unity have we not dwelt
together all our long lives!--But that fearful man!--that hard,
coarse-minded Heneage Devereux! Is it to be believed that that man
should step in between my brother and myself--not sundering our hearts,
for that is impossible; but causing reserve on the part of my dear
brother, in lieu of that perfect confidence he ever placed in me? What
can be the nature of the influence that has so changed him? and how has
it been acquired? I am sure his heart bled but now, when, as if
compelled by some dire necessity, he desired me to prepare for the
reception of Mrs Heneage Devereux; but when I would have uttered--as
well as the suddenness of my surprise permitted--a few words of gentle
remonstrance, my brother stopt me, with an almost stern reiteration of
his wishes, and turned from me as if in anger. But it was not so; it was
in deep distress, I am certain, Mr L----, and therefore it is that you
find me thus overpowered; for what fearful cause can so move my dear
brother, and instigate his present determination?"

You may readily believe how tenderly I sympathised in the anxiety and
distress of my venerable friend, though powerless to give her comfort,
for my mind was painfully impressed with similar apprehensions; and
vague surmises had for some time haunted me, that all was not well with
the circumstances of Mr Devereux. As we talked together--forming various
conjectures respecting the motives which could have led him to put such
violence on his feelings, and even on his sense of propriety, as to
require his respectable sister to receive, in the house of their
ancestors, a person so every way unworthy of admittance there as was
the wife of Mr Heneage Devereux--the sad gleams of truth seemed to flash
momentarily across the mind of Mrs Eleanor; and as I considered the
matter, my previous suspicions became more definite. But still, save
and except the late inconsistencies of Mr Devereux's conduct in
relation to his subtle and unprepossessing kinsman, there had been
nothing--absolutely nothing--in his conduct and apparent circumstances,
to warrant a doubt respecting the perfect order and prosperousness of
his worldly affairs. And I felt a delicacy--or rather a difficulty--in
discussing the subject with Mrs Eleanor, which restrained me from fully
opening my mind to her. I have regretted more than once that I did not
overcome this morbid feeling, and that, overstepping, in the zeal and
truth of friendship, th