which she thought proper to object?'

'No, I don't think he cares enough about me.'

'He is very much to blame--but he doesn't know what an angel he has for
his daughter--which is all the better for me, as, if he did, he would not
be willing to part with such a treasure.'

'And Mr. Huntingdon,' said I, 'I suppose you know I am not an heiress?'

He protested he had never given it a thought, and begged I would not
disturb his present enjoyment by the mention of such uninteresting
subjects. I was glad of this proof of disinterested affection; for
Annabella Wilmot is the probable heiress to all her uncle's wealth, in
addition to her late father's property, which she has already in
possession.

I now insisted upon retracing our steps to the house; but we walked
slowly, and went on talking as we proceeded. I need not repeat all we
said: let me rather refer to what passed between my aunt and me, after
breakfast, when Mr. Huntingdon called my uncle aside, no doubt to make
his proposals, and she beckoned me into another room, where she once more
commenced a solemn remonstrance, which, however, entirely failed to
convince me that her view of the case was preferable to my own.

'You judge him uncharitably, aunt, I know,' said I. 'His very friends
are not half so bad as you represent them. There is Walter Hargrave,
Milicent's brother, for one: he is but a little lower than the angels, if
half she says of him is true. She is continually talking to me about
him, and lauding his many virtues to the skies.'

'You will form a very inadequate estimate of a man's character,' replied
she, 'if you judge by what a fond sister says of him. The worst of them
generally know how to hide their misdeeds from their sisters' eyes, and
their mother's, too.'

'And there is Lord Lowborough,' continued I, 'quite a decent man.'

'Who told you so? Lord Lowborough is a desperate man. He has dissipated
his fortune in gambling and other things, and is now seeking an heiress
to retrieve it. I told Miss Wilmot so; but you're all alike: she
haughtily answered she was very much obliged to me, but she believed she
knew when a man was seeking her for her fortune, and when for herself;
she flattered herself she had had experience enough in those matters to
be justified in trusting to her own judgment--and as for his lordship's
lack of fortune, she cared nothing about that, as she hoped her own would
suffice for both; and as for his wildness, she s