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Though Mr. Penrhyn had returned to his dinner at a somewhat late hour, such was the impatience of his lady to be received, and his kind estimate of those feelings in her which he loved to cherish, that when their social and happy meal was over, they set out to Welbeck Street with as little trepidation on the lady's part as could be expected, and as much resolution and patience on that of the gentleman as might be required. He had all the inclination to pay Lady Anne the homage she deemed due to her rank, and tender her the respect himself held due to his wife's mother; but the fond and deep regard in which that wife was held, his estimation of the probity, sincerity, and simplicity of her loving nature, and her sound understanding, prevented him from esteeming her mother's character, and either acceding to her demands, or acknowledging value in her protection. He was now eight and twenty—an age when the nature of man demands independence as necessary to happiness and respectability—he had known what it was, "in sueing long to bide," though not so long as many; therefore, he had neither depressed the manliness of his spirit,