'
life, of which Lord Montreville now made her see all the dreariness and
desolation, by the careless and irregular manner in which even her small
quarterly stipend was remitted to her, yet exerted all her fortitude to
support the spirits of Mrs. Stafford. Calm in the possession of
conscious innocence, and rich in native integrity and nobleness of
nature, she was, tho' far from happy herself, enabled to mitigate the
sorrows of others. Nor was her residence, (otherwise disagreeable and
forlorn enough,) entirely without it's advantages: it afforded her time
and opportunity to render herself perfectly mistress of the language of
the country; of which she had before only a slight knowledge. To the
study of languages, her mind so successfully applied itself, that she
very soon spoke and wrote French with the correctness not only of a
native, but of a native well educated.

While she thus suffered banishment in consequence of the successful
intrigues of the Crofts' family, they enjoyed all the advantages of
their prosperous duplicity; at least they enjoyed all the satisfaction
that arises from accumulating wealth and an ostentatious display of it.
Sir Richard, by the political knowledge his place afforded him, had been
enabled (by means of trusty agents) to carry on such successful traffic
in the stocks, that he now saw himself possessed of wealth greater than
his most sanguine hopes had ever presented to his imagination. But as
his fortune enlarged, his spirit seemed to contract in regard to every
thing that did not administer to his pride or his appetite. In the
luxuries of the table, his house, his gardens, he expended immense sums;
and the astonished world saw, with envy and indignation, wealth, which
seemed to be ill-gotten, as profusely squandered: but dead to every
generous and truly liberal sentiment, these expences were confined only
to himself; and in regard to others he still nourished the sordid
prejudices and narrow sentiments with which he set out in life--a needy
adventurer, trusting to cunning and industry for scanty and precarious
bread. Mr. Crofts, who had received twelve thousand pounds with his
wife, (whose clandestine marriage had prevented it's being secured in
settlement,) used it, as his father directed, in gaming in the stocks,
with equal avidity and equal success. Lady Frances, in having married
beneath herself, had yet relinquished none of the privileges of high
birth: she played deep, dressed in the extremity of expence, and was
celebrated for the whimsical splendor of her equipages and the
brilliancy of her assemblies. Her husband loved money almost as well