human beings, and all her love was amply returned.

Both the aunt and niece studied the manners of the earl closely, and found
several shades of distinction between what he was and what he had been. He
was now the perfect man of the world, without having lost the frank
sincerity which caused you to believe all he said. Had Pendennyss once
told Mrs. Wilson, with his natural air and manner, "I am innocent," she
would have believed him, and an earlier investigation would have saved
them months of misery; but the consciousness of his deception had
oppressed him with the curse of the wicked.

Pendennyss had lost that air of embarrassment and alarm which had so often
startled the aunt, even in her hours of greatest confidence, and which had
their original in the awkwardness of disguise. But he retained his
softness, his respect, his modest diffidence of his opinions, although
somewhat corrected now by his acknowledged experience and acquaintance
with man.

Mrs. Wilson thought these decided trifling alterations in manner were
improvements; but it required some days and a few tender speeches to
reconcile Emily to any change in the appearance of Denbigh.

Lady Marian had ordered her carriage early, as she had not anticipated the
pleasure she found, and was engaged to accompany her cousin, Lady Laura,
to a fashionable rout that evening. Unwilling to be torn from ins newly
found friends, the earl proposed that the three ladies should accompany
his sister to Annerdale House, and then accept himself as an escort to
their own residence. To this Harriet assented, and leaving a message for
Chatterton, they entered the coach of Marian, and Pendennyss, mounting the
dickey, drove off.

Annerdale House was amongst the best edifices of London. It had been
erected in the preceding century, and Emily for a moment felt, as she went
through its splendid apartments, that it threw a chill around her domestic
affections; but the figure of Pendennyss by her side reconciled her to a
magnificence she had been unused to, which looked the lord indeed; but
with so much modesty and softness, and so much attention to herself, that
before she left the house, Emily began to think it very possible to enjoy
happiness even in the lap of splendor.

The names of Colonel Denbigh and Lady Laura were soon announced, and this
formidable gentleman made his appearance, He resembled Pendennyss more
than even the duke, and appeared about the same age.

Mrs. Wils