But Mrs. Hazleton had higher objects in view; she wanted no accession of importance. She was quite satisfied with her own position in society. She sought to see and prompt Lady Hastings—to sow dissension where she knew there must already be trouble; and she found Sir Philip's wife just in the fit frame of mind for her purpose. Sir Philip himself and Emily had ridden out together; and though Mrs. Hazleton would willingly have found an opportunity of giving Sir Philip a sly friendly kick, and of just reminding him of his doctrines announced in the case between herself and Mr. Marlow, she was not sorry to have Lady Hastings alone for an hour or two. They remained long in conference, and I need not detail all that passed. Lady Hastings poured forth all her grief and indignation at Emily's engagement to Mr. Marlow, and Mrs. Hazleton did nothing to diminish either. She agreed that it was a very unequal match, that Emily with her beauty and talents, and even with her mother's fortune alone, might well marry into the highest family of the land. Nay, she said, could the match be broken off, she might still take her rank among the peeresses. She did not advise, indeed, actual resistance on the part of her friend; she feared Lady Hastings' discretion; but she insinuated that a mother and a wife by unwavering and constant opposition, often obtained her own way, even in very difficult circumstances.
From that hour Mrs. Hazleton was Lady Hastings' best friend.
FOOTNOTES:
[G] Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by G. P. R. James, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York.
NATURAL REVELATION.
WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE
BY ALFRED B. STREET.
Does not the heart alone a God proclaim!
Blot revelation from the mind of man!
Yea, let him not e'en Nature's features scan;
There is within him a low voice, the same
Throughout the varied scenes of being's span,
That whispers, God. And doth not conscience speak
Though sin its wildest force upon it wreak!
Born with us—never dying—ever preaching
Of right and wrong, with reference aye to Him—
And doth not Hope, on toward the future reaching—
The aspirations struggling from the Dim
Up toward the Bright—a ceaseless unrepose
Of something unattained—a ceaseless teaching
Of unfulfilled desire—the eternal truth disclose!