h to the enjoyment
of that domestic circle. Their feelings and pursuits were in common, for
the Marchioness of Malvern was a mother after Mrs. Hamilton's own stamp,
and her children had benefited by similar principles; the same
confidence existed between them. The Marchioness had contrived to win
both the reverence and affection of her large family, though
circumstances had prevented her devoting as much of her own time and
care on their education as had Mrs. Hamilton. Her eldest daughter was
married; her second, some few years older than Caroline, was then
staying with her, and only one of the three who accompanied her to
Oakwood was as yet introduced. Lady Florence was to make her _debut_ the
following season, with Emmeline Hamilton; and Lady Emily was still, when
at home, under the superintendence of a governess and masters. Lord
Louis, the Marchioness's youngest child, a fine lad of sixteen, with his
tutor, by Mr. Hamilton's earnest desire, also joined their happy party,
and by his light-hearted humour and fun, added not a little to the
amusements of the evening. But it was Lady Gertrude, the eldest of the
three sisters then at Oakwood, that Mrs. Hamilton earnestly hoped might
take the place Annie Grahame had once occupied in Caroline's affections.
Hers was a character much resembling her brother's St. Eval, to whom her
features also bore a striking resemblance. She might, at a first
introduction, have been pronounced proud, but, as is often the case,
reserve was mistaken for pride. Yet in her domestic circle she was ever
the gayest, and the first to contribute to general amusement. In
childhood she had stood in a degree alone, for her elder sisters were
four or five years older than herself, and Florence and Emily four and
five years younger. She had learned from the first to seek no sympathy,
and her strong feeling might perhaps by being constantly smothered, at
length have perished within her, and left her the cold unloving
character she appeared to the world, had it not been for the devoted
affection of her brother Eugene, in whom she soon learned to confide
every emotion as it rose, at that age when girls first become sensible
that they are thinking and feeling beings. They quickly became sensible
that in almost every point they were kindred souls, and the name of
Eugene and Gertrude were ever heard together in their family. Their
affection was at length a proverb among their brothers and sisters, and
perhaps it