Page:Lady Anne Granard 2.pdf/127

Rh was drawn to a very elegant-looking man, slowly pacing the deck, with his eyes cast down in a manner which proved that the neighbouring coast had little attraction for him, and, in fact, I saw he was an Englishman. When he turned round from his short walk, whom should it prove but Lord Allerton, whom I first saw at the house of a friend in London, and was so much pleased with, I should have pursued the acquaintance, if your mother had not given me to understand she had reason, for our dear Mary's sake, to be displeased with him. "I felt much too lonely not to rejoice in seeing a countryman, and immediately addressed him. He evidently rejoiced in hearing his own tongue, but said, 'that although my voice was familiar to his ear, and my person so to a certain degree, he dared not to give me a name.' "'It is Glentworth; we have met repeatedly at Sir Alfred Robertson's.' "'God bless me! Mr. Glentworth! Did you not marry a Miss Granard?' "'I was so happy, sir. My wife has just made me a father, and is, of course, unable to accompany me, to the great grief of both, as you may suppose; but my physician has compelled me to leave her for a short voyage and change of air: I am troubled with a fever not uncommon at this season in Italy.' "'Only a fever!' he exclaimed. 'You are a happy man! I thought—I feared you were withered