It roused him from his moody condition, and he professed much pleasure in accepting it, especially as he had never hitherto been in Derbyshire.
There was a small but very agreeable party at Royston, and we passed a most enjoyable fortnight.

My brother seemed thoroughly to have shaken off his indisposition; and I saw my fondest hopes realised in the warm attachment which was evidently springing up between him and Miss Constance Temple.
Our visit drew near its close, and it was within a week of John's return to Oxford.

Mrs.Temple celebrated the termination of the Christmas festivities by giving a ball on Twelfth-night, at which a large party were present, including most of the county families.

Royston was admirably adapted for such entertainments, from the number and great size of its reception-rooms.

Though Elizabethan in date and external appearance, succeeding generations had much modified and enlarged the house; and an ancestor in the middle of the last century had built at the back an enormous hall after the classic model, and covered it with a dome or cupola.