blance, not to entertain a strong and mutual dislike. Our own faults are those we are the first to detect, and the last to forgive, in others. Lady Rotheles and Lady Anne were two worldly, cold-hearted women; but Lady Rotheles was the stronger minded. They soon came into direct collision.
The autumn after Mary had been presented, they were asked on a visit to Rotheles Castle. This invitation Lady Anne accepted entirely on her daughter's account.
"Mary's style of beauty," as she justly observed, "is the very sort of thing to tell in a country house; she looks so fresh, and yet so delicate at breakfast. London does not do for her, she is lost in a crowd, and one week of late hours makes her not fit to be seen."
To Rotheles Castle they went; and Lady Anne saw every cause to congratulate herself on her judgment, when she also saw Lord Allerton paying Mary the most devoted attention. Lord Allerton was that modern phœnix, a young man, without a single objection. For the daughter he was young, handsome, agreeable, and very much in love; for the mother he was rich, and highly connected. There was apparently neither fault nor obstacle, and Mary yielded to a happiness which gave a deeper light to her soft blue eyes, and a richer colour to her delicate cheek. Even Lady Anne wondered that she had never thought Mary beautiful before.
