, higher
still!"

When she caught sight of us, she sprang hastily down from her
elevated position, and rushing to me across the grass, seized
both my hands, and exclaimed in the eager tone of a child who
offers his favourite toy to a new comer, "Should you like to
swing?" I smiled, and shook my head; on which she drew me to a
bench, and sitting down herself on the grass before me, began
rattling away in her usual manner, at the same time making
garlands of all the daisies within her reach.

As Edward and the two other men approached us, I recognised in
one of them Mr. Manby; the other was unknown to me, but Rosa
said carelessly, without looking up from her wreath, "Mr.
Escourt,--Miss Middleton."

It immediately struck me, that this must be the very person
who had played so conspicuous a part in Henry's unfortunate
history; and my bow of acknowledgment was stiff and
ungracious. That portion of Henry's narrative had made a deep
impression upon me. The form of wickedness which I have always
held in the greatest abhorrence, is a deliberate attempt to
lead others into vice; and the efforts which this man had made
to complete Henry's ruin, after having so largely contributed
to bring it about, and the hypocrisy with which he had sought
to conceal his malice, appeared to me instances of those
crimes, which are not the less revolting because they do not
render the perpetrator of them amenable to the laws. It was
not in my nature to weigh with accuracy the correctness of
such impressions, or to make allowances for the probable
exaggeration of Henry's statement; but, if I had doubted
before, one glance at Mr. Escourt's countenance would have
been enough to dispel that doubt. I took a sudden and violent
aversion to him. His was one of those calm faces that
concealed the lurking devil of his malignity; there was a
repulsive gentleness in his voice, and a detestable sweetness
in his manner, which made me thoroughly comprehend the
feelings Henry described himself to have experienced during
the interview that had proved so fatal to him.

Edward's manner to me was more friendly perhaps than usual; it
seemed in the same spirit as his last words in the
breakfast-room in Brook-street. Little did he know all that had
passed through my mind, and worked upon my feelings, since that
time. I was almost angry with him for speaking to me so kindly
and gaily; I fancied that it was since his new attachment, that
he had ceased to look upo