nd
prohibited in the strongest terms to all his friends and household; and
as he was an excellent good master, a sincere friend, and a most
generous patron, not one of his acquaintance or dependants, were hardy
enough to draw upon themselves his certain displeasure, which was always
violent in the extreme, by even the official intelligence of Lady
Elmwood's death.

Sandford himself, intimidated through age, or by the austere, and morose
manners which Lord Elmwood had of late years adopted; Sandford wished,
if possible, that some other would undertake the dangerous task of
recalling to his memory there ever was such a person as his wife. He
advised Miss Woodley to write a proper letter to him on the subject; but
she reminded him that such a step would be more perilous to her, than to
any other person, as she was the most destitute being on earth, without
the benevolence of Lord Elmwood. The death of her aunt, Mrs. Horton,
had left her solely relying on the bounty of Lady Elmwood, and now her
death, had left her totally dependant upon the Earl--for Lady Elmwood
though she had separate effects, had long before her death declared it
was not her intention to leave a sentence behind her in the form of a
will. She had no will, she said, but what she would wholly submit to
Lord Elmwood's; and, if it were even his will, that her child should
live in poverty, as well as banishment, it should be so. But, perhaps,
in this implicit submission to him, there was a distant hope, that the
necessitous situation of his daughter, might plead more forcibly than
his parental love; and that knowing her bereft of every support but
through himself, that idea might form some little tie between them, and
be at least a token of the relationship.

But as Lady Elmwood anxiously wished this principle upon which she
acted, should be concealed from his suspicion, she included her friend,
Miss Woodley, in the same fate; and thus, the only persons dear to her,
she left, but at Lord Elmwood's pleasure, to be preserved from perishing
in want. Her child was too young to advise her on this subject, her
friend too disinterested; and at this moment they were both without the
smallest means of subsistence, except through the justice or compassion
of Lord Elmwood. Sandford had indeed promised his protection to the
daughter; but his liberality had no other source than from his patron,
with whom he still lived as usual, except during part of the winter,
when the