annot
help being affected with such material changes in the state of those she
loves so well; you are aware her tears are those of joy, Mr. Harewood."

Matilda struggled to recover her composure, and, turning to Mr. Harewood,
she put both her hands into his, and said, with a low but earnest
voice--"My dear, _dear_ sir, I do most truly rejoice in the prospect of
any good that can befall your family; I saw the--the young lady--the
bride-elect--she is very pretty--I hope she will be as good as she is
handsome; and I----"

Matilda suddenly stopped, unable to articulate the rest of her good wishes,
and Mr. Harewood eagerly said--"As to _that_ we will say nothing; I trust
Ellen will make a good wife; I am sure she has had a good example."

"_Ellen!_" screamed Matilda; "is it you, Ellen? _you_ that are going to be
married--you?"

"Dear me, how astonished you look! I suppose I shall be married some time.
I told you that perhaps Mr. Belmont might, _some time_----"

"My dear, _dear_ Ellen, pardon my dulness, and accept my sincerest
congratulations. May Heaven bless you, and him you prefer, and make you
both as happy as you deserve to be!"

"So, so!" cried Mr. Harewood; "if we had never come up stairs, this mighty
secret, which, for my part, I told an hour ago down stairs, would never
have been revealed. But pray, Matilda, who did you conclude was the
marrying person at our house, if it were not Ellen?"

"You have sons, sir," tremulously articulated Matilda, not choosing to
trust her tongue with a name that dwelt ever on her heart.

"Oh, tut, tut, there is no marrying for my boys. Charles is disposed of,
and if Edmund can take a wife at thirty, he will be better off than many in
his profession; he is now but a little past five-and-twenty, you know."

"He danced with a very beautiful woman last night," said Matilda, eagerly,
and with recovered vivacity.

"So I understand; she is a bride, and his first fee was given for a
consultation on her marriage-settlements."

Matilda breathed; the lustre of her eye, the glow on her cheek, could not
be mistaken by the fond parent, who now clearly understood the cause of
Matilda's frequent despondency, and the refusals she had given to all
offers of marriage.

"I wish," said Mrs. Hanson, "that you and Mrs. Harewood and our young
friends would dine with me: I am really impatient to be introduced to Mr.
Belmont."

"As you please, madam; the wanderer must certainly see you once more,