tear her image from his heart, and, if possible, never again to think of her. He no longer wondered at the jealousy of his sister, but lamented she should have been so unfortunate as to marry a man who had so little regard to the solemn vow he had taken at the altar. But he would not augment her distress by letting her know he entertained suspicions so injurious to him. The same reason prevented him from coming to an expla nation with Lord Belmour; which at first was his intention. If he had done so without violence, his lordship would have exculpated himself from the charge brought against him, and cleared, the character of Louisa; as, to do him justice, though he was thoughtless, and in many instances cruel, yet he had not sunk so low in vice, as wantonly to destroy the fair fame of a virtuous woman. But Walter Stanley, listening only to the suggestions of his resentment, would not seek to discover if his suspicions were justly founded or not; appearances, added to what he had before heard, were against her he therefore concluded she was guilty. "Is this the woman!?" cried he, as he paced his room in agony," for whom I would have sacrificed friends and fortune! she who in my boyish days I so tenderly loved, and believed superior to the rest of her sex? Can this be the gen tle being, for whom my days have been passed in misery, and my nights, without repose ? Too true it is the same; but, alas! how changed; how fallen from the height of virtue to the common level of the meanest and most degraded of women!? In bitter remembrance of what she had been, and what he conceived her now to be, he passed the remainder of the night after he saw Louisa; and as soon as he could with propriety, he hast ened to Lady Adelina, and throwing himself at her feet, entreated her to accept his hand, and his assurance of everlasting esteem and gratitude. His offer was accepted with joy, and a few days after they were indissolubly united, to the great satisfaction of Sir Walter and Lady Stanley, and also of the Earl and Countess of Delville, whose affection for their daughter made them centre their happiness in hers. Lady Belmour, though little accustomed to subdue the violence of her temper, had command enough over herself in the present instance. She had found by ex perience that she rather lost ground in her husband's affections, than gained any by her complaints. He always treated her with the utmost good-humour, but invariably rallied her on the absurdity of so young and lovely a woman giving way to the destructive passion of jealousy. He would declare that it deformed her features so much, that he did not know her when she was under its influence, and till she became the same beautiful Armida he had, vowed always to love, he would avoid her sight. And he generally kept his word: after any of those matrimonial discords, he would leave her to vent her ill-humour on those who were compelled to bear it, and perhaps not meet her, except in company, for several days; never having been accustomed to restraint from his parents, he was resolved not to submit to it from a wife. Lady Belmour, finding this to be the case, determined to stifle her resentment, and devise some means to be revenged on Lousia, whom she considered the cause of all the torments she suffered; not once reflecting it was herself who was ingenious in creating them.. CHAP. VIII. Nought is there under heav'n's wide hollowness SPENSER. MRS. MELFORD did not fail to communicate to her husband the conversation she had had with Louisa, relative to their proposed plan of marrying her to their nephew, and also the objections. Louisa had made; objections, which, she said, she had no doubt but they should overcome, as young girls like her seldom know their own mind. Mr. Melford expressed much dissatisfaction that the proposals made should have been objected to: he said the girl must be mad if she persisted in her refusal of such advantageous offers, and as she |