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 The groom went; and almost the next instant, she heard the fleet step of Lady Aurora approaching, and her soft voice, with unusual emphasis, pronounce, "Pardon me, dear Madam, but I could not refuse her for a thousand worlds!"

"She ought not to refuse her, Mrs. Howel!" added, with fervency, the voice of Lord Melbury; "in humanity, in justice, in decency, Aurora ought not to refuse her! Whatever may be your fears of objections to an intimacy, there can be none to common civility; for though we know not what Miss Ellis has been, we see what she now is;—a pattern of elegance, sweetness, and delicacy."

"A moment, my lord!—one moment, Lady Aurora!" answered Mrs. Howel; "we may be overheard here;—honour me with a moment's attention in another room." She seemed drawing them away, and not a word more reached Juliet.

A dreadful ten minutes preceded any