e professed much pleasure in accepting it, especially as
he had never hitherto been in Derbyshire.

There was a small but very agreeable party at Royston, and we passed a
most enjoyable fortnight. My brother seemed thoroughly to have shaken
off his indisposition; and I saw my fondest hopes realised in the warm
attachment which was evidently springing up between him and Miss
Constance Temple.

Our visit drew near its close, and it was within a week of John's return
to Oxford. Mrs. Temple celebrated the termination of the Christmas
festivities by giving a ball on Twelfth-night, at which a large party
were present, including most of the county families. Royston was
admirably adapted for such entertainments, from the number and great
size of its reception-rooms. Though Elizabethan in date and external
appearance, succeeding generations had much modified and enlarged the
house; and an ancestor in the middle of the last century had built at
the back an enormous hall after the classic model, and covered it with a
dome or cupola. In this room the dancing went forward. Supper was served
in the older hall in the front, and it was while this was in progress
that a thunderstorm began. The rarity of such a phenomenon in the depth
of winter formed the subject of general remark; but though the lightning
was extremely brilliant, being seen distinctly through the curtained
windows, the storm appeared to be at some distance, and, except for one
peal, the thunder was not loud. After supper dancing was resumed, and
I was taking part in a polka (called, I remember, the "_King Pippin_"),
when my partner pointed out that one of the footmen wished to speak with
me. I begged him to lead me to one side, and the servant then informed
me that my brother was ill. Sir John, he said, had been seized with a
fainting fit, but had been got to bed, and was being attended by Dr.
Empson, a physician who chanced to be present among the visitors.

I at once left the hall and hurried to my brother's room. On the way
I met Mrs. Temple and Constance, the latter much agitated and in tears.
Mrs. Temple assured me that Dr. Empson reported favourably of my
brother's condition, attributing his faintness to over-exertion in the
dancing-room. The medical man had got him to bed with the assistance of
Sir John's valet, had given him a quieting draught, and ordered that he
should not be disturbed for the present. It was better that I should not
enter the room; she begg