which she wished no eye on earth to see, save her own. I expressed all the regret imaginable ; trusted she would yet find it; and advised the necessity of more caution for the future.

"Do not mistake me, Caroline," said she, gravely; "though I fear I must infer that you have lately done so, from the extraordinary observations you yesterday made to Lord Nottingham on his imprudence in exposing my reputation to suspicion. My honour, and its reputation, I trust, depend, not on Lord Nottingham, but on myself. I may not, when writing down my feelings in the sanctity of privacy, as if pouring them out to that ear to which alone erring mortals should have recourse, have concealed the weakness of my heart. But, if my feelings were culpable, my actions were irreproachable. One I could not always command; the other I could, and did."

She looked so proud and calm as she uttered

this, that I stood abashed before her; and endeavoured to excuse what I had said. How corrupt must that mind be, that could have seen Augusta at that moment, and doubted her purity! Yes, my dear friend, there is something sacred, something almost divine, in a perfectly high-souled and virtuous woman. Heigh-ho! would that all women were so!

I told Augusta that I had just heard from my aunt, who, feeling unwell, wished me to return to her.

"I should more regret your departure,"

said she,

"were it not that I think it fortunate for you to be removed from the too frequent intercourse you maintain with the Comtesse Hohenlinden; an intercourse which I consider most disadvantageous to you, my dear Caroline, in every point of view."

Perhaps she was right; but, be that as it may,

VOL. III.

C

I was so subdued by the recollection of the unvarying affection and gentleness of the creature before me, and the knowledge of the duplicity of my conduct towards her, that, as I remembered we must henceforth be strangers (for the future wife of Lord Annandale must not be the friend of the past), a pang of remorse and regret reminded me that I am not so philosophic as I had imagined myself to be; and I felt as if taking an eternal farewell of her whose destiny my influence had determined. Selfish and calculating as I have hitherto been-and I admit that I have been both in no common degree yet I do believe, that, were I not

convinced that with Lord Annandale, Augusta never can be happy, and with Lord Nottingham she will, I should even now retract, were it possible; for I could not bring myself to drive this innocent and confiding creature to shame

or sorrow. But she must, she will be happy with Nottingham-I will not allow myself to doubt it.

I shall write a few lines to Lord Nottingham without a signature, informing him of the attachment he has inspired in Augusta's heart. To how few men would such a piece of intelligence be necessary, for the vanity of almost all would have anticipated it; but he is too excellent to be vain. How superior is he to Annandale! How very ungentlemanly was it of the latter to open surreptitiously his wife's escritoire, and how indelicate to read and shew her diary! This is a proceeding which, even while it forwards my views, I must still contemn; and all right-minded Englishmen would, I think, agree with me in this sentiment. It displays so clearly a meanness, and want of high principle, that it leads me to determine on keeping sa seigneurie in good

order whenever he becomes my lawful property; and I will have a lock to my escritoire that will puzzle him to open it, I promise him. Addio, cara! you shall yet see a coronet encircle my brow, and come to London to behold how well I shall enact the new role of a leader of fashion, though never forgetting that of

Votre amie devouée,

CAROLINE.

FROM LORD NOTTINGHAM TO EDWARD

MORDAUNT, ESQ.

I DEBATED long with myself this morning, my dear Mordaunt, whether I ought to call at Annandale House, or not, to-day. It occurred to me that, if I did not call, the servants