e of him in a
manner that, unconsciously to themselves, confirmed every miserable
suspicion in Caroline's mind, and even excited some such feeling in her
parents, whose disappointment was thus vividly recalled. That he should
ever seek their child again they deemed impossible, as did Caroline
herself; but still it was in vain they endeavoured to look with any
degree of pleasure to his union with another.

Mr. Hamilton's family mourned Lord Delmont's early fate with sincere
regret, though they had known but little of him; but about this time the
thoughts of Mrs. Hamilton were turned in another direction, by a
circumstance which caused unaffected sorrow in her daughter and niece;
nor were she and her husband exempt. Lucy Harcourt had been so many
years a member of the family, she had been so associated from their
infancy in the affections of her pupils, that to part from her was the
bitterest pang of sorrow that Emmeline had yet known, and it was long
before Mrs. Hamilton herself could be reconciled to the idea of
separation; she had ever regarded and treated Miss Harcourt as a sister,
and intended that even when her family were settled, she should never
want another home. It was not only her own virtues that had endeared her
to Mrs. Hamilton; the services she had rendered her children, her active
and judicious share in the arduous task of education, demanded and
received from both Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton the meed of gratitude and
esteem, and never once, in the seventeen years of Miss Harcourt's
residence amongst them, had they regretted the impulse which had offered
her a sheltering home and sympathising friends.

Emmeline and Ellen were still her pupils, and Mrs. Hamilton intended
them to remain so for two or three years longer, even after they were
introduced, and it was on that account Miss Harcourt hesitated in
complying with the earnest entreaty of him whose happy home in her early
youth she had so nobly quitted, preferring to live by her own exertions
than to share the home of the man she loved, when he was married to
another.

It had been very, very long ere disappointed affection had permitted her
to be cheerful. Her cousin, while rejoicing in the happy home she had
found, while congratulating her with fraternal interest on the kind
friends her mother's virtues had procured her, imagined not the agony
she was striving to conquer, the devoted love for him which disturbed
the peace around her, which otherwise she