h roused her guardian from that
mildness with which he had been accustomed to treat her. Night after
night his sleep had been disturbed by fears for her when abroad; morning
after morning it had been broken by the clamour of her return. He
therefore gravely said to her one forenoon as he met her accidentally
upon the staircase,

"I hope, Miss Milner, you pass this evening at home?"

Unprepared for the sudden question, she blushed and replied,
"Yes."--Though she knew she was engaged to a brilliant assembly, for
which her milliner had been consulted a whole week.

She, however, flattered herself that what she had said might be excused
as a mistake, the lapse of memory, or some other trifling fault, when he
should know the truth. The truth was earlier divulged than she
expected--for just as dinner was removed, her footman delivered a message
to her from her milliner concerning a new dress for the evening--the
_present evening_ particularly marked. Her guardian looked astonished.

"I thought, Miss Milner, you gave me your word that you would pass this
evening at home?"

"I mistook--for I had before given my word that I should pass it abroad."

"Indeed!" cried he.

"Yes, indeed; and I believe it is right that I should keep my first
promise; is it not?"

"The promise you gave me then, you do not think of any consequence?"

"Yes, certainly, if you do."

"I do."

"And mean, perhaps, to make it of more consequence than it deserves, by
being offended."

"Whether or not, I _am_ offended--you shall find I am." And he looked so.

She caught his piercing eyes--her's were immediately cast
down; and she trembled--either with shame or with resentment.

Mrs. Horton rose from her seat--moved the decanters and fruit round the
table--stirred the fire--and came back to her seat again, before another
word was uttered. Nor had this good woman's officious labours taken the
least from the awkwardness of the silence, which, as soon as the bustle
she had made was over, returned in its full force.

At last, Miss Milner rising with alacrity, was preparing to go out of
the room, when Dorriforth raised his voice, and in a tone of authority
said,

"Miss Milner, you shall not leave the house this evening."

"Sir!" she exclaimed with a kind of doubt of what she had heard--a
surprise, which fixed her hand on the door she had half opened, but
which now she shewed herself irresolute whether to open wide in
defiance, or to shut submissi