uld not help feeling how evanescent the effect of it was after
all. The shuddering terror of seeing our fellow-creature thus
struck down by our side, and the breathless thankfulness for our
own preservation, rendered the first evening of our party at Heaton
almost solemn; but the next day the occurrence became a subject of
earnest, it is true, but free discussion; and after that, was
alluded to with almost as little apparent feeling as if it had not
passed under our eyes, and within the space of a few hours.

I have heard nothing of my brother; my mother distresses me by
talking of him, ignorant as she is of what would give her so much
more anxiety about him. I feel, while I listen to her, almost
guilty of deceit; and yet I am sure we were right in doing for her
what she cannot do for herself, keeping her mind as long as
possible in comparative tranquillity about him.

Our Sunday at Heaton terminated with much solemn propriety by Lord
W---- reading aloud the evening prayers to the whole family,
visitors, and servants assembled; a ceremony which, combined and
contrasted with so much of the pomps and vanities of the world,
gave me a pleasant feeling toward these people, who live in the
midst of them without forgetting better things. I mean to make
studying German and drawing (and endeavoring to abate my
self-esteem) my principal occupations this winter. I have met at
Heaton Lord Francis Leveson Gower, the translator of "Faust." I
like him very much; he is a young man of a great deal of talent,
with a charming, gentle manner, and a very handsome, sweet face.
Good-by, dear H----. Write to me soon, and direct to No. 79 Great
Russell Street, Bloomsbury. I should like to find a letter from you
there, waiting for me.

Our arrangement for driving in to the theater from Heaton compelled me
once or twice to sit down to dinner in my theatrical costume, a device
for saving time in dressing at the theater which might have taxed my
self-possession unpleasantly; but the persons I was surrounded by were
all singularly kind and amiable to me, and my appearing among them in
these picturesque fancy dresses was rather a source of amusement to us
all. Many years after, a lady who was not staying in the house, but was
invited from the neighborhood to dine at Heaton one evening, told me how
amazed she had bee