; she was now a
great heiress, and, were she to marry Lord Ballindine, if she did
not make him a rich man, she would, at any rate, free him from all
embarrassment.

Besides, could she give him up now? now that she was rich? He would
first hear of her brother's death and her wealth, and then would
immediately be told that she had resolved to reject him. Could she bear
that she should be subjected to the construction which would fairly be
put upon her conduct, if she acted in this manner? And then, again, she
felt that she loved him; and she did love him, more dearly than she
was herself aware. She began to repent of her easy submission to her
guardian's advice, and to think how she could best unsay what she had
already said. She had lost her brother; could she afford also to lose
her lover? She had had none she could really love but those two. And
the tears again came to her eyes, and Lady Selina saw her, for the
twentieth time that morning, turn her face to the back of the sofa,
and heard her sob.

Lady Selina was sitting at one of the windows, over her carpet-work
frame. She had talked a great deal of sound sense to Fanny that
morning, about her brother, and now prepared to talk some more.
Preparatory to this, she threw back her long red curls from her face,
and wiped her red nose, for it was February.

"Fanny, you should occupy yourself, indeed you should, my dear. It's no
use your attempting your embroidery, for your mind would still wander
to him that is no more. You should read; indeed you should. Do go on
with Gibbon. I'll fetch it for you, only tell me where you were."

"I could not read, Selina; I could not think about what I read, more
than about the work."

"But you should try, Fanny,--the very attempt would be work to your
mind: besides, you would be doing your duty. Could all your tears bring
him back to you? Can all your sorrow again restore him to his friends?
No! and you have great consolation, Fanny, in reflecting that your
remembrance of your brother is mixed with no alloy. He had not lived
to be contaminated by the heartless vices of that portion of the
world into which he would probably have been thrown; he had not
become dissipated--extravagant--and sensual. This should be a great
consolation to you."

It might be thought that Lady Selina was making sarcastic allusions
to her own brother and to Fanny's lover; but she meant nothing of the
kind. Her remarks were intended to be sensible, true, a