ember of one of the most ancient noble
families in England, with a clear unencumbered rent-roll of ten thousand
a-year, and already, in only his thirty-fourth year, the spokesman of
his class, and promising to become one of the ablest debaters in the
House! Parliament having been assembled, in consequence of a particular
emergency, at a much earlier period than usual, the House of Commons, in
which Mr. Aubrey had the evening before delivered a well-timed and
powerful speech, had adjourned for the Christmas recess, the House of
Lords being about to follow its example that evening: an important
division, however, being first expected to take place at a late hour.
Mr. Aubrey was warmly complimented on his success by several of the
select and brilliant circle then assembled; and who were all in high
spirits--on account of a considerable triumph just obtained by their
party, and to which Mr. Aubrey was assured, by even the Duke of----, his
exertions had certainly not a little contributed. While his Grace was
energetically intimating to Mr. Aubrey his opinion to this effect, there
were two lovely women listening to him with intense eagerness--they were
the wife and sister of Mr. Aubrey. The former was a very interesting and
handsome woman--with raven hair, and a complexion of dazzling
fairness--of nearly eight-and-twenty; the latter was a very beautiful
girl, somewhere between twenty and twenty-one. Both were dressed with
the utmost simplicity and elegance. Mrs. Aubrey, most dotingly fond of
her husband, and a blooming young mother of two as charming children as
were to be met with in a day's walk all over both the parks, was, in
character and manners, all pliancy and gentleness; while about Miss
Aubrey there was a dash of spirit which gave an infinite zest to her
beauty. Her blue eyes beamed with the richest expression of feeling--in
short, Catherine Aubrey was, both in face and figure, a downright
English beauty; and she knew--truth must be told--that such she appeared
to the Great Duke, whose cold aquiline eye she often _felt_ to be
settled upon her with satisfaction. The fact was that he had penetrated
at a first glance beneath the mere surface of an arch, sweet, and
winning manner, and detected a certain strength of character in Miss
Aubrey which gave him more than usual interest in her, and spread over
his iron-cast features a pleasant expression, relaxing their sternness.
It might indeed be said, that before her, in his