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62 ever basking in her sunshine, had yet to learn to bear disappointment with a good grace.

No sooner did the sisters find themselves alone with their mother, than they began to expatiate upon the pleasure their visit had afforded them; when Rosilia turning, perceived sadness depicted on the countenance of her much-loved parent: "You are not well," said she in accents of uneasiness.

"I am better, my dear, than I have been" replied Mrs. De Brooke; "your father has been indisposed, which occasioned me some anxiety." She would have changed the subject, being unwilling to distress her daughters with family grievances so immediately after their late amusements, still elated as they seemed, particularly Oriana, by the retrospection of them.

The cautious tenderness of the mother, however, was rendered ineffectual by the affectionate inquiries of the daughters. In compliance therefore, Mrs. De Brooke said, "You are acquainted, my dears, with the embarrassed state of our affairs; and how or when we shall be disentangled from them it is impossible to say. Our creditors become daily more importunate, and we have not yet been able to obtain a suitable tenant for the Villa. Lord Deloraine, we hear, is now in England, and