e at his
desertion, or to prove to him that he was not aware of what he had
rejected, she exerted all her powers to please; she was not only
amiable, but fascinating; and after a sojourn of three weeks, which
appeared but as many days, Rainscourt was reluctantly compelled to
acknowledge to himself, that he was violently enamoured of his discarded
wife. He now felt that he should assume a higher station in society by
being at the head of his own establishment, and that his consequence
would be increased, by the heiress of so large a property residing under
his protection; and he thought that, if he could persuade Mrs
Rainscourt to live with him again, he could be happy, and exercise with
pleasure the duties of a father and a husband. Neither the vicar nor
McElvina were ignorant of his feelings; and the former, who recollected
that those whom God has joined no man should put asunder, had made up
his mind to bring the affair, if possible, to a happy issue; and
Rainscourt, who perceived the influence which the vicar possessed over
his wife, determined to request that he would act as a mediator.

The vicar was delighted when Rainscourt called upon him one morning, and
unfolded his wishes. To reconcile those who had been at variance, to
restore a husband to his wife, a father to a daughter, was the earnest
desire of the good man's heart. He accepted the office with pleasure;
and in the course of the afternoon, while Rainscourt called upon the
McElvinas, that he might be out of the way, proceeded upon his mission
of peace and good-will.

Mrs Rainscourt, who was not surprised at the intelligence, listened to
the vicar attentively, as he pointed out the necessity of forgiveness,
if she hoped to be forgiven--of the conviction, in his own mind, that
her husband was reformed--of the unpleasant remarks to which a woman who
is separated from her husband must always be subjected--of the
probability that the faults were not all on his side, and of the
advantage her daughter would derive from their reunion: to which he
entreated her to consent.

Mrs Rainscourt was moved to tears. The conflict between her former
love and her outraged feelings--the remembrance of his long neglect,
opposed to his present assiduities the stormy life she had passed in his
company, and her repose of mind since their separation--weighed and
balanced against each other so exactly, that the scale would turn on
neither side. She refused to give any decid