"'This filled my heart with joy. I encouraged him to make the voyage, assured him I would live under Lady Jane's observation, and that I would pass the whole winter in the country.'
"'Then you shall pass it with us at Beechwood, my dear Lady Melbury,' cried Sir John and I, both at once; 'we will strengthen each other in every virtuous purpose. We shall rejoice in Lady Jane's company.'
"She joyfully accepted the proposal, not doubting her lord's consent; and kindly said, that she should be doubly happy in a society at once so rational and so elegant.
"It was settled that she should spend with us the three months that Fanny Stokes and little Caroline are to pass at Stanley Grove. She desired to see Fanny, to whom she behaved with great tenderness. She paid her the two hundred pounds, assuring her she had no doubt of being able to discharge the whole debt in the spring.
"I received a note from her the next day, informing me of her lord's cheerful concurrence, as well as that of Lady Jane. She added, that when she went up to dress, she had found on her toilette, her diamond necklace, which her dear aunt had redeemed and restored to her, as a proof of her confidence and affection. As Lady Melbury has forever abolished her coterie, I have the most sanguine hope of her perseverance. All her promises would have gone for nothing, without this practical pledge of her sincerity."
When Lady Belfield had finished her little tale, I expressed, in the strongest terms, the delight I felt at the happy change in this charming woman. I could not forbear observing to Sir John, that as Lady Melbury had been the "glass of fashion," while her conduct was wrong, I hoped she would not lose all her influence by its becoming right. I added with a smile, "in that case, I shall rejoice to see the fine ladies turn their talent for drawing to the same moral account with this fair penitent. Such a record of their faults as she has had the courage to make of hers, hanging in their closets, and perpetually staring them in the face, would be no unlikely means to prevent a repetition, especially if the picture is to be as visible as the fault had been."
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The next morning I resumed my journey northward, and on the fourth day, I reached the seat of my ancestors. The distant view of the Priory excited strong but mingled emotions in my bosom. The tender sorrow for the loss of the beloved society I had once enjoyed under its roof, was a salutary check to the abundant joy arising from the anticipation of the blessing which awaited me there. My mind was divided between the two conflicting sentiments that I was soon to be in possession of every material for the highest happiness—and that the highest happiness is short! May I ever live under the influence of that act of devout gratitude, in which, as soon as I entered the house, I dedicated the whole of my future life to its divine Author, solemnly consecrating to his service, my time, my talents, my fortune; all I am, and all I have.
I next wrote to Lucilla; with whom I continued to maintain a regular and animated correspondence. Her letters gratify my taste, and delight my heart, while they excite me to every thing that is good. This interchange of sentiment sheds a ray of brightness on a separation which every day is diminishing.