 that which she has felt from seeing you miserable.'

'She shall see me so no longer then,' said my lord. 'By imitating thee I will grow honest, and that shall teach me to be chearful.'


Having so far adjusted matters, Lord Hazard felt himself wonderfully relieved. As for Charles, all he could learn from his mother was, that her lord had, for several days, appeared very ill and very uneasy; that it certainly was caused by some disagreeable news he had heard;
'but,' continued she, 'whatever it is, we must unite to comfort him. I am sure from me he deserves every thing, for his affection encreases every day.'

Charles, convinced he was the cause of his father's unhappiness, took leave of his mother as early as he decently could, to go in quest of Standfast, that common friend in the family: for surely it is the office of a friend to make people easy.
The tutor was ready to receive him, and apparently anxious to put him out of pain, for he seized him very cordially by the hand, and told him matters were in such a swimming train, that he had only to appear as if nothing had happened, and he might be assured that his father would not even mention the circumstance.
Standfast had now restored the tranquility of both father and son, and in some measure his own; for the latter part of his conversation with his patron was concerning Lady Roebuck, but as he could not

gather any reason to believe she had been tatling, he fairly concluded she was afraid to attack him, or else perhaps, as chance had thrown him again in her way, the lady had wisely adopted the proverb better late than never; and so promised herself the accomplishment of what his vanity induced him to believe she wished: so difficult is it for men of Mr. Standfast's turn of mind to credit that any one can be actuated by motives purely generous, and merely disinterested.
The triumphant Mr. Standfast however had never been so near detection as while he was absent. That conversation between the two ladies which took a different turn, as the reader has seen, at the end of the seventh chapter, had introduced into the mind of Lady Roebuck a number of alarming fears for her friend. She could not give Mr. Standfast that implicit credit which he seemed to exact of Lord and Lady Hazard, for the active part he had taken in the business of Miss Snaffle. Indeed, knowing from her own experience how little pretensions he had either
