 and without touching on the circumstances of the drawing, and the declaration it had produced, which indeed I cannot recall to mind and could not have mentioned without anguish unspeakable, I owned I had met with Roatsley that morning, and acknowledged the uneasiness which the little girl's raillery before his mother had occasioned me.
I know not what to make of him,

said Fanny: and undoubtedly this cousin of ours after all is a little unaccountable; for as Miss Farnford observed, his mistress has surely some reason to complain of his attentions in another quarter; and what can the man mean if he is actually on the eve of wedlock? I don't understand his behaviour.
Alas! thought I, I understand his behaviour but too well. It is my too apparent weakness and folly which have for a time produced in his heart a temporary inconstancy. Oh, Sophia! how painful is this idea. All my pride of heart rises against it. I am sunk in my own opinion—I am humbled and miserable.
There is but one step to be taken, said I to my sister. To see Lady Linrose again would be at present peculiarly disagreeable; and tho' she gave at parting no intimation of a speedy return, she may very possibly contrive to see us before she leaves the county, which I own I

would wish to avoid, and a very simple and natural method of doing so has occurred to me: I think of hastening my visit to our dear and valuable Lady Aubrey. It is but setting off in a day or two instead of three weeks hence. I am sure of finding her at home, and shall this very day write to prepare her to expect me.
My sister, who has never been separated from me for many years, and who dislikes the idea of my leaving her even for a short time, made some little objections to this plan, alledging that Lady Linrose had requested her visit might be kept a secret, from which it was naturally to be inferred that it was not likely to be soon repeated.
I did not chuse to own explicitly that it was the son still more than the mother that I wished to avoid, tho' I told her that I thought I ought not to expose myself to attentions that were (tho' I believed

unintentionally,) certainly an insult to my character: and I soon persuaded her to acknowledge, if such were my sentiments, that I ought not to defer my journey.
The difficulty that now remained, was how to conceal my real motive from Mr. Howard: but happily a fortunate pretence soon presented
