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Indeed, Lucy, she made me tremble. Sure he can have no notion that I have seen the whole letter-seen myself named in it.

MISS GR. What signifies ceremony among relations? SIR CH. Let Charlotte have her way.

MISS GR. Why then, sir, I would ask─Don't you intend one day to marry?

SIR CH. I do, Charlotte. I shall not think myself happy till I can obtain the hand of a worthy woman.

I was, I am afraid, Lucy, visibly affected: I knew not how to stay; yet it would have looked worse to go.

MISS GR. Very well, sir-And pray, have you not, either abroad or at home, seen the woman you could wish to call yours?-Don't think me impertinent, brother.

SIR CH. You cannot be impertinent, Charlotte. If you want to know any thing of me, it pleases me best, when you come directly to the point.

MISS GR. Well, then, if I cannot be impertinent; if you are best pleased when you are most freely treated; and if you are inclined to marry; pray why did you decline the proposals mentioned by Lord W– in behalf of Lady Frances N-, of Lady Anne S, and I cannot tell how many more?

SIR CH. The friends of the first-named lady proceeded not generously with my father, in that affair. The whole family builds too much on the interest and quality of her father. I wanted not to depend upon any public man: I chose, as much as possible, to fix my happiness within my own little circle. I have strong passions: I am not without ambition. Had I loosened the reins to the latter, young man as I am, my tranquillity would have been pinned to the feather in another man's cap. Does this satisfy you, Charlotte, as to Lady Frances?

MISS GR. Why, yes; and the easier, because there is a lady whom I could have preferred to Lady Frances.

I should not, thought I, have been present at this conversation. Lord L - looked at me. Lord L

not have looked at me: the ladies did not.

SIR CH. Who is she?

should

MISS GR. Lady Anne S you know, sir-Pray, may I ask, why that could not be?

SIR CH. Lady Anne is, I believe, a deserving womanbut her fortune must have been my principal inducement, had I made my addresses to her. I never yet went so low as that alone, for an inducement to see a lady three times.

MISS GR. Then, sir, you have made your addresses to ladies-Abroad, I suppose?

SIR CH. I thought, Charlotte, your curiosity extended only to the ladies in England.

MISS GR. Yes, sir, it extends to ladies in England and out of England, if any there be that have kept my brother a single man, when such offers have been made him as we think would have been unexceptionable. But you hint, then, sir, that there are ladies abroad

SIR CH. Take care, Charlotte, that you make as free a respondent, when it comes to your turn, as you are a questioner.

MISS GR. Your answers to my questions, sir, teach me how I am to answer yours, if you have any to ask.

SIR CH. Very well, Charlotte. Have I not answered satisfactorily your questions about the ladies you named?

MISS GR. Pretty well. But, sir, have you not seen ladies abroad whom you like better than either of those I have named?-Answer me to that.

SIR CH. I have, Charlotte, and at home too.

MISS GR. I don't know what to say to you-But pray, sir, have you not seen ladies abroad whom you have liked better than any you ever saw at home?

SIR CH. No. But tell me, Charlotte, to what does all this tend?

MISS GR. Only, brother, that we long to have you happily married; and we are afraid, that your declining this proposal and that, is owing to some previous attachment-And now all is out.

LORD L. And now, my dear brother, all is outLADY L. If our brother will gratify our curiosity——— Had I ever before, Lucy, so great a call upon me, as now, for presence of mind?

Sir Charles sighed: he paused: and at last said-You are very generous, very kind, in your wishes to see me married. I have seen the lady with whom, of all the women in the world, I think I could be happy.

A fine blush overspread his face, and he looked down. Why, Sir Charles, did you blush? Why did you look down? The happy, thrice happy woman, was not present, was she?-Ah, no! no! no!

SIR CH. And now, Charlotte, what other questions have you to ask, before it comes to your turn to answer some that I have to put to you?

MISS GR. Only one-Is the lady a foreign lady?

How every body but I looked at him, expecting his answer! He really hesitated. At last-I think, Charlotte, you will excuse me, if I say, that this question gives me some pain--Because it leads to another, that, if made, I cannot at present myself answer: [But why so, sir? thought I:] and if not made, it cannot be of any signification to speak to this.

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LORD L. We would not give you pain, Sir Charles: and yet

SIR CH. What yet, my dear Lord L- ? LORD L. When I was at Florence, there was much talk

SIR CH. Of a lady of that city-Olivia, my lord !— There was. She has fine qualities, but unhappily blended with others less approvable.-But I have nothing to wish for from Olivia. She has done me too much honour. I should not so readily have named her now, had she herself been more solicitous to conceal the distinction she honoured me with. But your lordship, I dare hope, never heard even ill will open its mouth to her disreputation, only that she descended too much in her regard for one object. LORD L. Your character, Sir Charles, was as much to the reputation of her favour, as

SIR CH. [Interrupting.] O, my lord, how brotherly partial! But, this lady out of the question, my peace has been broken in pieces by a tender fault in my constitution -And yet I would not be without it.

The sweet Emily arose, and, in tears, went to the window. A sob, endeavoured to be suppressed, called our attention to her.

Sir Charles went, and took her hand; Why weeps my Emily?

Because you, who so well deserve to be happy, seem not to be so.

Tender examples, Lucy, are catching: I had much ado to restrain my tears.

He kindly consoled her. My unhappiness, my dear, said he, arises chiefly from that of other people. I should, but for that, be happy in myself; because I endeavour to

accommodate my mind to bear inevitable evils, and to make, if possible, a virtue of necessity: but, Charlotte, see how grave you have made us all! and yet I must enter with you upon a subject that possibly may be thought as serious by you, as that which, at present, I wish to quit.

Wish to quit !' The question gave him some pain, because it led to another, which he cannot himself, at present, answer! What, Lucy, let me ask you, before I follow him to his next subject, can you gather from what passed in that already recited? If he is himself at an uncertainty, he may deserve to be pitied, and not blamed: but don't you think he might have answered, whether the lady is a foreigner, or not?-How could he know what the next question would have been?

I had the assurance to ask Miss Grandison afterwards, aside, whether any thing could be made out, or guessed at, by his eyes, when he spoke of having seen the woman he could prefer to all others? For he sat next me; she over against him.

I know not what to make of him, said she: but, be the lady native or foreigner, it is my humble opinion, that my brother is in love. He has all the symptoms of it, that I can guess by.

I am of Charlotte's opinion, Lucy. Such tender sentiments; such sweetness of manners; such gentleness of voice! Love has certainly done all this for him: and the lady to be sure is a foreigner. It would be strange if such a man should not have engaged his heart in the seven or eight years past; and those from eighteen to twenty-six or seven, the most susceptible of a man's life.

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But what means he by saying, His peace has been ⚫ broken in pieces by a tender fault in his constitution?"— Compassion, I suppose, for some unhappy object.-I will

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