Indeed, I doubt whether it will not win me a
pair of gloves from some folks here," added she, glancing archly on
Pembroke, who looked round at this whimsical declaration. "Suffice it
to say, that yesterday morning Lady Albina Stanhope, looking like a
ghost, and her poor maid, scared almost out of her wits, arrived in a
hack-chaise at Somerset Castle, and besought our protection. Our dear
Mary embraced the weeping young creature, who, amidst many tears,
recapitulated the injuries she had suffered since she had been torn
from her mother's remains at the Abbey. The latest outrage of her
cruel father was his intended immediate marriage with the vile Lady
Olivia Lovel, and his commands that Lady Albina should the same
evening give her hand to that bad woman's nephew. Ill as she was when
she received these disgraceful orders, she determined to prevent the
horror of such double degradation by instantly quitting the house;
'and,' added she, 'whither could I go? Ah! I could think of none so
likely to pity the unhappy victim of the wickedness I fled from as
the father of the kind Mr. Somerset. He had told me we were
relations; I beseech you, kind ladies, to be my friends!' Certain of
your benevolence, my dear brother," continued Miss Dorothy, "I
stopped this sweet girl's petition with my caresses, and promised her
a gentler father in Sir Robert Somerset.
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