Reproaches," reiterated Monteith, his eyes fparkling with indignation; "I cannot bear reproaches. Those of my own heart are fufficiently excru"ciating. I won't fee her. Order my "horfes."

"

Fitzofborne, who had watched every expreffion with ferpent wilinefs, here obferved to fir William, that travelling poft with no reft, and scarcely any refreshment, had greatly deranged his friend's mind. "And I am fearful," faid he, " of fome bad effects from the "indifcretion of a fervant, who hurried

into lady Monteith's apartment to "announce the earl's arrival."

No other hint was neceffary to remove fir William; while Monteith, with clenched fift, traverfed the room in an agony which increased every moment. "Am I expected to beg pardon?" exclaimed he to Fitzofborne.

" If

B3

If you go on accufing yourself, and yielding to thefe extravagancies, you "invite impertinence, and muft expect "mortification. Lady Monteith muft "be deftitute of the ruling paffion of "her fex, if he does not make you « feel that he knows her power over

66

you. Remorfe, my lord, like religion, "is certainly a bufinefs between a man "and his own heart; yet, poffibly, as fir "William lectures you upon one head, "Mr. Evans may think it right to treat you with a little clerical freedom upon "the other."

"It is all known then," faid Monteith, throwing himself upon a fofa; " and I am to be ftared at by country "boors as a reprobate and a liber

"tine."

"C

Nothing is known, or can be "known, if you act with common pro

priety. Sir William only talks of

"your

your staying in town, and attending parliamentary bufinefs, when you ought to have been nurfing your "wife in the country. Come, come, "Monteith, go and afk her how the does, without entirely abandoning all "fenfe of dignity. But that I fcorn to probe a penetrated heart, I could re"mind you, that attention to my former "counfels would have prevented your "prefent pangs."

Lord Monteith fighed, and made another effort to vifit his countefs. The high tone of ecftacy to which his feelings had been elevated on first hearing of her fafety, was now confiderably lowered; and he almoft wished that the feparating diftance which he had fo rapidly paffed were ftill between them, to protect him from the foul-harrowing fight of an injured, yet ftill beloved object." If," faid he to himself, "the

"Cutters

B

"utters one fevere expreffion; if the "looks at me with lefs tenderness, nay "if fhe do but even betray a knowledge "of my folly, I am loft."

His apprehenfions, however, were groundless. Geraldine received him with that fmile of ineffable fweetnefs which generally irradiated her countenance. It was, indeed, no longer playfully animated; but its penfive languor conveyed even to his alarmed attention the idea of bodily fuffering, rather than of mental anguish. After thanking him for the folicitude he had expreffed, and which, fhe faid, her dear father had pathetically described, the congratulated him upon the birth of a fon, who though prematurely hurried into the world by her indifpofition, (here the ftifled a figh,) was yet, she was happy to find, likely to live.

When

When Providence gratifies the clamorous wishes of us fhort-fighted mortals, it must not only give us the good that we afk, but it muft alfo adapt the time of its bounty to the moment of our defires. Eight months ago lord Monteith thought nothing but a fon wanting to gratify all his wifhes. He now started with deep remorfe and difmay at the birth of a being, who feemed to rush into existence to reproach him for having wafted the fair poffeffions to which his ancestors had left him heir, in the frenzy of the gamingtable and the haunts of diffipation. The too fufceptible countefs-read in his embarraffed manner a refutation of all the hopes which a defcription of his lively emotions on his return had infpired. She could no longer flatter herself with the idea that envy and falfehood had fabricated the paragraph fo fatal to her

5

peace,