Chapter 37

"Samvenson has returned, and I certainly must hear from Harriet,"
exclaimed the sister of Pendennyss, as she stood at a window watching the
return of a servant from the neighboring post-office.

"I am afraid," rejoined the Earl, who was seated by the breakfast table,
waiting the leisure of the lady to give him his cup of tea--"You find
Wales very dull, sister. I sincerely hope both Derwent and Harriet will
not forget their promise of visiting us this month."

The lady slowly took her seat at the table, engrossed in her own
reflections, when the man entered with his budget of news; and having
deposited sundry papers and letters he respectfully withdrew. The Earl
glanced his eyes over the directions of the epistles, and turning to his
servants said, "Answer the bell when called." Three or four liveried
footmen deposited their silver salvers and different implements of
servitude, and the peer and his sister were left to themselves.

"Here is one from the Duke to me, and one for you from his sister," said
the brother; "I propose they be read aloud for our mutual advantage." To
this proposal the lady, whose curiosity to hear the contents of Derwent's
letter greatly exceeded her interest in that of his sister, cheerfully
acquiesced, and her brother first broke the seal of his own epistle, and
read its contents as follow:

"Notwithstanding my promise of seeing you this month in Caernarvonshire,
I remain here yet, my dear Pendennyss, unable to tear myself from the
attractions I have found in this city, although the pleasure of their
contemplation has been purchased at the expense of mortified feelings and
unrequited affections. It is a truth (though possibly difficult to be
believed), that this mercenary age has produced a female disengaged,
young, and by no means very rich, who has refused a jointure of six
thousand a year, with the privilege of walking at a coronation within a
dozen of royalty itself."

Here the accidental falling of a cup from the hands of the fair listener
caused some little interruption to the reading of the brother; but as the
lady, with a good deal of trepidation and many blushes, apologized hastily
for the confusion her awkwardness had made, the Earl continued to read.

"I could almost worship her independence: for I know the wishes of both
her parents were for my success. I confess to you freely, that my vanity
has been a good deal hurt, as I really thought myself agreeable to her.
She certainly listened to my conversation, and admitted my approaches,
with more satisfaction than those of any other of the men around her; and
when I ventured to hint to her this circumstance, as some justification
for my