when Mr. Dacre made a short visit to London, his ward spent
a few days in his company, at the house of an old-fashioned Catholic
nobleman; a visit which only afforded a dull contrast to the gay society
and constant animation of his uncle's establishment.

It would seem that fate had determined to counteract the intentions
of the late Duke of St. James, and to achieve those of the Earl of
Fitz-pompey. At the moment that the noble minor was about to leave Dr.
Coronet for Eton, Mrs. Dacre's state was declared hopeless, except from
the assistance of an Italian sky, and Mr. Dacre, whose attachment to his
lady was romantic, determined to leave England immediately.

It was with deep regret that he parted from his ward, whom he tenderly
loved; but all considerations merged in the paramount one; and he was
consoled by the reflection that he was, at least, left to the care of
his nearest connections. Mr. Dacre was not unaware of the dangers
to which his youthful pledge might be exposed by the indiscriminate
indulgence of his uncle, but he trusted to the impartial and inviolable
system of a public school to do much; and he anticipated returning to
England before his ward was old enough to form those habits which are
generally so injurious to young nobles. In this hope Mr. Dacre was
disappointed. Mrs. Dacre lingered, and revived, and lingered, for nearly
eight years; now filling the mind of her husband and her daughter with
unreasonable hope, now delivering them to that renewed anguish, that
heart-rending grief, which the attendant upon a declining relative can
alone experience, additionally agonizing because it cannot be indulged.
Mrs. Dacre died, and the widower and his daughter returned to England.
In the meantime, the Duke of St. James had not been idle.

CHAPTER II.

_Tender Relatives_

THE departure and, at length, the total absence of Mr. Dacre from
England yielded to Lord Fitz-pompey all the opportunity he had long
desired. Hitherto he had contented himself with quietly sapping the
influence of the guardian: now that influence was openly assailed. All
occasions were seized of depreciating the character of Mr. Dacre,
and open lamentations were poured forth on the strange and unhappy
indiscretion of the father who had confided the guardianship of his son,
not to his natural and devoted friends, but to a harsh and repulsive
stranger. Long before the young Duke had completed his sixteenth year
all memory of the