the next morning he and Sir Lucius
Grafton met. Sir Lucius fired first, without effect, but Arundel's aim
was more fatal, and his ball was lodged in the thigh of his adversary.
Sir Lucius has only been saved by amputation; and I need not remark to
you that to such a man life on such conditions is scarcely desirable.
All idea of a divorce is quite given over. The letters in question were
stolen from his cabinet by his valet, and given to a soubrette of his
wife, whom Sir Lucius considered in his interest, but who, as you see,
betrayed him.

'For me remained the not very agreeable office of seeing Mrs. Dallington
Vere. I made known to her, in a manner as little offensive as possible,
the object of my visit. The scene, my dear George, was trying; and I
think it hard that the follies of a parcel of young people should really
place me in such a distressing position. She fainted, &c, and wished
the letters to be given up, but Lord Wariston would not consent to this,
though he promised to keep their contents secret provided she quitted
the country. She goes directly; and I am well assured, which is not the
least surprising part of this strange history, that her affairs are in a
state of great distraction. The relatives of her late husband are
about again to try the will, and with prospect of success. She has been
negotiating with them for some time through the agency of Sir Lucius
Grafton, and the late _expose_ will not favour her interests.

'If anything further happens, my dear George, depend upon my writing;
but Arundel desires me to say that on Saturday he will run down to Dacre
for a few days, as he very much wishes to see you and all. With our
united remembrance to Mr. and Miss Dacre,

'Ever, my dear George,

'Your very affectionate uncle,

'Fitz-pompey.'

The young Duke turned with trembling and disgust from these dark
terminations of unprincipled careers; and these fatal evidences of
the indulgence of unbridled passions. How nearly, too, had he been
shipwrecked in this moral whirlpool! With what gratitude did he not
invoke the beneficent Providence that had not permitted the innate seeds
of human virtue to be blighted in his wild and neglected soul! With
what admiration did he not gaze upon the pure and beautiful being whose
virtue and whose loveliness were the causes of his regeneration, the
sources of his present happiness, and the guarantees of his future joy!

Four years have now elapsed since the young