lightly, aroused to the recollection that Lucretia was
at the age when woman naturally meditates upon love and marriage, had
suggested, afresh and more vividly, a project which had before been
indistinctly conceived,--namely, the union of the divided branches of
his house, by the marriage of the last male of the Vernons with the
heiress of the St. Johns. Sir Miles had seen much of Vernon himself at
various intervals; he had been present at his christening, though he had
refused to be his godfather, for fear of raising undue expectations; he
had visited and munificently "tipped" him at Eton; he had accompanied
him to his quarters when he joined the prince's regiment; he had come
often in contact with him when, at the death of his father, Vernon
retired from the army and blazed in the front ranks of metropolitan
fashion; he had given him counsel and had even lent him money. Vernon's
spendthrift habits and dissipated if not dissolute life had certainly
confirmed the old baronet in his intentions to trust the lands of
Laughton to the lesser risk which property incurs in the hands of
a female, if tightly settled on her, than in the more colossal and
multiform luxuries of an expensive man; and to do him justice, during
the flush of Vernon's riotous career he had shrunk from the thought of
confiding the happiness of his niece to so unstable a partner. But of
late, whether from his impaired health or his broken fortunes, Vernon's
follies had been less glaring. He had now arrived at the mature age of
thirty-three, when wild oats may reasonably be sown. The composed and
steadfast character of Lucretia might serve to guide and direct him; and
Sir Miles was one of those who hold the doctrine that a reformed rake
makes the best husband. Add to this, there was nothing in Vernon's
reputation--once allowing that his thirst for pleasure was slaked--which
could excite serious apprehensions. Through all his difficulties, he had
maintained his honour unblemished; a thousand traits of amiability and
kindness of heart made him popular and beloved. He was nobody's enemy
but his own. His very distresses--the prospect of his ruin, if left
unassisted by Sir Miles's testamentary dispositions--were arguments
in his favour. And, after all, though Lucretia was a nearer relation,
Vernon was in truth the direct male heir, and according to the usual
prejudices of family, therefore, the fitter representative of the
ancient line. With these feelings and vi