He was on his way from London to the seat of a gentleman near Liverpool, from whose house he was to proceed to his own place in the North.
He now sent for the landlord, and begged to know if there were not some American strangers in the house; and on receiving from him a confirmation of his suspicions, he desired one of the waiters to tell Major Pendarves that a gentleman begged to see him.
On entering the room, Major Pendarves took in silence the hand which the agitated earl in silence tendered to him. The past and the present rushed over the minds of both; while Lord Mountgeorge, whose emotion was less violent, begged the major to prepare his sister to receive them.
In the meanwhile, Lord Seymour, with his heart full of his lost son, surveyed with respectful pity the faded cheek and altered form of the once-blooming Charles Pendarves.
"You did not look thus when we last met," said he; "but you have suffered in a noble cause, and you have only lost your health."
Here the lip of the bereaved parent quivered with agitation, and Lord Mountgeorge turned mournfully away.
My father then rejoined his party with evident agitation.
"What new sorrow awaits me?" cried Lady Helen; "for I see it is for me you are affected, not for yourself."
"No, my friend; these tears are tears of emotion, but of pleasure also."
"Pleasure!"