f the day would come when she should be a child no longer! Why
was this?--perhaps because it is an era in life--the first sign of a
tenderness that inspires respect, not familiarity!

"If ever again I could be in love," said Maltravers, as he spurred on
his road, "I really think it would be with that exquisite child. My
feeling is more like that of love at first sight than any emotion which
beauty ever caused in me. Alice--Valerie--no; the _first_ sight of them
did not:--but what folly is this--a child of eleven--and I verging upon
thirty!"

Still, however, folly as it might be, the image of that young girl
haunted Maltravers for many days; till change of scene, the distractions
of society, the grave thoughts of manhood, and, above all, a series of
exciting circumstances about to be narrated, gradually obliterated a
strange and most delightful impression. He had learned, however, that
Mr. Templeton was the proprietor of the villa, which was the child's
home. He wrote to Ferrers to narrate the incident, and to inquire after
the sufferer. In due time he heard from that gentleman that the child
was recovered, and gone with Mr. and Mrs. Templeton to Brighton, for
change of air and sea-bathing.

BOOK VIII.

Whither come Wisdom's queen
And the snare-weaving Love?
EURIP. _Iphig. in Aul._ I. 1310.

CHAPTER I.

"Notitiam primosque gradus vicinia fecit."*--OVID.

* Neighbourhood caused the acquaintance and first introduction.

CLEVELAND'S villa _was_ full, and of persons usually called agreeable.
Amongst the rest was Lady Florence Lascelles. The wise old man had ever
counselled Maltravers not to marry too young; but neither did he wish
him to put off that momentous epoch of life till all the bloom of heart
and emotion was passed away. He thought, with the old lawgivers, that
thirty was the happy age for forming a connection, in the choice of
which, with the reason of manhood, ought, perhaps, to be blended
the passion of youth. And he saw that few men were more capable than
Maltravers of the true enjoyments of domestic life. He had long thought,
also, that none were more calculated to sympathise with Ernest's views,
and appreciate his peculiar character, than the gifted and brilliant
Florence Lascelles. Cleveland looked with toleration on her many
eccentricities of thought and conduct,--eccentricities which he imagined
would rapidly melt away beneath the influence of that attachment which
usually opera