, intermingled in one emotion, are set free from all time
save the present: par each with each, they meet as brothers twin-born.

BOOK VII.

CHAPTER I.

VIGNETTES FOR THE NEXT BOOK OF BEAUTY.

"I quite agree with you, Alban; Honoria Vipont is a very superior young
lady."

"I knew you would think so!" cried the Colonel, with more warmth than
usual to him.

"Many years since," resumed Darrell, with reflective air, "I read Miss
Edgeworth's novels; and in conversing with Miss Honoria Vipont, methinks
I confer with one of Miss Edgeworth's heroines--so rational, so prudent,
so well-behaved--so free from silly romantic notions--so replete with
solid information, moral philosophy and natural history--so sure to
regulate her watch and her heart to the precise moment, for the one
to strike, and the other to throb--and to marry at last a respectable
steady husband, whom she will win with dignity, and would lose with
decorum! A very superior girl indeed."

["Darrell speaks--not the author. Darrell is unjust to the more
exquisite female characters of a Novelist, admirable for strength of
sense, correctness of delineation, terseness of narrative, and
lucidity of style-nor less admirable for the unexaggerated nobleness
of sentiment by which some of her heroines are notably
distinguished.]

"Though your description of Miss Vipont is satirical," said Alban
Morley, smiling, in spite of some irritation, "yet I will accept it as
panegyric; for it conveys, unintentionally, a just idea of the qualities
that make an intelligent companion and a safe wife. And those are the
qualities we must look to, if we marry at our age. We are no longer
boys," added the Colonel sententiously.

DARRELL.--"Alas, no! I wish we were. But the truth of your remark
is indisputable. Ah, look! Is not that a face which might make an
octogenarian forget that he is not a boy?--what regular features!--and
what a blush!"

The friends were riding in the park; and as Darrell spoke, he bowed to
a young lady, who, with one or two others, passed rapidly by in a
barouche. It was that very handsome young lady to whom Lionel had seen
him listening so attentively in the great crowd, for which Carr Vipont's
family party had been deserted.

"Yes; Lady Adela is one of the loveliest girls in London," said the
Colonel, who had also lifted his hat as the barouche whirled by--"and
amiable too: I have known her ever since she was born. Her