! Lord Belmont, inflexible in his determinations and prepossessions, never will be induced to relinquish his hopes of an alliance on which his views have so long and so invariably rested, and must receive with augmented prejudice and unconquerable repugnance, the grandchild who so unpropitiously appears to interrupt his schemes and disappoint his wishes. Of this, my Lord, you must yourself be convinced, even while you labour to persuade me of the contrary.
Shocked at the alarming prospect which presented itself so forcibly to my apprehension that I could not conceal my fears, my Lord exerted himself powerfully and successfully to dispel the notion of my grandfather's inflexibility; and I soon began to forget the idea that had given me so much pain. He represented to me that it was extremely unnatural and improbable

to suppose, that his Lordship, when satisfied as to the propriety and decorum of our past conduct, would receive, otherwise than with open arms and delighted satisfaction, children who seemed sent as from heaven for the comfort and support of his old age. That his Lordship had hitherto rejected and disowned us, could merely be attributed, he said, to some mistaken prejudice which must have found its way to his mind even on the Continent. To suspect him now of an obstinacy so hardened, without any apparent motive except the cruelty and injustice of his nature, was to accuse him of a savage disposition extremely opposite to his benevolent temper, and indeed almost below human nature itself.
I longed extremely to ask him if Lady Linrose was yet acquainted with the declaration he had made to me; and if so, in what manner she had received it; but the entrance of Lady Aubrey, who however

did not appear till long after her usual hour, interrupted all further private conversation between us.
She received his Lordship with the most insinuating kindness, and with that flattering ease which so agreeably discards the cold ceremony of a first interview. Immediately after breakfast, during which Lady Aubrey entertained her guest with the polite freedom due to an esteemed and long known friend, his Lordship told us he was constrained to set off without further delay. I must make up for this indulgence, said he, by travelling with the utmost expedition; yet with all the celerity I can effect, I think my Lord Belmont will have to wait my arrival at Calais; for as I did not apprehend the disappointment of finding you absent, I made no provision for the last day I spent on the road.
He then took leave, recommending, in a low voice, but with a look which

testified how sanguine were his expectations, the success of this
