lexion could make them.

"I 'll take you by the shrubberies, my Lord, which is somewhat longer,
but pleasanter walking; and, if you like it, we 'll come back by the
hill path, which is much shorter."

"The longer the road the more of your company, Miss Bramleigh. Therein
lies my chief interest," said he, bowing.

They talked away pleasantly, as they went along, of the country and the
scenery, of which new glimpses continually presented themselves, and of
the country people and their ways, so new to each of them. They agreed
wonderfully on almost everything, but especially as to the character
of the Irish,--so simple, so confiding, so trustful, so grateful for
benefits, and so eager to be well governed! They knew it all, the whole
complex web of Irish difficulty and English misrule was clear and plain
before them; and then, as they talked, they gained a height from which
the blue broad sea was visible, and thence descried a solitary sail
afar off, that set them speculating on what the island might become when
commerce and trade should visit her, and rich cargoes should cumber
her quays, and crowd her harbors. Marion was strong in her knowledge of
industrial resources; but as an accomplished aide-de-camp always rides a
little behind his chief, so did she restrain her acquaintance with these
topics, and keep them slightly to the rear of all his Lordship advanced.
And then he grew confidential, and talked of coal, which ultimately led
him to himself,--the theme of all he liked the best And how differently
did he talk now! What vigor and animation, what spirit did he not throw
into his sketch! It was the story of a great man, unjustly, hardly dealt
with, persecuted by an ungenerous rivalry, the victim of envy. For half,
ay, for the tithe of what he had done, others had got their advancement
in the peerage,--their blue ribbons and the rest of it; but Canning had
been jealous of him, and the Duke was jealous of him, and Palmerston
never liked him. "Of course," he said, "these are things a man buries in
his own breast. Of all the sorrows one encounters in life, the slights
are those he last confesses; how I came to speak of them now I can't
imagine--can you?" and he turned fully towards her, and saw that she
blushed and cast down her eyes at the question.

"But, my Lord," said she, evading the reply, "you give me the idea of
one who would not readily succumb to an injustice. Am I right in my
reading of you?"

"I trust and