these
faults have existed, I do not attempt to disavow or extenuate
them, and I beg your pardon.

"However time, and a succession of objects, may eradicate more
tender sentiments, I am sure _never_ to lose the liveliest
anxiety for your welfare--and with all that solicitude, which
cannot be described, I entreat for your own sake, for mine--when
we shall be far asunder--and for the sake of your dead father's
memory, that, _upon every important occasion, you will call your
serious judgment to direct you._

"I am, Madam,

"Your sincerest friend,

"ELMWOOD."

After she had read every syllable of this letter, it dropped from her
hands; but she uttered not a word. There was, however, a paleness in her
face, a deadness in her eye, and a kind of palsy over her frame, which
Miss Woodley, who had seen her in every stage of her uneasiness, never
had seen before.

"I do not want to read the letter," said Miss Woodley; "your looks tell
me its contents."

"They will then discover to Lord Elmwood," replied she, "what I feel;
but Heaven forbid--that would sink me even lower than I am."

Scarce able to move, she rose, and looked in her glass, as if to arrange
her features, and impose upon him: alas! it was of no avail--a serenity
of mind could alone effect what she desired.

"You must endeavour," said Miss Woodley, "to feel the disposition you
wish to make appear."

"I will," replied she, "I will feel a proper pride--and a proper scorn of
this treatment."

And so desirous was she to attain the appearance of these sentiments,
that she made the strongest efforts to calm her thoughts, in order to
acquire it.

"I have but a few days to remain with him," she said to herself, "and we
part for ever--during those few days it is not only my duty to obey his
commands, or rather comply with his request, but it is also my wish to
leave upon his mind an impression, which may not add to the ill opinion
he has formed of me, but, perhaps, serve to diminish it. If, in every
other instance, my conduct has been blameable, he shall, at least in
this, acknowledge its merit. The fate I have drawn upon myself, he shall
find I can be resigned to; and he shall be convinced, that the woman, of
whose weakness he has had so many fatal proofs, is yet in possession of
some fortitude--fortitude, to bid him farewell, without discovering one
affected or one real pang, though her death should