cessary qualifications of riches
and rank, Kate had written to the dowager with the hope her presence might
restrain, or her advice teach her, successfully to oppose the unfeeling
conduct of the viscount.

Lady Chatterton never having implanted any of her favorite systems in her
daughter, so much by precept as by the force of example in her own person,
as well as by indirect eulogiums on certain people who were endowed with
those qualities and blessings she most admired, on the present occasion
Catherine did not unburden herself in terms to her mother; but by a
regular gradation of complaints, aimed more at the world than at her
husband, she soon let the knowing dowager see their application, and in
the end completely removed the veil from her domestic grievances.

The example of John and Grace for a short time awed the peer into
dissembling his disgust for his spouse; but the ice once broken, their
presence soon ceased to affect either the frequency or the severity of his
remarks, when under its influence.

From such exhibitions of matrimonial discord, Grace shrank timidly into
the retirement of her room, and Jane, with dignity, would follow her
example; while John at times became a listener, with a spirit barely
curbed within the bounds of prudence, and at others, he sought in the
company of his wife and sister, relief from the violence of his feelings.

John never admired nor respected Catherine, for she wanted those very
qualities he chiefly loved in her sister; yet, as she was a woman, and one
nearly connected with him, he found it impossible to remain a quiet
spectator of the unmanly treatment she often received from her husband; he
therefore made preparations for his return to England by the first packet,
abridging his intended residence in Lisbon more than a month.

Lady Chatterton endeavored all within her power to heal the breach between
Kate and her husband, but it greatly exceeded her abilities. It was too
late to implant such principles in her daughter, as by a long course of
self-denial and submission might have won the love of the viscount, had
the mother been acquainted with them herself; so that having induced her
child to marry with a view to obtaining precedence and a jointure, she
once more set to work to undo part of her former labors, by bringing about
a decent separation between the husband and wife, in such a manner as to
secure to her child the possession of her wealth, and the esteem of the