Page:Duty and Inclination 1.pdf/158

150 in the occasional interviews he had with his sister Mrs. Arden, who, in compliance with her husband's taste, did not spend so much of her time in her town-house as in the pompous mansion they had purchased on their marriage. But though not regular inhabitants of London, their access to it was easy; and in their frequent excursions they were transported thither in all the ostentatious grandeur of a carriage and four, showy liveries, outriders, &c. &c. De Brooke was struck by a display of such splendour, in his opinion, unsuitable to one of a rank comparatively but moderate in society. Although sometimes induced upon such occasions to pay them a visit, nevertheless his reception was uniformly constrained, and to the last degree short of incivility, formal and ceremonious.

With her new name and pretensions, his once much-loved sister, the companion of his childhood, seemed to have assumed a new character: this was the effect of her constant association with one, who, immersed in worldly-mindedness, regarded wealth, under whatever name, as the idol and object of this world's adoration; who despised all others less favoured by fortune; and who had but too successfully instilled into her mind his cold-hearted maxims; so that in proportion to the