‘Well, Pauncefort,’ said Lord Cadurcis, smiling, as he renewed his acquaintance with his old friend, ‘I hope you have not forgotten my last words, and have taken care of your young lady.’

‘Oh! dear, my lord,’ said Mistress Pauncefort, blushing and simpering. ‘Well to be sure, how your lordship has surprised us all! I thought we were never going to see you again!’

‘You know I told you I should return; and now I mean never to leave you again.’

‘Never is a long word, my lord,’ said Mistress Pauncefort, looking very archly.

‘Ah! but I mean to settle, regularly to settle here,’ said Lord Cadurcis.

‘Marry and settle, my lord,’ said Mistress Pauncefort, still more arch.

‘And why not?’ inquired Lord Cadurcis, laughing.

‘That is just what I said last night,’ exclaimed Mistress Pauncefort, eagerly. ‘And why not? for I said, says I, his lordship must marry sooner or later, and the sooner the better, say I: and to be sure he is very young, but what of that? for, says I, no one can say he does not look quite a man. And really, my lord, saving your presence, you are grown indeed.’

‘Pish!’ said Lord Cadurcis, turning away and laughing, ‘I have left off growing, Pauncefort, and all those sort of things.’

‘You have not forgotten our last visit to Marringhurst?’ said Lord Cadurcis to Venetia, as the comfortable mansion of the worthy Doctor appeared in sight.

‘I have forgotten nothing,’ replied Venetia with a faint smile; ‘I do not know what it is to forget. My life has been so uneventful that every past incident, however slight, is as fresh in my memory as if it occurred yesterday.’

‘Then you remember the strawberries and cream?’ said Lord Cadurcis.

‘And other circumstances less agreeable,’ he fancied Venetia observed, but her voice was low.

‘Do you know, Lady Annabel,’ said Lord Cadurcis, ‘that I was very nearly riding my pony today? I wish to bring back old times with the utmost possible completeness; I wish for a moment to believe that I have never quitted Cherbury.’

‘Let us think only of the present now,’ said Lady Annabel in a cheerful voice, ‘for it is very agreeable. I see the good Doctor; he has discovered us.’

‘I wonder whom he fancies Lord Cadurcis to be?’ said Venetia.

‘Have you no occasional cavalier for whom at a distance I may be mistaken?’ inquired his lordship in a tone of affected carelessness, though in truth it was an inquiry that he made not without anxiety.

‘Everything remains here exactly as you left it,’ replied Lady Annabel, with some quickness, yet in a lively tone.

‘Happy Cherbury!’ exclaimed Lord Cadurcis. ‘May it indeed never change!’

They rode briskly on; the Doctor was standing at his gate. He saluted Lady Annabel and Venetia with his accustomed cordiality, and then stared at their companion as if waiting for an introduction.

‘You forget an old friend, my dear Doctor,’ said Cadurcis.

‘Lord Cadurcis!’ exclaimed Dr. Masham. His lordship had by this time dismounted and eagerly extended his hand to his old tutor.

Having quitted their horses they all entered the house, nor was there naturally any want of conversation. Cadurcis had much information to give and many questions to answer. He was in the highest spirits and the most amiable mood; gay, amusing, and overflowing with kind-heartedness. The Doctor seldom required any inspiration, to be joyous, and Lady Annabel was unusually animated. Venetia alone, though cheerful, was calmer than pleased Cadurcis. Time, he sorrowfully observed, had occasioned a greater change in her manner than he could have expected. Youthful as she still was, indeed but on the threshold of womanhood, and exempted, as it seemed she had been, from anything to disturb the clearness of her mind, that enchanting play of fancy which had once characterised her, and which he recalled with a sigh, appeared in a great degree to have deserted her. He watched her countenance with emotion, and, supremely beautiful as it undeniably was, there was a cast of thoughtfulness or suffering impressed upon the features which rendered him mournful he knew not why, and caused him to feel as if a cloud had stolen unexpectedly over the sun and made him shiver.

But there was no time or opportunity for sad reflections; he had to renew his acquaintance with all the sights and curiosities of the rectory, to sing to the cana............