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LADY ANNE GRANARD.
139



CHAPTER XI.


Mr. Glentworth passed a very disagreeable fortnight before he called in Welbeck Street. Though, as both Lady Anne and Mrs. Palmer would impress upon his mind, he was "young and good-looking," he was past the age when the gay spirits find amusement in any thing. He missed the cheerful and yet rational evenings in Welbeck Street, when his mind felt its own powers, while striving to call forth those of others. He found the theatre dull, now he could no longer see the amusement which it gave reflected in the young faces by which he had lately been surrounded. He missed, too, more than all, the feeling that he was adding to the happiness of others. He caught himself wishing, a dozen times a day, that the Misses Granard had really been his daughters, or, at all events, his sisters. At length, he thought a sufficient lapse of time had gone by to make his visit suit even Lady Anne's idea of les bienséances; and, as to Mrs. Palmer's suggestion, it must be owned he thought of it as little as he could; and, when he did, it was to think that the best course was to mark, by his kindness to each, that there was no individual preference.