ith Henrietta Temple.

She was copying a miniature of Charles the First. Ferdinand looked over
her shoulder.

'A melancholy countenance!' he observed.

'It is a favourite one of mine,' she replied.

'Yet you are always gay.'

'Always.'

'I envy you, Miss Temple.'

'What, are you melancholy?'

'I have every cause.'

'Indeed, I should have thought the reverse.'

'I look upon myself as the most unfortunate of human beings,' replied
Ferdinand.

He spoke so seriously, in a tone of such deep and bitter feeling,
that Miss Temple could not resist looking up at her companion. His
countenance was gloomy.

'You surprise me,' said Miss Temple; 'I think that few people ought to
be unhappy, and I rather suspect fewer are than we imagine.'

'All I wish is,' replied he, 'that the battle of Newbury had witnessed
the extinction of our family as well as our peerage.'

'A peerage, and such a peerage as yours, is a fine thing,' said
Henrietta Temple, 'a very fine thing; but I would not grieve, if I were
you, for that. I would sooner be an Armine without a coronet than many a
brow I wot of with.'

'You misconceived a silly phrase,' rejoined Ferdinand. 'I was not
thinking of the loss of our coronet, though that is only part of the
system. Our family, I am sure, are fated. Birth without honour, estates
without fortune, life without happiness, that is our lot.'

'As for the first,' said Miss Temple, 'the honourable are always
honoured; money, in spite of what they say, I feel is not the greatest
thing in the world; and as for misery, I confess I do not very readily
believe in the misery of youth.'

'May you never prove it!' replied Ferdinand; 'may you never be, as I am,
the victim of family profligacy and family pride!' So saying, he turned
away, and, taking up a book, for a few minutes seemed wrapped in his
reflections.

He suddenly resumed the conversation in a more cheerful tone. Holding a
volume of Petrarch in his hand, he touched lightly, but with grace, on
Italian poetry; then diverged into his travels, recounted an adventure
with sprightliness, and replied to Miss Temple's lively remarks with
gaiety and readiness. The morning advanced; Miss Temple closed her
portfolio and visited her flowers, inviting him to follow her. Her
invitation was scarcely necessary, his movements were regulated by hers;
he was as faithful to her as her shadow. From the conservatory they
entered the garden; Ferdinand was as fond of garden