id not think it necessary to require your presence.'

You may imagine we expressed ourselves obliged by this frankness; and,
for my own part, I was glad of what appeared to me like being received
into a community of saints; but was forced to wait for it till night,
the devotion of the morning having been paid before breakfast, as was
usual in that family.

Mrs Maynard accompanied us that morning into the park, and having placed
ourselves on a green bank under an elm, by the side of the canal, I
called on her to perform her promise, and increase my acquaintance with
the rest of the ladies, by giving some account of them.

'I shall not the less readily comply,' she answered, 'for being able to
bring what I have to say of them into less compass, than I did my
history of Mrs Morgan and Miss Mancel, of whom, when I begin to speak, I
always find it difficult to leave off, and am led by my fondness for the
subject into a detail, perhaps too circumstantial. Lady Mary Jones, by
what I have already said, you may have perceived must come next in
order.'

THE HISTORY OF Lady MARY JONES

Lady Mary was daughter to the Earl of Brumpton by his second wife, who
survived the birth of her child but a few hours. The earl died when his
daughter was about ten years old, and having before his second marriage
mortgaged to its full value all of his estate which was not settled on a
son born of his first lady, his daughter was left entirely destitute of
provision But as she was too young to be much affected with this
circumstance, so she had little reason to regret it, when an increase of
years might have awakened a sensibility to that particular. Immediately
on her father's death she was taken by her aunt, Lady Sheerness, who
declared she should look upon her as her own child, and indeed her
indulgence verified the truth of her declaration.

Lady Sheerness was a widow; her jointure considerable; and her lord at
his decease left her some thousand pounds in ready money. When he died
she was about twenty-five years old, with a good person and infinite
vivacity. An unbridled imagination, ungovernable spirits, with a lively
arch countenance and a certain quaintness of expression gained her the
reputation of being possessed of a great deal of wit. Her lord, in the
decline of life, had been captivated by her youthful charms, when she
was but sixteen years old. His extreme fondness for her led him to
indulge her vivacity in all its follie