ly, that I am very much in love--and moreover--which you may _well_
suppose, most anxious to be relieved from the detestable position of a
French teacher in a boarding-school. I now have the opportunity, and
yet I dread to avail myself of it, and I therefore come to you, who are
so prudent and so sage, to request, after you have heard what I have to
impart, you will give me your real opinion as to what I ought to do.
You recollect I told you a gentleman had followed me at Brighton, and
how for mere frolic, I had led him to suppose that I was Caroline
Stanhope, I certainly did not expect to see him again, but I did three
days after I came up from Brighton. The girl had evidently copied the
address on my trunk for him, and he followed me up, and he accosted me
as I was walking home. He told me that he had never slept since he had
first seen me, and that he was honourably in love with me. I replied
that he was mistaken in supposing that I was Caroline Stanhope; that my
name was Adele Chabot, and that now that I had stated the truth to him
he would alter his sentiments. He declared that he should not, pressed
me to allow him to call, which I refused, and such was our first
interview."

"I did not see him again until at the horticultural fete, when I was
talking to Madame Bathurst. He had told me that he was an officer in
the army, but he did not mention his name. You recollect what Madame
Bathurst said about him, and who he was. Since you have been at
Richmond, he has contrived to see me every day, and I will confess that
latterly I have not been unwilling to meet him, for every day I have
been more pleased with him. On our first meeting after the fete, I told
him that he still supposed me to be Caroline Stanhope, and that seeing
me walking with Caroline's aunt had confirmed him in his idea, but I
assured him that I was Adele Chabot, a girl without fortune, and not, as
he supposed a great heiress. His answer was that any acquaintance of
Madame Bathurst's must be a lady, and that he had never inquired or
thought about my fortune. That my having none would prove the
disinterestedness of his affection for me, and that he required me and
nothing more. I have seen him every day almost since then; he has given
me his name and made proposals to me, notwithstanding my reiterated
assertions that I am Adele Chabot, and not Caroline Stanhope. One thing
is certain, that I am very much attached to him, and if I do not marry