at all, if the King of Ireland was to take advantage of our troubles, to make a descent upon us. There is no time so fitting for throwing every thing into confusion, as when nobody knows what he is doing."
"There may be much justice in your remark, holy father," said Henry Seymour, smiling; "but, for my own part, I own I do not apprehend the King of Ireland has any such bloody-minded intentions."
"Report speaks highly of his son," observed Elvira.
"Not more highly than he deserves," cried Doctor Coleman enthusiastically. "The youthful Roderick is brave, noble, and generous; possessing every quality to fit him for a hero; and is quite incapable of any thing bordering upon meanness."
"Is he handsome?" asked Clara, with infinite naïveté, looking up earnestly at the doctor as she spoke.
"As the Achilles of the ancients," replied the doctor.
"Dear me, how I should like to see him!"
