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292 he did not intend to converse with me on the topic. Coward as I was, I was inexpressibly relieved, though if he had really investigated the reports which may have come to his ear, the reality could have been nothing to what his suspicions might have conceived. But, though my spirits rose high at my unexpected escape, I had not courage myself to provoke the discussion, and remained silent to receive his commands.

'Julia,' he said, 'my agent writes me from Scotland, that he has been able to hire a house for me, decently furnished, and with the necessary accommodation for my family—it is within three miles of that I had designed to purchase.'Then he made a pause, and seemed to expect an answer.

'Whatever place of residence suits you, sir, must be perfectly agreeable to me.'

'Umh!—I do not propose, however, Julia, that you shall reside quite alone in this house during the winter.'