'The sea has done Miss Hale an immense deal of good, I should

fancy,' said he, when she first left the room after his arrival

in their family circle. 'She looks ten years younger than she did

in Harley Street.' 'That's the bonnet I got her!' said Edith, triumphantly. 'I knew

it would suit her the moment I saw it.' 'I beg your pardon,' said Mr. Lennox, in the half-contemptuous,

half-indulgent tone he generally used to Edith. 'But I believe I

know the difference between the charms of a dress and the charms

of a woman. No mere bonnet would have made Miss Hale's eyes so

lustrous and yet so soft, or her lips so ripe and red--and her

face altogether so full of peace and light.--She is like, and yet

more,'--he dropped his voice,--'like the Margaret Hale of

Helstone.' From this time the clever and ambitious man bent all his powers

to gaining Margaret. He loved her sweet beauty. He saw the latent

sweep of her mind, which could easily (he thought) be led to

embrace all the objects on which he had set his heart. He looked

upon her fortune only as a part of the complete and superb

character of herself and her position: yet he was fully aware of

the rise which it would immediately enable him, the poor

barrister, to take. Eventually he would earn such success, and

such honours, as would enable him to pay her back, with interest,

that first advance in wealth which he should owe to her. He had

been to Milton on business connected with her property, on his

return from Scotland; and with the quick eye of a skilled lawyer,

ready ever to take in and weigh contingencies, he had seen that

much additional value was yearly accruing to the lands and

tenements which she owned in that prosperous and increasing town.

He was glad to find that the present relationship between

Margaret and himself, of client and legal adviser, was gradually

superseding the recollection of that unlucky, mismanaged day at

Helstone. He had thus unusual opportunities of intimate

intercourse with her, besides those that arose from the

connection between the families.

Margaret was only too willing to listen as long as he talked of

Milton, though he had seen none of the people whom she more

especially knew. It had been the tone with her aunt and cousin to

speak of Milton with dislike and contempt; just such feelings as

Margaret was ashamed to remember she had expressed and felt on

first going to live there. But Mr. Lennox almost exceeded

Margaret in his appreciation of the character of Milton and its

inhabitants. Their energy, their power, their indomitable courage

in struggling and fighting; their lurid vividness of existence,

captivated and arrested his attention. He was never tired of

talking about them; and had never perceived how selfish and

material were too many of the ends they proposed to themselves as

the result of all their mighty, untiring endeavour, till

Margaret, even in the midst of her gratification, had the candour

to point this out, as the tainting sin in so much that was noble,

and to be admired. Still, when other subjects palled upon her,

and she gave but short answers to many questions, Henry Lennox

found out that an enquiry as to some Darkshire peculiarity of

character, called back the light into her eye, the glow into her

cheek.




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