erton," said Denbigh,
with great interest, as he reached the spot where the young peer stood
leaning his head against a tree, on his way from the rectory to the hall.

Chatterton raised his face as he spoke: there were evident traces of tears
on it, and Denbigh, greatly shocked, was about to proceed as the other
caught his arm.

"Mr. Denbigh," said the young man, in a voice almost choked with emotion,
"may you never know the pain I have felt this morning. Emily--Emily
Moseley--is lost to me--for ever."

For a moment the blood rushed to the face of Denbigh, and his eyes flashed
with a look that Chatterton could not stand. He turned, as the voice of
Denbigh, in those remarkable tones which distinguished it from every other
voice he had ever heard, uttered--

"Chatterton, my lord, we are friends, I hope--I wish it; from my heart."

"Go, Mr. Denbigh--go. You were going to Miss Moseley--do not let me detain
you."

"I am going with _you_, Lord Chatterton, unless you forbid it," said
Denbigh, with emphasis, slipping his arm through that of the peer.

For two hours they walked together in the park; and when they appeared at
dinner, Emily wondered why Mr. Denbigh had taken a seat next to her
mother, instead of his usual place between herself and her aunt. In the
evening, he announced his intention of leaving B---- for a short time
with Lord Chatterton. They were going to London together; but he hoped to
return within ten days. This sudden determination caused some surprise;
but, as the dowager supposed it was to secure the new situation, and the
remainder of their friends thought it might be business, it was soon
forgotten, though much regretted for the time. The gentlemen left the hall
that night to proceed to an inn, from which they could obtain a chaise and
horses; and the following morning, when the baronet's family assembled
around their social breakfast, they were many miles on the road to the
metropolis.

Chapter XV.

Lady Chatterton, finding that little was to be expected in her present
situation, excepting what she looked forward to from the varying
admiration of John Moseley to her youngest daughter, determined to accept
an invitation of Borne standing to a nobleman's seat about fifty miles
from the hall, and, in order to keep things in their proper places, to
leave Grace with her friends, who had expressed a wish to that effect.
Accordingly, the day succeeding the departure of her son, she proceede