Alas! the worst and bitterest of all private feuds are the domestic.

There is my own brother; in a moment of passion and jealousy he challenged me to single combat; I had sense to resist his impetuosity.

He got a foreign appointment, and there has been a gulf like that of the grave between him and his, and me and mine, ever since." "Nothing, my lord," replied Sir Thomas, his countenance, as he spoke, becoming black with suppressed rage, "will ever remove the impression from my mind, that the disappearance or murder of my son was not a diabolical act of retaliation committed under the suspicion that I was privy to the removal or death, as the case may be, of my brother's heir; and while I have life I will persist in charging Lady Gourlay, as I must call her so, with the crime." "In that impression," replied his lordship, "you stand alone.

Lady Gourlay, that amiable, mild, affectionate, and heart-broken woman, is utterly incapable of that, or any act of cruelty whatsoever.

A woman who is the source of happiness, kindness, relief, and support, to so many of her humble and distressed fellow-creatures, is not likely to commit or become accessory in any way to such a detestable and unnatural crime.
Her whole life and conduct render such a supposition monstrous and incredible." Both, after he had closed his observations, mused for some time, when the baronet, rising and pacing to and fro, as was his custom, at length asked--"Well, my lord, what say you?
Are we never to come to a conclusion ?" "My determination is simply this, my dear baronet,--that, if you and Miss Gourlay are satisfied to take Lord Dunroe, with all his imperfections on his head, I shall give no opposition.