East Lynne is a beautiful place, I have heard." "For its size; it is not large," replied Mr.Carlyle, as he rose for Isabel had also risen and was coming forward.
"And pray what is Lady Isabel's answer ?" quickly asked the countess, turning to her.
Not to her did Isabel condescend to give an answer, but she approached Mr.Carlyle, and spoke in a low tone.
"Will you give me a few hours for consideration ?" "I am only too happy that you should accord it consideration, for it speaks to me of hope," was his reply, as he opened the door for her to pass out.

"I will be here again this afternoon." It was a perplexing debate that Lady Isabel held with herself in the solitude of her chamber, whilst Mr.Carlyle touched upon ways and means to Lady Mount Severn.

Isabel was little more than a child, and as a child she reasoned, looking neither far nor deep: the shallow palpable aspect of affairs alone presenting itself to her view.

That Mr.Carlyle was not of rank equal to her own, she scarcely remembered; East Lynne seemed a very fair settlement in life, and in point of size, beauty and importance, it was far superior to the house she was now in.

She forgot that her position in East Lynne as Mr.Carlyle's wife would not be what it had been as Lord Mount Severn's daughter; she forgot that she would be tied to a quiet house, shut out from the great world, the pomps and vanities to which she was born.