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6 herself? or might it be that her heart was shielded by former impressions?

Such could not be the case, her secret partiality for Douglas having found admittance to her imagination merely: having never met with the approval of her understandings it never took deep root in her heart, and hence, with the knowledge of his marriage, hope becoming utterly expelled, left her for the future perfectly at liberty to indulge in the conjugal sentiment. But however gracious and agreeable might be the general address, conversation, and deportment of Sir Howard, he did not convey to Rosilia that something, indefinable to herself, constituting the man of true worth, and which in the enthusiasm of her soul she looked for,—truth, wisdom, goodness, benevolence of heart, that truly which ennobles man. Sir Howard appeared presumptuous in his gallantry, and from casual circumstances she was sometimes disposed to doubt the strict veracity of his principles. She might judge harshly, or she might see but through the medium of her own peculiar susceptibility; be this as it may, it was reserved for Sir Howard to appear in a light still more amiable than hitherto.

It was one delightful evening towards the latter end of May, when Sir Howard proposed an excursion into the country. Having made an engagement with a friend, the General declined forming one of the party. Rolling leisurely along, the road on either side exhibiting a rich and picturesque scenery, Mrs.