For the moment I judged unjustly of your Colonel's lady, of whom Miss Airey is the protégée, and thought that through some skill on her part the match was formed. Report had long since given her to Captain Sutton, and I wish with all my heart, for your sake, report had told the truth. Excuse me, dear Douglas, if I say too much; my personal regard for you extorts it; and I have only to hope it is not yet too late for you to give some reflection to my counsel."
Having, whilst the Earl spoke, fixed upon him a serious yet ingenuous look, Douglas marked the due force of every expression he had uttered; who, from his high station and rank, the eminent goodness of his character, and the warm and confiding frankness of his aspect, certainly demanded the most serious and undivided attention.
Availing himself of the pause which followed, the thoughts of Douglas took a rapid survey of the situation in which he found himself placed. The marriage he held in view would doubtless tend much to depress his worldly interests; even the motives which had led him to form it, partly unknown, on which, from a point of honour, he felt bound to secrecy—how few there were who could rightly appreciate them! Living in a world where every event that springs from a cause dif-
