alone he had shown the
letter, and who seemed equally interested, though not so much agitated
by its contents. To the anxious inquiries of his parents, if individual
embarrassment or distress occasioned Percy's uneasiness, Herbert
answered readily in the negative; that the letter informed them of the
death of an unfortunate individual in whose fate both he and Percy had
been most deeply interested. Trusting in the well-known integrity of
their sons, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton inquired no farther, and dismissed the
subject; but Percy did not rouse himself from his gloomy abstraction
till startled by intelligence, which regard for his father's friend
Grahame could not permit him to hear with calmness.

Two mornings after the receipt of that letter, as the family, which the
addition of St. Eval, were sitting together after breakfast, ere they
separated to the various avocations of the day, Lord Henry D'Este
bustled in with a countenance expressive of something extraordinary.

"Have you heard the news?" was his first eager exclamation.

"If we had, it would be no news," replied Emmeline, archly; "but we have
heard nothing. Papa has something else to do than to seek out news for
me, ditto the Right Honourable Lord St. Eval. Percy has been suddenly
converted into the spirit of gloom, and to Herbert it is in vain to look
for gossip, so, for pity's sake, satisfy my curiosity."

"Perhaps you will say I have been exciting it unnecessarily," he
answered. "An elopement is too common a thing now to cause much
astonishment."

"It depends on the parties," observed Mr. Hamilton. "Who are they?"

"Those, or rather one of them, I fear, for her father's sake, in whom
you will be too deeply interested,--Lord Alphingham and Miss Grahame."

"Annie!" burst from Caroline's lips, in an accent of distress that
struck all, and fell somewhat, painfully on Lord St. Eval's ear, when
starting from the seat she had occupied near him, she sprung forward,
and wildly continued, "when--when? Lord Henry, for pity's sake, tell me!
is there no time? Can they not be overtaken? When did they go?"

Bewildered at the wild earnestness of her manner, at the muttered
execration of Percy, Lord Henry was for a moment silent; but, on the
repeated entreaty of Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, he said that the particulars
were not yet all known, except that she had been staying with her
friend, that same lady of rank in whose family Miss Malison had been
installed; that from he