, as she referred mournfully to the past, she regretted that, under the direction of her ambitious mother, she had given so positive a dismissal to her worthy and unassuming admirer Ned Travers.

CHAPTER II.

Man must either believe in the perfectibility of his species, or virtue and the love of others are but a heated and objectless enthusiasm.

E. L. BULWer.

WE return to Brookshaw and to Maple Hatch, where, in the interval since we left them, considerable changes had occurred. Hargrave making frequent visits to the Norberries, and thus maturing a passion which had continued to increase since his first interview, at last made a formal offer of his hand to Lucy, as they were strolling one morning over the common in front of the house. Too sedate a suitor to affect raptures and ecstacies, or despondency and despair, as the alternatives of his reception or rejection, he avowed his attachment with a frank fervour; pointed out the domestic advantages that would attend such a union

by its enabling her still to remain in the immediate vicinity of her father and sister, from whom she would scarcely be separated; regretted the narrowness of his income, which merely amounted to a competency; but expressed a confident persuasion that, if she would become his wife and share his humble abode, they might be blessed with a mutual happiness that would leave them nothing to desire.

"Dear! dear!" cried the blushing Lucy, clasping her hands together as he concluded, "Are you really in earnest, Mr. Hargrave ?"

"Can I be otherwise? Why should you for an instant doubt me?"

"Because it seems scarcely credible that so clever, so learned, so superior a person as you are, should condescend to think seriously of such a wild, giddy, inexperienced, uninformed girl as I am."

"Your humility makes you unjust. Say not wild and giddy, but delightfully sportive and vivacious; attractions which, in combination with your innocence and simplicity, constitute the great charm of your character. Uninformed

I know you are not; this, indeed, would be impossible in the pupil of Miss Norberry; and, as to your inexperience and unacquaintance with the ways of the world, believe me, dear Lucy, they only make me love you ten thousand times better."

"Oh, Mr. Hargrave! how very kind and good you are! I must run and tell Chritty; she will be so delighted! You cannot imagine how highly she thinks of you."

"Stay, stay!" cried the lover, clasping the hand of his lively mistress, who was about to fly towards the house. "I would rather hear that you were delighted, that you thought favourably of me. Tell me, I beseech you, that I am not indifferent to you, that you accept my offer, that you will allow me to consecrate my future life to your happiness."

"What am I to say, Mr. Hargrave ? Chritty has taught me never to utter a falsehood, which I am sure I should be doing, were I to deny that I feel most highly honoured and sincerely gratified by your offer.”