that ability which, by strengthening the impulse, gives it power over others. He felt keenly, but he neither reflected nor calculated—hence he lived in a little world of exaggeration. With Lucy this impetuosity served his cause—it carried her along with it; but when enthusiasm of any kind is unshared, it appears only on its ridiculous side; and hence Francesca's good sense and good taste were perpetually revolted by a thousand slight incoherences and absurdities utterly imperceptible to her companion. Fortunately for Charles Aubyn, he was placed in a situation for which he was eminently calculated; his kind-heartedness was constantly called into action by his duties among his parishioners, and his excitable temperament found vent in religious fervour; and in Lucy he met with that up-looking admiration which, under any circumstances, it is exceedingly comfortable to inspire.
Lawrence Aylmer was one of the best-satisfied of the party. He much desired to see his daughter married—he felt that she was quite unfitted for those in her own sphere—had been frightened into almost poetry when he learnt her attachment to Evelyn,—so many were the evil consequences which he anticipated might have happened from so dangerous a connexion; but
