s and passions which were
going on in the little circle on which our eyes are fixed, the course of
life had gone on with tolerable smoothness as far as Emily and Marlow
were concerned, for about two months, when, one morning, Sir Philip
Hastings received a letter in a hand which he did not know. It reached
him at the breakfast table, and evidently affected him considerably with
some sort of emotion. His daughters instantly caught the change of his
countenance, but Sir Philip did not choose that any one should know he
could be moved by any thing on earth, and he instantly repressed all
agitation, quietly folded up the letter again, concluded his breakfast,
and then retired to his own study.

Emily was not deceived, however. There were moments in Sir Philip's life
when he was unable to conceal altogether the strong feelings of his
heart under the veil of stoicism--or as he would have termed it--to curb
and restrain them by the power of philosophy. Emily had seen such
moments, and knew, that whatever were the emotions produced by that
letter, whether of anger or grief or apprehension--her father was
greatly moved.

In his own study, Sir Philip Hastings seated himself, spread the letter
before him, and read it over attentively. But now it did not seem to
affect him in the least. He was, in fact, ashamed of the feelings he had
experienced and partly shown. "How completely," said he to himself,
"does a false and fictitious system of society render us the mere slaves
of passion, infecting even those who tutor themselves from early years
to resist its influence. Here an insolent young man lays claim to my
name, and my inheritance, and coolly assumes not only that he has a
title to do so, but that I know it; and this instead of producing calm
contempt, makes my heart beat and my blood boil, as if I were the
veriest schoolboy."

The letter was all that Sir Philip stated; but it was something more. It
was a very artful epistle, drawn up by the joint shrewdness of Mr.
Shanks, Mr. John Ayliffe, and Mrs. Hazleton. It concisely stated the
claims of the young man who signed it, to all the property of the late
Sir John Hastings and to the baronetcy. It made no parade of proofs, but
assumed that those in the writer's possession were indisputable, and
also that Sir Philip Hastings was well aware that John Ayliffe was his
elder brother's legitimate son. The annuity which had been bought for
himself and his mother was broadly stated to h