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266 speak. Lord Norbourne took her hand very kindly, and placed her in the carriage. "You must allow me," said he, "to call on Mrs. Churchill. I flatter myself I shall be able to convince her that, without compromising her principles, the best thing that she can do will be not to attempt carrying them into practice." He turned down the very terrace where they had just been walking; and though, certainly, there was as little resemblance as could well be between himself and Lady Marchmont, yet their thoughts flowed in precisely the same channel. Chilled and hardened, as it had been, by constant contact with the world, yet Lord Norbourne's was inherently a high and generous nature. To such, atonement is a necessity and an enjoyment. Ethel's happiness seemed to him like a sad sweet debt, owing to the memory of his lost Constance.