"Augustus would once have done the same," but accepted the proffered civility, after having introduced him to Lady Eltondale; who was already well acquainted with him by name, as Frederick Elton's friend and correspondent, and therefore she thought him a most desirable attendant on Selina. Thus escorted, they hastened to their carriage, and drove without delay to join another crowd, at the Dutchess of Saltoun's ball. And here Selina was, as usual, admired, followed, and flattered. Lord George Meredith and Sedley had both engaged her, before they left the Opera, to dance: and as it was one of her favourite amusements, she quickly entered into all the gayety that surrounded her, with that vivacity which is so natural to youth, and so peculiarly belonging to her character. Mordaunt, for the moment, was forgotten; or if his image intruded on her mind, it rose as a dark cloud, that threw a gloomy shade on her present pleasure, and served but to make her turn to the joys of dissipation with increased avidity, as an antidote to its saddening influence. Is it to be wondered at, that a girl so totally inexperienced as Selina was, should yield a little to the many temptations that now surrounded her? Without any calm, steady friend, whose sobered reflection would have served as a counterpoise to her natural volatility, she found herself suddenly transported from the deepest shade of retirement to the brightest blaze of fashion.

Her youth, her beauty, her fortune, all conspired to place her in the foremost rank of praise.-All the young men professing themselves her admirers, all the women her friends.-Could she for a moment doubt their sincerity being equal to her own? And could

it be supposed, that, believing their truth, she should be wholly insensible to such unexpected adulation?

CHAPTER XXIII.

Songez bien que l'amour sait feindre,
Redoutez un sage berger,

On n'est que plus près du danger,
Quand on croit n'avoir rien à craindre.*

BALLS, parties, operas, followed each other in ra

pid succession; and as rapidly did Selina rise to the very zenith of fashion. She became at once the ton, and, being so, whatever she said, whatever she did, was of course immediately pronounced "wisest, discreetest, best." She had many followers, but Lord George Meredith was the only gentleman, who had yet openly professed himself to be her suitor. It was, however, far from Lady Eltondale's intention, that Selina should make any choice for herself; or rather, she determined so to bend her ductile mind, that by degrees that choice, which was in reality Lady Eltondale's, should seem to be her own. She therefore carefully observed the manner of all the young men, who were most sedulous in paying attention to Selina; believing that she was fully capable of discriminating, whether their intentions went beyond the amusement of the passing moment, and equally certain of frustrating any plan that militated against her own. The more Selina became the fashion, the more steady became Lady Eltondale's determination to marry her to Frederick Elton; and with that infatuation, which is a natural consequence of self-love, the deeper she became engaged in the prosecution of her scheme, the more she felt herself interested in its ultimate success. Lord George Meredith soon rendered himself an ob

* Remember still love can dissemble,
And even with the wisest tremble;

For when we think there's nought to fear,
Often danger's lurking near.

ject of her jealousy; and she therefore took an early opportunity of casually informing Selina, through an apparently accidental conversation with Sir James Fenton, of his Lordship's unconquerable passion for gaming, and concluded by turning abruptly to Selina, remarking, "that, no doubt, the fine oaks of Deane Hall would serve to repair some of his losses; and, as he regularly made love to every heiress that camɛ out, perhaps Selina might, if she chose, procure for herself the hitherto rejected title in reversion of Marchioness Starmont." Lady Eltondale's sarcasm was not without its due effect: by degrees Selina's behaviour to Lord George sunk into a cold, though polite reserve; and his Lordship, understanding the change in the manner both of aunt and niece, gradually withdrew his attentions. The conduct of Mr. Sedley was much more equivocal, and almost baffled the penetration of the Viscountess. It always happened his engagements and theirs were the same, and wherever they went he became one of their immediate party; but his manner was so perfectly careless, that the rencontre seemed purely accidental. He admired Selina's beauty avowedly, but with apparently equal nonchalance, sometimes complimented Lady Eltondale on the elegance of Miss Seymour's dress, and much oftener finding fault with Selina herself, if any particular ornament or colour in it happened not to suit his fancy. To the Viscountess herself his manner was in the highest degree attentive, and even insinuating; and had the world in which they moved had time to attend to his conduct in particular, it would probably have decided, that he was much more assiduous in recommending himself to the aunt than to the niece. He would often place himself, for a whole evening, behind Lady Eltondale's chair, when the vivacity and singularity of his conversation, compounded as it was, of sense and levity, would withdraw nearly all her attention from the rest of the company, while at the same time Selina would ap

pear almost unregarded by him. It also often happened, if they were at a ball together, he would ask Selina to dance, “provided she had not any other partner;" or tell her to "say at least she was engaged to him, if any asked her she did not wish to dance with;" and such was the pleasure Selina always experienced from his natural vivacious manners, that it seldom happened that the engagement was not fulfilled. And yet it seemed almost a matter of indifference to him, whether it was so or not; he often appeared fully as anxious to procure other pleasant partners for her, as to be the chosen one himself. evening, Selina supposed she had engaged herself to him, and waited in anxious, though vain, expectation of his coming to claim her hand; and when, as his apology for not doing so, he told her laughingly, that he had totally forgotten their engagement, she was almost tempted to be affronted. But he so goodnaturedly called the next morning, to bring her the music of the last new ballet, and appeared so unconscious of having merited her displeasure, that it quickly vanished, and their friendship seemed more firmly established than ever.

One

Certain it is, that Selina felt more at ease with Sedley, than with any other of the beaux who now constantly attended in her train. Sometimes the compliments of her professed admirers were too exaggerated for even her vanity to believe. But, with him, she felt she could at all times talk and laugh unrestrainedly; he seemed to have no pretensions, and therefore she did not think it necessary to be on her guard against either wounding or encouraging them. If the inconsiderateness of her buoyant spirits, or her inexperience of the rules of etiquette, led her into any trifling dilemma, she was always certain of his good-humoured and effectual assistance in relieving her from her embarrassment; whilst, on the other hand, he had imperceptibly assumed the privilege, which she had as unconsciously yielded to him, of reproving her for any

trifling sin, either of omission or commission, against the laws of fashion. She therefore reposed a certain confidence in Sedley, that led her to have a different feeling for him, from that she experienced for the other individuals by whom she was surrounded. For her natural timidity led her almost always to yield her opinion, without contention, to that of any other person, whose knowledge or abilities she supposed superior to her own. She even felt relieved, by believing she could in safety repose on the wisdom of another; for she had never yet been placed in a situation, in which she was necessitated to act for herself. Her ideas of the perfection of her father and Mrs. Galton had been such, that she not only never had disputed their authority, but had so entirely relied on their judgment, that her own had never been called into action. With her recollections of them Augustus Mordaunt had hitherto been united: the first affections of her heart had turned towards him, as to the playfellow, the companion, the brother of her earliest infancy; and had he too been her guide on her first entrance into life, she would probably have been induced to bestow on him a still dearer title. But Sir Henry's death, and Lady Eltondale's subsequent artifices, had totally separated poor Selina from all these her earliest friends. The misunderstanding, which had at first arisen partly from accident, between her and Mordaunt, was afterward carefully increased by the crafty Viscountess; and her two unsuspecting victims, by their mutual errors, facilitated the success of her machinations. Both, conscious of the integrity of their own feelings, avoided rather than sought an explanation, which both considered due to their own individual pride. By both the perceptible alteration of each other's manner was attributed to the change that had taken place in their relative situation; and, above all, as the interruption of their intimacy had occurred by impercepti