Page images
PDF
EPUB

attracted the attention of the Premier. It was penned by an author unknown to fame. It was traced to Temple. From that hour he emerged from obscurity. A place under Government was offered to him; his fortune was made. He fills the post with honour, but he is not yet satisfied. He aspires to make two fortunes one for your father, one for himself."

Florence could not repress a hysterical sob; she was greatly agitated. Lady Mary's mysterious words recurred to her memory: "Do not think so meanly of us as to imagine that we are capable of calmly accepting your father's generous sacrifice without a struggle. My son regards his recovered patrimony as a free gift, one day to be repaid with gratitude and love."

Dr. Leicester broke the silence by saying, carelessly, "Temple is in treaty for the purchase of the Wilder"Will Sir Harry

ness."

Florence's heart gave a bound. Pembroke sell the property?"

[ocr errors]

Gladly; Temple has inherited a small, a very small, fortune from a distant relative, which, with his savings, will enable him to compass the purchase. Tell me, Florence, have you had much intercourse with Lady Mary Temple?"

Miss Dudley replied in the affirmative, with zealous warmth.

"And now for the son," said the Rector, mischievously fixing a hawk-like eye upon Florence. Miss Dudley stooped to search for a needle, thimble, anything or nothing, to escape from her old friend's half-quizzical, half-humorous glance.

"Delicate ground," said the Doctor, demurely.

Florence raised her head; her face was crimson, but then it is warm work searching for an article which is not likely to be found.

[merged small][ocr errors]

"You are excessively tiresome " The Rector bowed.

"I mean that-that

"That Mr. Temple must be sent to Coventry." Florence's eyes laughed.

"By the way, did you hear it whispered that Temple was engaged to Lady Cecilia Percival?"

"It is false !" cried Florence, warmly.

"I guessed as much," said the Doctor, with a merry twinkle in his eye.

[ocr errors]

Lady Wentworth would never give her consent to such an alliance."

"Why not? Temple's character is unimpeachable, his position unexceptionable, his family good, his talents brilliant."

"May be so," cried our heroine, impetuously; "but Cecilia's lover must be more, far more, before he can hope for Lady Wentworth's consent to his suit."

"Your ideas are in a singular maze, Florence," said Dr. Leicester, with a provoking smile. "Lady Wentworth may require higher rank and greater fortune for her daughter, but in point of talent and principle"

"Dear Doctor, you are wrong-quite wrong. Cecilia She stopped abruptly.

Well, well, we will drop the discussion. Tell me, Florence, how will you endure the triste monotony of a mountain life after the brilliant routine at the castle ?" Florence shook her head, half-dolefully, half-mockingly,- "I will answer you in the words of the man who wrote the life of Frederick the Great-Monsieur, nous passons notre vie à conjuguer tous le même verbe: je m'ennuie, tu t'ennuies, il s'ennuie, nous nous ennuyons, vous vous ennuyez, ils s'ennuient; je m'ennuyois, je m'ennuierai,' &c."

[ocr errors]

The Rector laughed. "You have made the discovery that beauty, Nature's brag,' is out of place in a Welsh valley. You feel

"It is for homely features to keep home,

They had their name thence.'

In short, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world have won the affections of Florence the Fair."

"For shame, Doctor! You excuse instead of blaming my folly." She hummed, saucily :—

"Goe, tell the court it glowes,
And shines like rotten wood;
Goe tell the church it showes
What's good, and doth no good:
If church and court reply,

Then give them both the lye.'"

"Heaven save the mark! you remind me of a spider, Florence. The storehouse of tangled lines is inexhaustible."

"I have memory, which somebody calls the talent of fools," said Miss Dudley, demurely.

