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ROMANCE AND REALITY.
13

and, turning from the past to the present, a little judicious appreciation of his host's claret and conversation obtained, before they parted for the night, more than a hint that Mr. Arundel's influence in the borough was at the disposal of the man who so well understood his country's true interests. Still Emily was not forgotten; and the next morning she looked so like her mother while pouring the cream into his coffee, that the invitation he gave her to visit Lady Alicia in London was as sincere as it was cordially expressed. And when they gathered, with old-fashioned courtesy, on the stone steps of the ancient hall, to give their parting greeting, as the carriage drove off with true English haste, never did man leave his character more safely behind him. Mr. Arundel went to read a pamphlet on the corn laws with double-distilled admiration, after his own conviction had been strengthened by that of one of his majesty's ministers; Emily went to her favourite lime-walk, to wonder what Lady Alicia was like, to dream of the delights of a "London season," to admire Mr. Delawarr's manner,—in short, he need only not have been a politician (the very name was a stumbling-block to a young lady's romance), and he would have been erect-