tified or conciliated. Complaints became of daily recurrence, and it was said that a great portion of the tenants on the Evelyn estate contemplated emigration on a large scale. But the castle was not destined to remain long in its present quietude.
One morning Lord Avonleigh received a packet from London, whose contents filled him with joy, which he could not communicate in too great haste. It contained a letter from the King himself, craving hospitality for a few days, as his mother was about to visit England, and to take up with Lord Avonleigh her residence at the Castle. A slight incognito would be preserved, and as little form and ceremony expected as was possible. Language was quite inadequate to express the Earl's feelings on the occasion; he was a marquess already in idea, and the Castle itself was soon in as great confusion as his own thoughts, for no preparations seemed to be sufficient. Hitherto the recent death of Lord Stukeley had rendered seclusion necessary; but the now comforted parent was not sorry to have a decent pretext for enlivening a solitude very uncongenial to his taste. Among other names on their list of visitors was that of the Comtesse de Soissons. How many recollections were connected with that name! However unkindly neglected by that early
