spirit
the overbearing tone assumed by his aristocratic neighbour towards
those so nearly his equals. Every day produced some new grounds for
offence; and never had Sir Laurence Altham, in the extremity of his
poverty, regarded the thriving mansion in the valley with half the
loathing which the view of Lexley Park produced in the mind of General
Stanley. He was even at the trouble of trenching a plantation on the
brow of the hill, with the intention of shutting out the detested
object. But trees do not grow so hastily as antipathies; and the
General had to endure the certainty, that, for the remainder of _his_
life at least, that beautiful domain must be unrolled, map-like, at
his feet. Nor is it to be supposed that the battlements of the old
hall found greater favour in the sight of the _parvenu_ squire, than
when in Sir Laurence's time the very sight of them was wormwood to his
soul.

Unhappily, while the Congleton manufacturer contented himself with
angry words, the gentleman of thirty descents betook himself to
action. General Stanley swore to be mightily revenged--and he was so.

On the very day following his return to England, before he even
visited his desolate country-house, he sent for Lord Robert Stanley,
and made him the confidant of his indignation--avowed his former good
intentions in his favour--betrayed all Mary's--all _Mr Everard
Sparks's_ disparaging opposition; and ended by enquiring whether,
since whichever of his daughters became Lady Robert Stanley would
become sole heiress to his property, his lordship could make up his
mind to accept Selina as a wife? Proud as he was, the General almost
condescended to plead the cause of his deformed daughter: enlarging
upon her excellences of character, and, still more, upon her aversion
to society, which would secure the self-love of her husband against
any public remarks on her want of personal attractions.

Alas! all these arguments were thoroughly thrown away. Lord Robert
was, as his cousin Mary had truly described him, little better than a
boor. But he was also a spendthrift and a libertine; and had Miss
Stanley been as deformed in mind as she was in person, he would have
joyfully taken to wife the heiress of ten thousand a-year, and two of
the finest seats in the county of Chester.

To herself, meanwhile, no hint of these family negotiations was
vouchsafed; and Selina Stanley had every reason to suppose--when her
cousin became on a sudden an assiduous