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agreeable as ever-and she expected to depart as miserable as she came, and much more so. She came with some hope of acquiring a friend, and with her usual impetuosity she persuaded herself she had only appeared to create an enemy: for in her hasty style of discovering the unpleasant, she believed that Ann Morton had taken her effusion of feeling as mere words of course; and that, added to the character she might, from her seeming neglect of her child, have previously bestowed upon her of an unfeeling mother, she now internally reproached her with that of a hypocrite, in assuming affections which her conduct contradicted. Catherine was very much hurt: for, plain and unpretending as was her appearance, there was an indefinable something about Ann Morton, which quite preserved her from appearing as a person whose opinion she would have been perfectly indifferent about. What she said, if it was only in three words, was said sensibly; and though she was any thing to Catherine's fancy but agreeable, she was too mild-too placid, to be called with any propriety disagreeable. The first impression she had excited unconsciously melted into something less austere. Her notice of Edmund was affectionate, and indicated a mutual delight that was very pleasing. Altogether it was really more vexatious to Catherine than she chose to believe, to perceive (or to fancy that she perceived) how totally she had failed with her. But to endeavour by any means to recommend herself to the better opinion of a " Miss Ann" would have implied a degree of humility which her religion had not yet been able to impart. She rose to take her leave; but Miss Ann requested her to have the goodness to stay while she fetched her sister, who would be sor

ry not to see her, as she had been so kind as to favour them with a call.

Catherine resumed her seat, and after a short absence Ann returned with her elder sister: a lady whom Catherine had not before seen, for St. Aubyn had made all the necessary arrangements when Edmund was first placed under their care; her unhappy state of mind unfitting her for any transaction that required particular attention.

If she had been dissatisfied with the quietude of Miss Ann, she had now an opportunity of valuing it by the force of contrast, for the sister was exactly in the other extreme. After exhausting her to the last degree, in talking about herself and her manifold virtues, she put the finishing stroke to Catherine's patience, by alluding, with as little delicacy as might be expected, to her unfortunate loss, and the affliction. in which it had plunged her.

"And you too, ma'am, I find have been chastened of late! I hope the visitation has been salutary."

She had all along spoken in a strain of language, the meaning of which Catherine could only guess at. It was in a phraseology which, though used sometimes in a pulpit, is in familiar discourse not very common. It consisted of certain words of perpetual recurrence, which, as far as she could comprehend them, it appeared to Catherine to be little less than impious to apply with the carelessness in which she used them; but as she was not called upon to do any thing more than listen, she sustained her part of auditor very well till the last question, when she became agitated with many painful feelings. To have her sorrows thus familiarly and roughly approached, affected her more than she wished to be perceived.

She bent her head by way of making some reply, though she was little aware of what such a movement would be supposed to convey, till, seizing her hand, Miss Morton exclaimed, pressing it fervently, "You have been so blessed, then! Doubtless it was an experience the most edifying; relate to me, my dear, under what circumstances it was vouchsafed;"

and she was proceeding in a strain utterly unintelligible to her; but coldly releasing her hand, Catherine replied, that the affliction in which she had been tried was very severe; she hoped it had benefited her heart. She endeavoured to proceed, but emotion interrupted her, and, quite unable to control it, she burst into tears. Miss Morton looked at her with a changed and stern countenance, for she had uttered only the calm expression of "hoping that affliction had benefited her heart," without using any of the various phrases by which she was to have been recognised as one of a party. All this Catherine quickly saw had settled the case with Miss Morton. That to her was not material; but it was material, she considered, to compose herself, and not betray before such cold, unapproving strangers the vehemence of feelings with which they could not be expected to sympathise. She walked to the window to hide her tears; and for a few moments endeavour. ing to occupy her attention with other objects, she would soon have become calm had she not felt her hand gently taken, and turning in some surprise at such unexpected sympathy, she perceived by her side Edmund's friend, " Miss Ann," looking at her with a face which compassion touched with an expression that was almost beautiful.

Pity, at every period of her life, was always too

much for Catherine, though it was very sweet to receive it and she in all her sorrows had received none-she had borne them all alone. When it did come, it wholly overpowered her; and she cried till she sobbed again.

The frigid Miss Morton had been called away while Catherine was standing at the window; which perhaps encouraged her sister in offering this tribute of compassion to one, who, from her youth, her beauty, and her misfortunes, was altogether a being whom few persons could have beheld without inte

rest.

Never was Catherine so practically taught the danger, the impropriety of judging hastily as at this moment. She saw no more the coldness, the apathy which had little less than disgusted her in the first appearance of Ann Morton; but in its stead affectionate soothings-genuine pity. The woe of Catherine was too real, her despair and remorse too true, to fail of affecting; and while she wept, the tears were streaming down the cheeks of Ann; and it was in accents as broken as if she had been comforting a sister, that she entreated her not "to be troubled-not to despair."

"No, I am already better-happier,” replied Catherine," for I have heard the voice of pity, for the first time these many months."

"If I can be of the smallest comfort," timidly and doubtfully said Anr.

"Oh, indeed you can indeed you can," interrupted Catherine; " I know nothing of forms-I am a creature of impulse. Will you come and see me will you come as to one who is seeking a friendseeking comfort?-Oh, if you will do this!"-She

could not go on, nor was it necessary. "I will come to you at any time," she said-you have only to command my visits; and be assured the hours I pass with you I shall number amongst the happiest of my existence, if I am permitted to suppose them productive of any benefit to you." A day for their meeting was immediately proposed and accepted, and Catherine, having composed herself, then took her leave.

CHAPTER X.

IF, in the short conference she then held with Ann Morton, Catherine found cause to change the hasty judgment she had, in the first instance, formed respecting her merits, every succeeding interview (and they became very frequent) elevated her opinion of her new friend; and, in the firmness and unbending sincerity of the counsels she offered, occasioned her to rejoice in the circumstance which had led to their intimacy.

The natural character of Ann was not very quickly to be discerned. Her mind, like her person, had changed with the variations of fate and fortune; but with faculties of discernment so intuitive and penetrating as Catherine possessed, she was not long in discovering that the calm demeanour, the tranquil conversation, the total abstraction from worldly thought or care which now distinguished Ann Morton, by no means naturally characterised her. An occasional burst of energy, like a sudden gleam of

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