ed, he replied,

"By heaven, I believe Mr. Dorriforth loves you himself, and it is
jealousy that makes him treat me in this manner."

"For shame, my Lord!" cried Miss Woodley, who was present, and who
trembled with horror at the sacrilegious idea.

"Nay, shame to him if he is not in love"--answered his Lordship, "for who
but a savage could behold beauty like her's without owning its power?"

"Habit," replied Miss Milner, "is every thing--Mr. Dorriforth sees and
converses with beauty, but from habit he does not fall in love; as you,
my Lord, from habit, so often do."

"Then you believe that love is not in my nature?"

"No more of it, my Lord, than habit could very soon extinguish."

"But I would not have it extinguished--I would rather it should mount to
a flame, for I think it a crime to be insensible of the divine blessings
love can bestow."

"Then you indulge the passion to avoid a sin?--this very motive deters
Mr. Dorriforth from that indulgence."

"It ought to deter him, for the sake of his oaths--but monastick vows,
like those of marriage, were made to be broken--and surely when your
guardian looks at you, his wishes"----

"Are never less pure," she replied eagerly, "than those which dwell in
the bosom of my _celestial_ guardian."

At that instant Dorriforth entered the room. The colour had mounted into
Miss Milner's face from the warmth with which she had delivered her
opinion, and his accidental entrance at the very moment this praise had
been conferred upon him in his absence, heightened the blush to a deep
glow on every feature--confusion and earnestness caused even her lips to
tremble and her whole frame to shake.

"What's the matter?" cried Dorriforth, looking with concern on her
discomposure.

"A compliment paid by herself to you, Sir," replied Lord Frederick, "has
affected your ward in the manner you have seen."

"As if she blushed at the untruth," said Dorriforth.

"Nay, that is unkind," cried Miss Woodley; "for if you had been here"----

"--I would not have said what I did," replied Miss Milner, "but left him
to vindicate himself."

"Is it possible that I can want any vindication? Who would think it
worth their while to slander so unimportant a person as I am?"

"The man who has the charge of Miss Milner," replied Lord Frederick,
"derives a consequence from her."

"No ill consequence, I hope, my Lord?" said Dorriforth, with a firmness
in his voice, and with an eye so fixed, that his