"
"You did right, Dorothy," returned the baronet; "though the earl and
I must ever be strangers, I have no enmity to his children. Where is
this just-principled young lady?"
Miss Dorothy informed him that, in consequence of her recent grief
and ill treatment, she had found herself too unwell to rise with the
family; but she hoped to join them at noon.
Pembroke was indeed deeply interested in this intelligence. The
simple graces of the lovely Albina had on the first interview touched
his heart. Her sufferings at Harrowby, and the sensibility which her
ingenuous nature exhibited without affectation or disguise, had left
her image on his mind long after they parted. He now gave the reins
to his eager imagination, and was the first in the saloon to greet
her as his lovely kins-woman.
Sir Robert Somerset welcomed her with the warmth of a parent, and the
amiable girl wept in happy gratitude.
During this scene, Miss Beaufort, no longer able to bear the
restraint of company nor even the accidental encountering of his eyes
whose presence, dear as it was, oppressed and disconcerted her,
walked out into the park. Though it was the latter end of October,
the weather continued fine. A bright sun tempered the air, and gilded
the yellow leaves, which the fresh wind drove before her into a
thousand glittering eddies. This was Mary's favorite season.
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