Harriet will, I think, soon grace the peerage."

"And happily, I trust," replied the brother.

"Do you know Lord Chatterton?"

"I do; he is very amiable, and admirably calculated to contrast with the
lively gaiety of Harriet Denbigh."

"You believe in loving our opposites, I see," rejoined the lady; and then
affectionately stretching out her hand to him, she added, "but,
Pendennyss, you must give me for a sister one as nearly like yourself as
possible."

"That might please your affections," answered the earl with a smile, "but
how would it comport with my tastes? Will you suffer me to describe the
kind of man _you_ are to select for your future lord, unless, indeed, you
have decided the point already?"

The lady colored violently, and appearing anxious to change the subject,
she tumbled over two or three unopened letters, as she cried eagerly--

"Here is one from the Donna Julia." The earl instantly broke the seal and
read aloud; no secrets existing between them in relation to their mutual
friend.

"My Lord,

"I hasten to write you what I know it will give you pleasure to hear,
concerning my future prospects in life. My uncle, General M'Carthy, has
written me the cheerful tidings, that my father has consented to receive
his only child, without any other sacrifice than a condition of attending
the service of the Catholic Church without any professions on my side, or
even an understanding that I am conforming to its peculiar tenets. This
may be, in some measure, irksome at times, and possibly distressing; but
the worship of God with a proper humiliation of spirit, I have learnt to
consider as a privilege to us here, and I owe a duty to my earthly father
of penitence and care in his later years that will justify the measure in
the eyes of my heavenly One. I have, therefore, acquainted my uncle in
reply, that I am willing to attend the Conde's summons at any moment he
will choose to make them; and I thought it a debt due your care and
friendship to apprise your lordship of my approaching departure from this
country; indeed, I have great reasons for believing that your kind and
unremitted efforts to attain this object have already prepared you to
expect this result.

"I feel it will be impossible to quit England without seeing you and your
sister, to thank you for the many, very many favors, of both a temporal
and eternal nature, you have been the agents of conferring on me. The
cruel suggestions which I dreade