, where the inflexible displeasure of Lord Belmont

was at stake, it was the indispensible duty of a parent to act as I did.
My sister and I in warm terms returned her Ladyship thanks for this candid and ingenuous explanation, which we sincerely assured her entirely satisfied us as to every point of her behaviour. As matters stood, Sophia, it was undoubtedly both prudent and natural for Lady Linrose to conduct herself in the manner she has done, and I now reflect with pain on the injurious opinion that chagrin and disappointment induced us to entertain of a character which this one conversation developes in the most amiable and honourable point of view.
We expressed much uneasiness at the difference which Mr. Roatsley's compassionate humanity, in espousing so warmly our cause, had occasioned with a parent to whose foresight and maternal attentions he owed so much, and hoped it had proceeded no disagreeable lengths.

My son, said her Ladyship, is possessed of the most amiable disposition in the world. The conversation I have just now mentioned, passed between us last night, when he asked permission to attend me in my dressing room after supper. I had observed that he was grave and uneasy the whole day; but no opportunity for an explanation had till then occurred. Though gentle to excess, his passions, when once roused, are by no means easily controuled. The circumstances of your situation had naturally excited his compassion, and his knowledge of your amiable characters deprived me of the only excuse he would admit as a palliation of my conduct. Lord Belmont's prohibition, he said, he could regard as none where honour and humanity were concerned. There was neither spirit nor principle in a slavish dependence on the will and opinions of others. In such a moment, prudence

was selfishness, and obedience so implicit could only be deemed abject and servile.
He left me with these words; but soon after recollecting himself, he returned, not however with the intention of openly apologizing for his hear, but apparently from the wish of in some measure atoning for it by talking over the matter with calmness and temper.
This he did; and we parted at a late hour on good terms. What had passed however hung heavy on my spirits. I foresaw a world of tumult and opposition from this unfortunate discovery, and I determined to ease my mind of part of its burthen by openly disclosing my disquiets to the innocent cause of them, and entreating their forgiveness for the mental injury I have done them.
My son avows his resolution of applying to Lord Belmont in your favour, a determination, which far from dissuading him