She was as little like a fashionable young lady as it was well possible to be, partly because she had hitherto been secluded from the great world, partly from the care bestowed upon her training.

During the lifetime of her mother, she had lived occasionally at East Lynne, but mostly at a larger seat of the earl's in Wales, Mount Severn; since her mother's death, she had remained entirely at Mount Severn, under the charge of a judicious governess, a very small establishment being kept for them, and the earl paying them impromptu and flying visits.

Generous and benevolent she was, timid and sensitive to a degree, gentle, and considerate to all.

Do not cavil at her being thus praised--admire and love her whilst you may, she is worthy of it now, in her innocent girlhood; the time will come when such praise would be misplaced.

Could the fate that was to overtake his child have been foreseen by the earl, he would have struck her down to death, in his love, as she stood before him, rather than suffer her to enter upon it..