ce of Charles Annesley.

All, however, failed. The truth is, Mrs. Dallington Vere had nothing to
gain by re-entering Paradise, which matrimony, of course, is; and so she
determined to remain mistress of herself. She had gained fashion, and
fortune, and rank; she was young, and she was pretty. She thought it
might be possible for a discreet, experienced little lady to lead a very
pleasant life without being assisted in her expenses or disturbed in her
diversion by a gentleman who called himself her husband, occasionally
asked her how she slept in a bed which he did not share, or munificently
presented her with a necklace purchased with her own money. Discreet
Mrs. Dallington Vere!

She had been absent from London during the past season, having taken it
also into her head to travel.

She was equally admired and equally plotted for at Rome, at Paris, and
at Vienna, as at London; but the bird had not been caught, and, flying
away, left many a despairing prince and amorous count to muse over their
lean visages and meagre incomes.

Dallington House made its fair mistress a neighbour of her relations,
the Dacres. No one could be a more fascinating companion than Mrs.
Dallington Vere. May Dacre read her character at once, and these ladies
became great allies. She was to assist Miss Dacre in her plans for
rousing their Catholic friends, as no one was better qualified to be
her adjutant. Already they had commenced their operations, and balls at
Dallington and Dacre, frequent, splendid, and various, had already made
the Catholic houses the most eminent in the Riding, and their brilliant
mistresses the heroines of all the youth.

CHAPTER V.

_Ruined Hopes_

IT RAINED all night without ceasing yet the morrow was serene.
Nevertheless the odds had shifted. On the evening, thy had not been more
than two to one against the first favourite, the Duke of St. James's ch.
c. Sanspareil, by Ne Plus Ultra; while they were five to one against the
second favourite, Mr. Dash's gr. c. The Dandy, by Banker, and nine and
ten to one against the next in favour. This morning, however, affairs
were altered. Mr. Dash and his Dandy were at the head of the poll; and
as the owner rode his own horse, being a jockey and a fit rival for the
Duke of St. James, his backers were sanguine. Sanspareil, was, however,
the second favourite.

The Duke, however, was confident as an universal conqueror, and came on
in his usual state, rode round the