early kindness of his guardian, if it had ever
been imprinted on his mind, was carefully obliterated from it. It was
constantly impressed upon him that nothing but the exertions of his aunt
and uncle had saved him from a life of stern privation and irrational
restraint: and the man who had been the chosen and cherished confidant
of the father was looked upon by the son as a grim tyrant, from whose
clutches he had escaped, and in which he determined never again to find
himself. 'Old Dacre,' as Lord Fitz-pompey described him, was a phantom
enough at any time to frighten his youthful ward. The great object
of the uncle was to teaze and mortify the guardian into resigning his
trust, and infinite were the contrivances to bring about this desirable
result; but Mr. Dacre was obstinate, and, although absent, contrived to
carry on and complete the system for the management of the Hauteville
property which he had so beneficially established and so long pursued.

In quitting England, although he had appointed a fixed allowance for
his noble ward, Mr. Dacre had thought proper to delegate a discretionary
authority to Lord Fitz-pompey to furnish him with what might be called
extraordinary necessaries. His Lordship availed himself with such
dexterity of this power that his nephew appeared to be indebted for
every indulgence to his uncle, who invariably accompanied every act of
this description with an insinuation that he might thank Mrs. Dacre's
illness for the boon.

'Well, George,' he would say to the young Etonian, 'you shall have
the boat, though I hardly know how I shall pass the account at
head-quarters; and make yourself easy about Flash's bill, though I
really cannot approve of such proceedings. Thank your stars you have not
got to present that account to old Dacre. Well, I am one of those who
are always indulgent to young blood. Mr. Dacre and I differ. He is your
guardian, though. Everything is in his power; but you shall never want
while your uncle can help you; and so run off to Caroline, for I see you
want to be with her.'

The Lady Isabella and the Lady Augusta, who had so charmed Mrs. and Miss
Coronet, were no longer in existence. Each had knocked down her earl.
Brought up by a mother exquisitely adroit in female education, the
Ladies St. Maurice had run but a brief, though a brilliant, career.
Beautiful, and possessing every accomplishment which renders beauty
valuable, under the unrivalled chaperonage of the Countes