to give her pleasure, being with one so enlightened, and in
every way so superior as Lord Alphingham, she insisted that no more
letters should pass between them. She gained her point; the Viscount
wondered how he could ever be so blind as to prefer Caroline to her, and
her words added weight to his resolution, to annoy the former by devoted
attentions to Miss Grahame, and, if it suited his interests, make the
latter his wife.

The interviews Lord Alphingham contrived to have with Miss Grahame,
before he retired to Scotland, which he did not do for a fortnight after
his rejection, strengthened the intentions of both. The Viscount found
new charms in the reserve and agitation which now marked Annie's
behaviour, in the faint voice and well-concealed intelligence, that
however she might sympathise in his vexation, for herself she could not
regret his freedom. All this, though they were scarcely ever alone,
formed a perfect understanding between them, and quickly banished the
image of Caroline from the vain and fickle-minded Alphingham.

Wishing to keep up her pretended friendship for Caroline, that she
might the more effectually wound her, and not believing the sentiments
of the misguided girl were changed towards her also, Annie called at
Berkeley Square a very few days after Caroline's return, and she had
become acquainted with all that had passed. No one was visible in the
drawing-room; the young men, she knew, had both arrived from college,
but the house was destitute of that air of cheerfulness and glee which
generally attended their return. Some little time she waited with
impatient displeasure, which did not lessen when, on hearing the door
open, she beheld, not Caroline but Mrs. Hamilton herself, her cheek
pale, as if from some internal suffering, but with even more than her
wonted dignity both in mien and step, and for a moment Annie struggled
in vain to speak with the eagerness with which she intended to have
inquired for Caroline; before the mild yet penetrating glance of Mrs.
Hamilton even her self-possession appeared about to abandon her. She
felt lowered, humbled in her presence, and it was this, perhaps, this
very sense of inferiority, which had ever heightened dislike.

Mildly, yet coldly and briefly, Mrs. Hamilton answered Miss Grahame's
torrent of questions and regrets which followed her information, that
Caroline was not well enough to see any one but her own family, and
that, as they left London some l