lm,
unhesitating, and firm, as she asked him if he were acquainted with Lord
Alphingham, yet its tones sounded even more thrilling, more sadly than
usual. He answered truly in the negative, adding, he was not ambitious
of his acquaintance; as a man, he was not one to suit his fancy. Many
questions did Mrs. Amesfort ask relative to this nobleman, and still
unconsciously her arm held her child more closely to her side. The elder
lady's looks were bent on them both, expressive, it seemed to Percy, of
fondness for those two beloved objects, and struggling with indignation
towards another. Percy returned to college that evening unusually
thoughtful. What could Lord Alphingham have to do with the inhabitants
of that simple cottage? Incoherent fancies occupied his mind, but from
all which presented themselves as solutions to the mystery his pure mind
revolted; and, compelled by an impulse he could not resist, he continued
to speak of Alphingham every time he visited the cottage. Mrs. Amesfort,
it appeared to him, rather encouraging than checking his conversation on
that subject, by introducing it herself, and demanding if his name were
still mentioned in Percy's letters from town. Mrs. Morley, her mother,
ever looked anxiously at her, as if she could have wished the subject
unnamed; but still Alphingham continued to be the theme so constantly
discussed at Isis Lodge, that Percy felt no repugnance in mentioning
those reports which allied his sister's name with that of the Viscount.
Again were the eyes of Mrs. Amesfort fixed intently on his face, and she
spoke but little more during that evening's visit. Percy left her,
unable to account for the deep and serious thought imprinted on her
features, nor the look with which she bade him seek her the following
day at an appointed hour, as she earnestly wished to speak with him
alone. The day passed heavily till he was again with her. She was alone;
and steady determination more than ever marked on her clear and polished
brow. She spoke, and Percy listened, absorbed; she alluded to his
preservation of her child, and, in that moment of reawakened gratitude,
all the enthusiasm of her country spoke in her eyes and voice; and then
a moment she paused, and a bright and apparently painful flush mounted
to those cheeks which Percy had ever seen so pale. She implored his
forbearance with her; his pardon, at what might appear an unwarrantable
interference on her part in the affairs of his family