12

UNCLE RALPH.

How should I?' he replied, 'when I have

been reading law all day. I have not been near the Club, nor even looked at a paper until just

now.'

easily

It is surprising,' observed Mr. Mordaunt, ‘that
such hard work does not tell on your constitution?
Leonard certainly looked as if he took life as
as most people, his erect and athletic frame
and fresh colouring betraying no sign of excessive
application. But he disdained to notice the sar-
casm, and turned again to his aunt.

1 have come to ask for news, and not to give
it. I did not understand your allusion to Mr.
Cornwall in the note I received this morning, and
I was discreet enough not to ask Lily, lest it should
be a secret.'

It is no secret; I thought I had told
other day. Probably you never heard of his sister,
Mrs. Leigh, who married to displease her family,
and her brother in particular, whose temper is,
you
you know, not the most equal in the world. The
the
husband was unsatisfactory, squandered what mo-
ney he had, and neglected his wife, if he was not
positively unkind. I believe that Mr. Cornwall
supported them latterly, though they had no inter-
course. Now he writes that he has been sum-
moned to see his sister once more, upon her death-
bed, adding "ropos
children

'It is evident from his letter that he undertakes the charge without any delusion. There is a boy and girl, and they cannot be mere children, at least I remember the marriage took place the year of Roger's birth.'

'A boy, too, to cut out Susan from the succession! For you know that I always considered her the heiress of Duck Dub.'

'Yes, I know; but it was a very absurd idea,' said Mrs. Mordaunt, a slight discomposure of manner betraying that she had also cherished such an expectation among her most secret thoughts.

'Although,' continued Leonard, 'euphony must forbid her to take possession until the name is changed by Act of Parliament.'

'Are you railing against Duck Dub as usual ?' said Susan, entering the room; 'it is a very good

name.'

'Oh, excellent!' said Leonard drily.

There is a pleasant quaintness about it,' continued Susan, 'quite in character with its owner. But, oh, Leonard! will you not condole with me about this invasion of our rights and privileges? The idea of his setting up a niece of his own!'

'It is unjustifiable,' said Leonard; the niece must be suppressed.'

'My dear Leonard,' said his aunt, who felt it ssary to discourage these sentiments

hoed her own; 'it is very heartThings. We must be particularly girl.'

ssenting to Susan, Aunt Helen,'

said Leonard: and she was in her turn obliged to justify herself.

'I did not mean to be unfeeling, Mamma. I intend,' Susan added, with an effort to be magnanimous, 'to be as kind as possible, but I know that I shall never cordially like her.'

15

CHAPTER II.

Oh! que ceux qui aiment ont peu de force contre ceux qui sont aimés! LA COMTESSE DE BONNEVAL.

ON

N the same afternoon that the Mordaunt family discussed the change in Mr. Cornwall's household with such lively interest, Mr. Cornwall himself reached his destination.

It was a bleak, bright day, and the mocking brightness of the sunshine only seemed to give greater keenness to the gusts of wind which swept round the corners of the Edinburgh streets. Susan herself, however she might refuse to distinguish between east and west in Berkeley Square, could not have crossed Princess Street that afternoon without obtaining some perception of the difference. Mr. Cornwall drove first to Douglas's Hotel, in Saint Andrew's Square, where he left his luggage, dismissed his brougham, and inquired the way to Frederick Street. He braced himself against the inclemency of the weather by setting his hat more firmly on his head, pulling up the collar of his coat, and burying his hands in his pockets, before he set out to run, rather than to walk. And the small spare man, whose scattered grey hair fluttered in the breeze, while the lines of his face were settled into anything but a happy expression,

might himself have served, aptly enough, for an impersonation of east wind.

He asked his way once or twice, and looked considerably irritated by the direction to go straight west, and then take the second turn north; but dogged inquiries whether he should turn to the right or the left, at last enabled him to reach Frederick Street.

The house was let in flats, and as he unwittingly rang the lowest in the tier of bells, the maid who obeyed the summons felt aggrieved by his inquiry after Mrs. Leigh.

'I culdna certify,' she replied, with national caution; 'ye behoved to read the name on the plate, an' if it's richt, ye maun step up the third stair, an' speer for yoursell.'

On referring to the brass plate in question, Mr. Cornwall read the name of Mr. Buckingham Leigh, Surgeon and General Practitioner, inscribed at full length. With an additional shade of asperity in his tone, he thanked the maid for the information, and laboriously ascended three flights of the common stair, in order to reach the door which shut off the general practitioner's suite of rooms from the rest of the house. He rang again, and this time the door was opened without delay. Mr. Cornwall, prepared to encounter another slipshod maid, was rather disconcerted by the appearance of a small trim figure, plainly dressed, although with almost formal neatness. It was difficult to determine her age, since her delicately regular features wanted the softness and undefined beauty of youth, and her manner was free from shyness.