Page:Lady Anne Granard 1.pdf/86

Rh "Mr. Glentworth," exclaimed the girls. "No, no, our beautiful stranger," replied she. "Are you quite sure?" cried Isabella, her dark eyes kindling with delight. "I saw her returned, Helen, as distinctly as I see you. I tried to catch her eye, but in vain." ‘ "Oh, what would I not give to see her again!" said Isabella. The beautiful stranger, as with girlish romance they called her among themselves, was the only mystery in their brief and uneventful lives. When Isabella was ten and Georgiana two years older, they formed an acquaintance on the sands near Brighton with a lady, who, like themselves, seemed to confine her rambles to the most solitary part of the coast. The fact was, that Lady Anne, aware of the worse than common attire of the younger children, always ordered them to be kept out of sight as much as possible. Still, they were too pretty to need the aid of dress, and the stranger, attracted by their appearance, formed an acquaintance with them: two or three times they went to her small, but elegant-looking villa, where cakes and fruit always awaited them. A careless phrase of Georgiana's drew Lady Anne's attention to the matter; the maid was questioned, and divers suspicions, very unfavourable to their beautiful and secluded hostess, entered the minds of both maid and mistress. The intercourse was strictly forbidden, and for some mornings they walked in an opposite direction.