he apartments, and that, if I play my
cards well, he will be caught in his own trap, which, I presume, is as
much as to say that he came here with different intentions, and
finding that he cannot succeed, will secure his intended prize or
victim by marriage rather than not obtain her at all. Very
flattering, truly! and this is the man to whom my mother would induce
me to confide my future happiness--a man who, independent of his want
of probity, is a fool into the bargain. But the persecution--on his
part and on that of my mother now becomes so annoying, that I have
requested Mrs St. Felix to speak to Mr Sommerville the tutor, who,
if he does his duty--and I have every reason to believe that he will
do so--will take some measures to remove his pupil from our house.

"17th. Mrs St. Felix and Mr Sommerville have had a meeting. He
generally walks out every afternoon in the park; and Mrs St. Felix
and he have already been introduced: she therefore went out and met
him, and after exchanging a few words she introduced the subject,
stating that she did so at my request. Mr Sommerville, although he
had not been blind, had had no idea that things had proceeded so far;
and he promised Mrs St. Felix that he would soon put an end to the
persecution, or remove him from our house. Janet has been here
to-day, and I told her what had passed; she very much approved of the
steps which I had taken. I must, however, say that latterly she has
not appeared to take that interest about you that she used to do, and
I fear that your continual absence is injurious to your prospects.
She is very young and very giddy, Tom: I wish she had been older, as,
even when she is your wife, she will require much looking after, and a
firm hand to settle her down into what a married woman in my opinion
ought to be. Mr Sommerville has requested me to favour him with a
few minutes' conversation; and as I cannot do it in our house, for my
mother never leaves me a minute to myself; I told him that I should be
at Mrs St. Felix's this afternoon, and he could speak to me then. He
knows that I have no secrets from Mrs St. Felix; and although it is
not pleasant to resort to such means, still there can be no
impropriety in my hearing what he has to tell me in her presence.

"I have seen Mr Sommerville--he thanked me very much for having
communicated, through Mrs St. Felix, my mother's plot ag