felt great solicitude for Louisa, and the memory of her own days of trial had risen in vivid colours to her mind. "How very, very kind poor Granard used to be on those occasions! There could not be a better husband certainly, and I trust Charles Penrhyn will be equally so. I think he will, which is a great comfort. Probably Isabella has a child—surely it is a boy! One does not like to be a grandmother, but yet, when an heir is concerned, it is the sooner forgiven. She is very young; but then he is rich, and will leave nothing undone for her, I trust."
These passing thoughts were, of course, unknown to Mr. Palmer. Had he given Lady Anne credit for them, his manners would have been more bland and his words less pointed. They were answered so far as it was convenient to notice them.
"I hope you will continue to be silent on the subject to which you refer, as there is no occasion for Georgiana to know she has received an offer I could not accept, having much higher views for her, which, in due time, will be developed."
"They are known to every body, Lady Anne, already; your new friends were less discreet than your old ones. They have boasted of their having converted you during the enforced absence of your wicked children, one of whom, they observed, was going through a course of discipline necessary for the beautiful young wife of a very particular elderly nobleman, who neither chose his estates to be dilapidated,
