en
recommended by his physicians to try the waters and mild temperature of
Bath; and he was willing to obey them, provided I would become his
companion. My time was my own, and I loved Sinclair too well to throw an
obstacle in his way, had not the offer itself been temptation enough to
one who had passed so many months of physical inactivity, without one
holiday, in the dusty gloominess of college rooms. In the course of two
days our preparations were made, and we quitted London.

A week glided by in happy idleness. The invalid, compelled to keep his
room for many hours of the day, was thrown upon his resources, and upon
such as I could command for his amusement. The past is always a pleasant
subject of discourse where the speakers are young, and the past is a day
of sunshine, still lingering and warm. The days we had seen were bright
enough, and to speak of them was to bring them back in all their recent
freshness. Rupert was twenty-one, and he wondered at the ingratitude of
man that called this world a scene of strife and misery. I was
twenty-six, and as yet without a calamity. I had never known my father;
and I had maintained my mother in comfort for many years. I had yet to
part with _her_.

Another week, and the invalid was convalescent. The walks were extended
and the prescriptions torn up. Invitations came and were accepted. A
distant relative of Lady Railton was in Bath. Sinclair visited her, and
was the next day a guest at her table. There was another guest there.
Her name was ELINOR TRAVIS.

Twenty times, on the day I speak of, had Sinclair resolved not to keep
his engagement, but to send an apology to Mrs Twisleton, and to return
to London on the following morning. He had become tired, he said, of
idleness, and the frivolities that surrounded us. One word of
encouragement from me, and Sinclair would _not_ have dined with Mrs
Twisleton, would _not_ have met with _her_ who gave the colouring to his
future life, would _not_ have blasted every----but I must not
anticipate.

General Travis and his family were amongst the most fashionable of the
gay multitude then resident at Bath. They lived in first-rate style, and
gathered about them all who aspired to a position in that upper world
peopled pre-eminently by the "ton." The general was reputed a man of
enormous wealth, and his banker's book procured for him the respect that
was denied him in Debrett. The general was the father of two
children--daughters--Elin