o its salutary use. I dreaded the monotony,
the associations of Elmsley, from which I saw, by this letter,
that Henry was henceforward to be banished; and, altogether,
when I walked into Mrs. Brandon's room, and announced to her
my approaching departure, tears of vexation stood in my eyes.

She said a great deal of her own regret, and proposed writing
immediately to Mr. Middleton to entreat him to let me stay on
longer, and urged me to wait for his answer, but this I could
not venture to do. My uncle was a man who seldom gave an
order, but when he did, I knew it was not to be trifled with.

I did not state to Mrs. Brandon the _real_ reason of my
recall; but she gave me to understand that she knew it, and I
did not repulse as much as usual, her implied sympathy.

We went down into the drawing-room together; and when Henry
appeared, I watched his countenance to try and gather from it,
if he too had received the letter which his sister had been
desired to write to him; but he puzzled me completely. He was
absent and pre-occupied, but did not seem the least depressed;
on the contrary, there was a kind of excitement about him,
that gave him the appearance of being in high spirits. When
Mrs. Brandon spoke of my summons to Elmsley, and the rest of
the company were, in their different ways, making civil
speeches to me, he said nothing, but in his turn watched me
narrowly.

He did not sit next to me at dinner, which I thought, with a
little contrivance, he might have done; nor did he come near
me during the first part of the evening, but seemed entirely
engrossed by a long eager whispering conversation which he
kept up with Mrs. Brandon.

At tea-time, she came up to Lady Wyndham and Mrs. Ernsley, and
asked if it would suit them to make a party the next day to
the sea-side. There was a beautiful little bay about twenty
miles off, which would make an excellent object for an
expedition, and which she would like to show me, before I left
Dorsetshire. It so happened that I had never in my life seen
the sea, except from a distance, and this made the idea of
this excursion particularly agreeable to me. Everybody
approved of it; for once everybody was like Mrs. Hatton, and
liked nothing so much as an expedition, and more especially
one to the sea-side, so it was settled that we were to be off
at eight the following morning. Except in general
conversation, Henry did not speak to me that evening, till, as
he was lighting a candl