Some of our heroine's happiest hours, during her visit at the Rectory, were spent in taking long walks with Dr. Leicester. She accompanied him when he visited his favourite parishioners. She found that her father was not forgotten, and that she herself was a welcome visitor wherever she went. Many trifling incidents, which had faded from her own childish memory, were recalled and dwelt upon, with lingering fondness, by many an aged recipient of Mr. Dudley's charity. Florence, although she longed to welcome her father, would fain have lingered longer among the dear familiar scenes. The wild beauties of her mountain home could not wean her heart from earlier associations.

Mr. Dudley arrived unexpectedly one morning, when Florence was out walking with the Rector. They were returning from a lengthened ramble, and loitering on their way, when at a sudden bend of the road they encountered a return chaise. Papa is arrived!" cried Florence, joyously. "I am sure of it."

[ocr errors]

The Rector stopped the postilion, and learned that he had just set a gentleman down at the Rectory. This was enough for Florence; without waiting to hear more, she darted onwards-flew rather than ran to the Rec

tory, and was in her father's arms before the Doctor had recovered his equilibrium.

[ocr errors]

Papa, dear papa, you will never send me away again," she sobbed; "indeed I have been very unhappy."

Mr. Dudley held his daughter from him at arm's length; he looked into her eyes, those truthful eyes, which never sank beneath his own; he asked, in a voice of suppressed emotion, "Florence, do you love Glen

orme ?"

The colour deepened on the young girl's cheek, but her eyes fearlessly met her father's searching glance; she spoke, and her voice, though very low, was clear and firm," Father, I do not." "One

If every

The proud man gave a sigh of intense relief. question more, and the subject rests for ever. obstacle were removed, would you consent to be his wife?"

"Never."

"I am answered;" he clasped her in his arms; "God bless you, my child; we will part no more."

Wentworth has

"Father, you will ask me no questions ?" I trust you implicitly. given me a sketch of what has occurred."

"Not one.

"It shall never be filled up!" cried Florence, impetuously. "O papa! no words can express my love and gratitude to Lord Wentworth and Cecilia. But of that I must think no more." She wiped her eyes and smiled faintly.

That evening was a happy one at the Rectory. The gentlemen did not linger over their wine, but speedily joined the ladies in the drawing-room.

"Has Florence the Fair confessed that she has lost her heart to a woman?" said the Rector gaily, as he drew a chair to her side.

"For shame, Doctor! You constitute yourself my father-confessor, and then betray the secrets of the confessional!"

"Plait-il ?"

"Mon père, j'ai menti. My heart is in my own keeping, or rather—

"My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here.'

"Grand merci, le compliment est doux!"

Florence laughed, and Mr. Dudley laughed at the comic expression the Rector threw into his countenance as he said this; still more when he added, with a good deal of humour, "Sans toi, il m'est impossible de vivre. C'en est fait; je n'en puis plus; je me meurs; je suis mort; je suis enterré. N'y a-t-il personne qui veuille me ressusciter

The door opened, coffee was brought in, and the Rector's harangue was cut short. The conversation was carried on, with considerable animation; Florence's playful sallies provoked a smile in the midst of the gravest disquisitions; but a cloud fell upon the party when Mr. Dudley informed his host that he could not lengthen his stay.

"A week, a few days," urged the Rector.

"Dear papa, let us visit the Wilderness together.” "Impossible; I cannot be absent more than five daystwo have already made themselves wings and flown away."

It was arranged that the father and daughter should start on the afternoon of the following day; Dr. Leicester promising to pay them a visit in the course of the ensuing summer. After the ladies had retired to rest, the gentlemen prolonged their tête-à-tête far into the night. Florence will lead a monotonous life at Emrys Castle, after the round of dissipation in which she has been plunged," said Dr. Leicester, gravely. "Take my advice; leave Wales and hire a cottage in the neighbourhood of Wentworth Castle."

66

66

Impossible, my dear friend. If Florence suffer from ennui, which is very probable, she must struggle against it, as her father has done before her."

The Rector smiled,-"Florence is a charming girl, but she is no angel. She has tasted the sweets of flattery and the wiles of pleasure. She is more fitted to adorn a

« PreviousContinue »