"
"I thought to find you all together," returned Sir Robert; "where is
her ladyship?"
"I left her with Pembroke, in a hut by the river," said Thaddeus, and
bowing again, he hurried away, whilst his father called after him to
return in a few minutes, and accompany him in a walk.
The departure of Sobieski, when he had come expressly to attend her
to Lady Albina, nearly overwhelmed Miss Beaufort's before exhausted
spirits. Hardly knowing whether to remain or retreat, she was
attempting the latter, when her guardian caught her hand.
"Stay, Mary!" cried he; "you surely would not leave me alone?"
Miss Beaufort's tears had gushed over her eyes the moment her back
was turned, and as Sir Robert drew her towards him, to his extreme
amazement he saw that she was weeping. At a sight so unexpected, the
smile of hilarity left his lips. Putting his arm tenderly round her
waist, (for now that her distress had discovered itself, her emotion
became so great that she could hardly stand,) he inquired in a kindly
manner what had affected her.
She answered by sobs only, until finding it impossible to break away
from her uncle's arms, she hid her face in his bosom and gave vent to
the full tide of her tears.
Recollecting the strange haste in which Thaddeus had hurried from
them, and remembering Miss Beaufort's generosity to him in town,
followed by her succeeding melancholy, Sir Robert at once united
these circumstances with her present confusion, and conceiving an
instantaneous suspicion of the reality, pressed her with redoubled
affection to his bosom.
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