he Countess of Pendennyss and
her sister Lady Marian, watching eagerly the appearance of those whose
approach was thus announced.

The carriage of the ladies, with its idle attendants, was in waiting at a
short distance; and the pale face but composed resignation of its
mistress, indicated a struggle between conflicting duties.

File after file of heavy horse passed them in military pomp, and the
wistful gaze of the two females had scanned them in vain for the well
known, much-beloved countenance of the leader. At length a single horseman
approached them, riding deliberately and musing: their forms met his eye,
and in an instant Emily was pressed to the bosom of her husband.

"It is the doom of a soldier," said the earl, dashing a tear from his eye;
"I had hoped that the peace of the world would not again be assailed for
years, and that ambition and jealousy would yield a respite to our bloody
profession; but cheer up, my love--hope for the best--your trust is not in
the things of this life, and your happiness is without the power of man."

"Ah! Pendennyss--my husband," sobbed Emily, sinking on his bosom, "take
with you my prayers--my love--everything that can console you--everything
that may profit you. I will not tell you to be careful of your life; your
duty teaches you that. As a soldier, expose it; as a husband guard it; and
return to me as you leave me, a lover, the dearest of men, and a
Christian."

Unwilling to prolong the pain of parting, the earl gave his wife a last
embrace, held Marian affectionately to his bosom, and mounting his horse,
was out of sight in an instant.

Within a few days of the departure of Pendennyss, Chatterton was surprised
with the entrance of his mother and Catharine. His reception of them was
that of a respectful child, and his wife exerted herself to be kind to
connexions she could not love, in order to give pleasure to a husband she
adored. Their tale was soon told. Lord and Lady Herriefield were
separated; and the dowager, alive to the dangers of a young woman in
Catharine's situation, and without a single principle on which to rest the
assurance of her blameless conduct in future, had brought her to England,
in order to keep off disgrace, by residing with her child herself.

There was nothing in his wife to answer the expectations with which Lord
Herriefield married. She had beauty, but with that he was already sated;
her simplicity, which, by having her attention drawn elsew