But I must take advantage of this pause: I had inquiries to make, and, like the substance of a lady's postscript, the most important must come last.

So I began with asking after Mr.and Mrs.Murray, and Miss Matilda and the young gentlemen.
I was told that papa had the gout, which made him very ferocious; and that he would not give up his choice wines, and his substantial dinners and suppers, and had quarrelled with his physician, because the latter had dared to say that no medicine could cure him while he lived so freely; that mamma and the rest were well.

Matilda was still wild and reckless, but she had got a fashionable governess, and was considerably improved in her manners, and soon to be introduced to the world; and John and Charles (now at home for the holidays) were, by all accounts, 'fine, bold, unruly, mischievous boys.' 'And how are the other people getting on ?' said I--'the Greens, for instance ?' 'Ah! Mr.Green is heart-broken, you know,' replied she, with a languid smile: 'he hasn't got over his disappointment yet, and never will, I suppose.

He's doomed to be an old bachelor; and his sisters are doing their best to get married.' 'And the Melthams ?' 'Oh, they're jogging on as usual, I suppose: but I know very little about any of them--except Harry,' said she, blushing slightly, and smiling again.

'I saw a great deal of him while we were in London; for, as soon as he heard we were there, he came up under pretence of visiting his brother, and either followed me, like a shadow, wherever I went, or met me, like a reflection, at every turn.