never
speak to him again, if he did not quit my apartment that moment; upon
which he thought proper to withdraw; and I never afterwards gave him
an opportunity of speaking to me on the same subject. So that, in a
few weeks, he separated himself from our society; though the ladies of
Brussels considered him as my lover, because, of all the other officers,
he was their greatest favourite.

"His lordship being thus repulsed, Mr. W-- took the field, and assailed
my heart in a very different manner. He said he knew not how to make
love, but was a man of honour, and would keep the secret, and so forth.
To this cavalier address I answered, that I was not angry as I otherwise
should have been, at his blunt declaration, because I found by his own
confession, he did not know what was due to the sex; and my unhappy
situation in some shape excused him for a liberty which he would
not have dreamed of taking, had not my misfortunes encouraged his
presumption. But I would deal with him in his own way; and, far from
assuming the prude, frankly assured him, that he was not at all to my
taste, hoping he would consider my dislike as a sufficient reason to
reject his love.

"Lord R-- began to feel the symptoms of a genuine passion, which he
carefully cherished in silence, being naturally diffident and bashful;
but, by the very means he used to conceal it from my observation,
I plainly discerned the situation of his heart, and was not at all
displeased at the progress I had made in his inclinations. Meanwhile he
cultivated my acquaintance with great assiduity and respect, attended me
in all my excursions, and particularly in an expedition to Antwerp, with
two other gentlemen, where, in downright gaiete de coeur, we sat for
our pictures, which were drawn in one piece, one of the party being
represented in the dress of a hussar, and another in that of a running
footman. This incident I mention, because the performance, which is now
in my possession, gave birth to a thousand groundless reports circulated
in England at our expense.

"It was immediately after this jaunt that Lord R-- began to disclose his
passion; though he, at the same time, started such objections as seemed
to extinguish his hopes, lamenting that, even if he should have the
happiness to engage my affections, his fortune was too inconsiderable
to support us against the efforts of Lord --, should he attempt to
interrupt our felicity, and that he himself was obliged to follow