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 in the alternate panic and consolation thus occasioned; or if any chasm occurred, Lord Melbury with warm assiduities, and Harleigh with delicate attentions, were always at hand to fill it up.

When, early in the evening, that the horses might rest, the carriage of Mrs. Maple arrived, the groom sent in a letter, which, he said, had just been brought to Lewes, according to order, by a messenger from the Brighthelmstone post-office. Ellis precipitately arose; but Mrs. Maple held out her hand to take it; though, upon perceiving the direction, 'For L. S., to be left at the post-office at Brighthelmstone till called for,' fearing that Mrs. Howel, who sat next to her, should perceive it also, she hastily said, "It is not for me; let the man take it back again;" and, turning the seal upwards, re-delivered it to the servant; anxious to avoid exhibiting an address, which might lead to a discovery that she now deemed personally ignominious.