that element for which she had taken such an especial fancy.
But he was not yet gone; and when the good news and the letters, also, were next day taken to Mrs. Palmer, there sat the two brothers, and most happy did they appear to be made by their presence, entering warmly into their feelings of satisfaction respecting their distant sisters, and mentioning many things connected with their present situation, which had for them considerable interest, as all things have connected with the dear, who are the distant also. There was evidently a sympathy in the nature of the four young persons which went beyond the sense of admiration, the beauty or agreeableness either party inspired; the fraternal tie was so strong and so sweetly exercised in both, that it bound them in a manner to each other in the "smothered flame," which soon became "avowed and bold;" and, like a sailor, Arthur would soon have told his love, if Lord Meersbrook had not earnestly entreated him to delay it until they should together have visited their grandfather, Sir Edward Hales, at Meersbrook, in Kent.
He only stayed a few days in London, to take the oaths and his seat in the House of Lords, a ceremony that was to take place on the morrow, and he held himself much indebted to the circumstance of spending his first evening at Lady Anne's, because the marquis of Wentworthdale had, with the utmost urbanity, offered to accompany him on that somewhat trying occasion,
