 find her disengaged and at liberty to satisfy me; and in the mean while I determined to enquire of my mother what she knew of the affair, as I understood from

some words dropped by Mrs. Hindon, that she had interested herself in the application. I seized the earliest moment I could lay hold of to mention the matter to her, and next morning at breakfast asked her if she had ever been told that two young ladies of the name of Seymour, ladies whose names she had often heard me repeat with every expression of admiration, had besought my grandfather's interest towards procuring them an annuity from government. My mother's answer I perfectly recollect. She told me she believed such a demand had been made by the ladies in question, but that disadvantageous reports circulated against them had arrested his Lordship's intended exertions in their behalf, nor could he think of applying publicly in favour of girls, whose conduct by all accounts would reflect but discredit upon those who interested themselves in their affairs.

It was in vain, continued Mr. Roatsley, that I combated these unjust imputations with all the arguments in my power, and appealed to your character (as their guardian) so fully established in the eyes of all favoured with your acquaintance. My mother coolly answered, that men even of the strictest probity were not likely to withdraw their protection on account even of the most flagrant improprieties of conduct in young girls committed to their charge, and that it was more than probable they had even imposed on you with a borrowed appearance of that merit which art could easily assume and beauty sufficiently enforce. This, she said upon second thoughts, seemed indisputably the case, since a single evening spent accidentally in their company had rendered me so warmly their friend, and had induced me so romantically to espouse their cause, though totally uninformed of their characters and

connexions. They were unknown in this country, even by my own account; (for I had mentioned that circumstance as a motive of compassion) their same was dubious at best: and such misconduct had been laid to their charge, that even this phrase was a charitable one.
I warmly demanded from whom this slanderous intelligence had been received, and was at length unwillingly informed, that the woman with whom you lodged when in town had acknowledged to my mother's maid that the connexion between the ladies and their guardian was much too intimate for the distance required between a gentleman of character and his wards.
Shocked and confounded, though perfectly satisfied of the infamous falshood of this scandalous aspersion, I was determined to have the matter fully explained,
