No-shame on me if I had, and I am glad that I forgot all your lessons exactly at that moment. Though I did intend to make him confess his fault, and ask me for pardon, I am so glad I did not. Pardon, indeed! what a word for me to use to him! and how unmercifully would he have rallied me afterwards, if I had pouted! for he is, like you, so full of badinage, that I can hardly tell when he, any more than you, is in earnest. is in earnest. Mind-I do not

pretend to say that he has so much esprit as you; but I must tell you he reminds me of you constantly. He is extremely like you in his manner of saying and looking things.

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Well, he kissed me, and our aunts witnessed that too. I think-that is, I hope I blushed 'celestial rosy red,' but I scorned to put on airs, and so of course the pardon was sealed. Ah! I see you sneer!-I see that saucy curl of your lips, which I have seen annihilate some people. But pray spare me, your best of girls,'

as

as you allow-your own dear Rosine! Recollect, that we are like brother and sister; that he is the only remaining friend of my childhood; that he is my cousin by adoption; and when you have well considered all this, ask yourself if even you could have stopped to play a part, to behave like a spoiled girl upon such a sudden occasion, without the least notice! Would you not have done the same thing, and forgotten all at such a moment? Yes! with all your affected insensibility, I know your heart is capable of every thing tender and affectionate, as well as every thing generous and noble.

"Of course we have spent the whole day together. We talked of a thousand things that took place in our young days, and of the feelings they excited. He was so amusing, so interesting, so gay and so sensible, that I have been wishing all the while that you had been here to hear him. You would instantly have renounced your prejudices against him.

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Enfin, and finally, my dearest Caroline, you must come immediately, and pay me the visit you have promised me these three months. I am resolved that you shall like what I like. As you always compel me to go by your likes and dislikes, I think it is my turn for once. You shall like him; indeed you cannot help it. You may quarrel with him as much as you please, but like him you will find yourself obliged to; after all, I shall insist on it. If you will come down soon, I will manage a surprise, and you may make a conquest of him before he can have time to put himself on the defensive. I know he will fall an easy prey; he is so much like you, that you cannot fail to make a grand impression.

"I hear it repeated every day, that you are so deeply engaged in politics, and that you wrote and published, in the papers, a furious philippic against that unfortunate gentleman who was set up as your father's competitor at the late elec

tion. Do send it to me; though I know nothing of such matters, I want to see how abusive you can be. I wish I was a man, to be of your party. I wonder that there can be any opposition to one, of which you are one of the leaders,' as they call you. But, alas! the age of chivalry is gone.

Apropos, cousin Hugh, no doubt, will enlist under your banner, and conquer or die. If you do not touch his heart, I will then be almost ready to agree with you, that he has none. You have never seen him yet; you judge only from his letters which I shewed you, and my report; come and judge for yourself, and you will find that he is worthy of even Caroline Grey's esteem. Our aunts will be so delighted to see you too; for although you quizzed aunt 'Nora and Aggy so incessantly when you was here, you are a decided favourite with them both. As to aunt Rose, who likes a little mischief as well as you, you are aware that

VOL. I.

E

that she has declared you the only woman of her acquaintance that she could not wish to change in some respect or other. Mon Dieu! I wish I could get such fine compliments from my friends; but so it is

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So shines a good girl in this naughty world.'

Stay, I knew I had some more news to tell you; they say so many fine things about you, that one can never remember all. They say then (Monsieur on dit' is my authority), that you have captivated the heart of the amiable young man of whom you used to make such sport, I mean your father's ci-devant student, and now his partner. The same respectable authority adds, that you are not averse to entering into partnership with him. How snug that will be! But to do you justice, I do not give the story entire credence. I doubt it. Do take pity on my cruel suspense, and tell me all, even your most

secret