l, "for any one, but
overwhelming for one who must feel the whole time that she occupies a
position not acquired by her personal qualities!"

"Adriana is pretty," said Lady Montfort. "I think her more than pretty;
she is highly accomplished and in every way pleasing. What can you
mean, then, my dear madam, by supposing she would occupy a position not
acquired by her personal qualities?"

Mrs. Neuchatel sighed and shook her head, and then said, "We need not
have any controversy on this subject. I have no reason to believe there
is any foundation for my fears. We all like and admire Lord Roehampton.
It is impossible not to admire and like him. So great a man, and yet so
gentle and so kind, so unaffected--I would say, so unsophisticated; but
he has never given the slightest intimation, either to me or her father,
that he seriously admired Adriana, and I am sure if he had said anything
to her she would have told us."

"He is always here," said Lady Montfort, "and he is a man who used to go
nowhere except for form. Besides, I know that he admires her, that he is
in love with her, and I have not a doubt that he has invited himself to
Hainault in order to declare his feelings to her."

"How very dreadful!" exclaimed Mrs. Neuchatel. "What are we to do?"

"To do!" said Lady Montfort; "why, sympathise with his happiness, and
complete it. You will have a son-in-law of whom you may well be proud,
and Adriana a husband who, thoroughly knowing the world, and women, and
himself, will be devoted to her; will be a guide and friend, a guide
that will never lecture, and a friend who will always charm, for there
is no companion in the world like him, and I think I ought to know,"
added Lady Montfort, "for I always tell him that I was the last of his
conquests, and I shall ever be grateful to him for his having spared to
me so much of his society."

"Adriana on this matter will decide for herself," said Mrs. Neuchatel,
in a serious tone, and with a certain degree of dignity. "Neither Mr.
Neuchatel, nor myself, have ever attempted to control her feelings in
this respect."

"Well, I am now about to see Adriana," said Lady Montfort; "I know she
is at home. If I had not been obliged to go to Princedown, I would have
asked you to let me pass Easter at Hainault myself."

On this very afternoon, when Myra, who had been walking in Regent's Park
with her brother, returned home, she found Adriana agitated, and really
in tears.

"What is al