opinion for ever?
Derwent had given me hopes that you yet retained some esteem for my
character, lowered, as I acknowledge it to be, in my own estimation."

"The Duke of Derwent? Mr. Denbigh!"

"Do not; do not use a name, dear madam, almost hateful to me," cried he,
in a tone of despair.

"If," said Mrs. Wilson, gravely, "you have made your own name
disreputable, I can only regret it, but--"

"Call me by my title--oh! do not remind me of my folly; I cannot bear it,
and from you."

"Your title!" exclaimed Mrs. Wilson, with a cry of wonder, and Emily
turned on him a face in which the flashes of color and succeeding paleness
were as quick, and almost as vivid, as the glow of lightning. He caught
their astonishment in equal surprise.

"How is this? some dreadful mistake, of which I am yet in ignorance," he
cried, taking the unresisting hand of Mrs. Wilson, and pressing it with
warmth between both his own, as he added, "do not leave me in suspense."

"For the sake of truth, for my sake, for the sake of this suffering
innocent, say, in sincerity, who and what you are," said Mrs. Wilson in a
solemn voice, gazing on him in dread of his reply.

Still retaining her hand, he dropped on his knees before her, as he
answered,--

"I am the pupil, the child of your late husband, the companion of his
dangers, the sharer of his joys and griefs, and would I could add, the
friend of his widow. I am the Earl of Pendennyss."

Mrs. Wilson's head dropped on the shoulders of the kneeling youth, her
arms were thrown in fervor around his neck, and she burst into a flood of
tears. For a moment, both were absorbed in their own feelings; but a cry
from Pendennyss aroused the aunt to the situation of her niece.

Emily had fallen senseless on the sofa.

An hour elapsed before her engagements admitted of the return of Lady
Chatterton to the breakfast parlor, where she was surprised to find the
breakfast equipage yet standing, and her cousin, the earl. Looking from
one to the other in surprise, she exclaimed,--

"Very sociable, upon my word; how long has your lordship honored my house
with your presence, and have you taken the liberty to introduce yourself
to Mrs. Wilson and Miss Moseley?"

"Sociability and ease are the fashion of the day. I have been here an
hour, my dear coz, and _have_ taken the liberty of _introducing myself_ to
Mrs. Wilson and Miss Moseley," replied the earl gravely, although a smile
of meaning lighted his handsom