I say, she agrees
with me.

You may feel then how dreadfully we were dismayed when
we were told by dear Lady Macleod that you had told Mr
Grey that you intended to change your mind! My dear Miss
Vavasor, can this be true? There are things in which a
young lady has no right to change her mind after it has
been once made up; and certainly when a young lady has
accepted a gentleman, that is one of them. He cannot
legally make you become his wife, but he has a right to
claim you before God and man. Have you considered that he
has probably furnished his house in consequence of his
intended marriage,--and perhaps in compliance with your
own especial wishes? [I think that Lady Macleod must have
told the Countess something that she had heard about the
garden.] Have you reflected that he has of course told all
his friends? Have you any reason to give? I am told, none!
Nothing should ever be done without a reason; much less
such a thing as this in which your own interests and, I
may say, respectability are involved. I hope you will
think of this before you persist in destroying your own
happiness and perhaps that of a very worthy man.

I had heard, some years ago, when you were much younger,
that you had become imprudently attached in another
direction--with a gentleman with none of those qualities
to recommend him which speak so highly for Mr Grey.
It would grieve me very much, as it would also the
Marchioness, who in this matter thinks exactly as I do, if
I were led to suppose that your rejection of Mr Grey had
been caused by _any renewal of that project_. Nothing, my
dear Miss Vavasor, could be more unfortunate,--and I might
almost add a stronger word.

I have been advised that a line from me as representing
your poor mother's family, especially as I have at the
present moment the opportunity of expressing Lady Auld
Reekie's sentiments as well as my own, might be of
service. I implore you, my dear Miss Vavasor, to
remember what you owe to God and man, and to carry out an
engagement made by yourself, that is in all respects comme
il faut, and which will give entire satisfaction to your
friends and relatives.

MARGARET M. MIDLOTHIAN.

I think that Lady Macleod had been wrong in supposing that this could
do any good. She should have known Alice better; and should also have
known the world bette