ssenger had
arrived with a letter from her father, and she descended in search
of him.

"Oh, why is this? why am I here?" exclaimed the Lady Anne, as
trembling and almost sinking to the ground--her face alternately pale
and covered with crimson blushes, she found herself alone with the
Lord Russell. "You have received my letter, might not this trial have
been spared? my cup was already sufficiently bitter--but I had drunk
it. No!" she continued gently withdrawing her hand which he had taken,
"Do not make me despise myself--the voice of duty separates us.
Farewell! I seek a messenger from my father." "I am the messenger you
seek," replied he, "I have seen the Lord Somerset, and bring this
letter to his daughter."

The letter from the Earl of Somerset informed his daughter that he had
seen the Earl of Bedford, and had obviated all obstacle to her union
with the Lord Russell; that he was going himself to travel in foreign
parts; and that he wished her to be married during a visit to the Earl
and Countess of Bedford, whose invitation he had accepted for her.

"Does not your father say, that in this marriage his happiness is at
stake?" said the Lord Russell, gently pressing her hand. The Lady Anne
hung down her head, and wept in silence. "Are you still silent, my
dearest?" continued he, "then will I summon another advocate to plead
for me."

He quitted the apartment for a moment, but soon returned with the
Countess of Bedford, who had accompanied him to claim her future
daughter-in-law. The Lady Anne had made many resolutions, but they
yielded before the sweet and eloquent entreaties that urged her to
do what, in fact, she was all too willing to consent to.

They were married, the Lord Russell and the Lady Anne Carr; and they
lived long and happily together. It was always thought that the Lord
Russell had loved not only well, but wisely; for the Lady Anne was
ever a faithful wife, and a loving, tender mother. It was not until
some years after her marriage, that the Lady Russell discovered how
the consent of the earl of Bedford had been obtained. Till then,
she knew not that this consent had been withheld, until the Earl
of Somerset should give his daughter a large sum as her marriage
portion:--the Earl of Bedford calculating upon the difficulty, nay
almost impossibility, of his ever raising this sum.

But he had not calculated upon the devotion of the wretched father's
love to his fair and innocent child: and he was