But, Mr.Wharton, I must say this, you know Emily has a will of her own, and you must not hold me responsible for anything that may occur." As soon as he heard this he almost resolved to withdraw the concession he had made;--but he did not do so.
Very soon after this there came a special invitation from Mr.and Mrs.Roby, asking the Whartons, father and daughter, to dine with them round the corner.

It was quite a special invitation, because it came in the form of a card,--which was unusual between the two families.

But the dinner was too, in some degree, a special dinner,--as Emily was enabled to explain to her father, the whole speciality having been fully detailed to herself by her aunt.

Mr.
Roby, whose belongings were not generally aristocratic, had one great connexion with whom, after many years of quarrelling, he had lately come into amity.

This was his half-brother, considerably older than himself, and was no other than that Mr.Roby who was now Secretary to the Admiralty, and who in the last Conservative Government had been one of the Secretaries to the Treasury.