 London. She has a
very good fortune; and would be happy to have with her such a companion
as Miss Mowbray, 'till I am so fortunate as to be enabled to take her
myself. As her connections and acquaintance lie in a different set of
people, and in a remote part of the country from those of Mr. Delamere,
it is improbable, that with the precaution we shall take, he will ever
discover her residence.'

Lord Montreville expressed his sense of Mrs. Stafford's kindness in the
warmest terms. He assured her that he should never forget the friendly
part she had taken, and that if ever it was in his power to shew his
gratitude by being so happy as to have the ability to serve her or her
family, he should consider it as the most fortunate event of his life.

Mrs. Stafford heard this as matter of course; and would have felt great
compassion for Lord Montreville, whose state of mind was truly
deplorable, but she reflected that he had really been the author of his
own misery: first, by bringing up his son in a manner that had given
such boundless scope to his passions; and now, by refusing to gratify
him in marrying a young woman, who was, in the eye of unprejudiced
reason, so perfectly unexceptionable. She advised him to try once more
to prevail on his son to leave Swansea with him; and he left her to
enquire whether Fitz-Edward had yet found Delamere, whose absence gave
him the most cruel uneasiness.

Fitz-Edward, after a long search, had overtaken Delamere on an
unfrequented common, about a mile from the town, where he was walking
with a quick pace; and seeing Fitz-Edward, endeavoured to escape him.
But when he found he could not avoid him, he turned fiercely towards
him--'Why do you follow me, Sir? Is it not enough that you have broken
through the ties of honour and friendship in betraying me to my father?
must you still persecute me with your insidious friendship?'

Fitz-Edward heard him with great coolness; and without much difficulty
convinced him that Miss Mowbray herself had given the information to
Lord Montreville by means of Mrs. Stafford.

This conviction, while it added to the pain and mortification of
Delamere, greatly reconciled him to Fitz-Edward, whom he had before
suspected; and after a long conversation, which Fitz-Edward so managed
as to regain some degree of power over the passions of his impetuous
friend, he persuaded him to go and dine with Lord Montreville; having
first undertaken for
