Page:Lady Anne Granard 3.pdf/134

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132
LADY ANNE GRANARD.

have been supposed. Although they could not feel like Frederic, they felt more than they could sustain; and when the medical man's visit had been paid, they sat in silence, brooding on their troubles, and feeling that their "sun must set in clouds and thick darkness."

Under these circumstances, the arrival of Lord and Lady Rotheles, for the express purpose of cheering and comforting them, was like "a beam from heaven;" it compelled them to find new subjects for thought and conversation; and as the hotel could accommodate all with comfort, and they had the pleasure of visiters without the trouble, nothing could be better calculated for their revival and comfort. So much was Sir Edward delighted that he sent an express to inform Lord Meersbrook of this great act of friendship, in order that he might be the more easy on their account; but so much was his heart touched by this proof of what he deemed a tribute of friendship to his father's memory, that he could not forbear again going to Exeter to welcome and thank them; and this journey did him good—the only one of all his wanderings that did, for it included the only good night he had experienced in the last twenty.

After a short visit to his grandfather's room, and an affectionate farewell to Mrs. Margaret, Lord Meersbrook set out for Dartmouth, thinking that