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LADY ANNE GRANARD.
249


At length Lady Rotheles became so sensible that her anxiety was making her seriously ill, that she laid the matter before Georgiana, imparting her desire to become possessed of any letter her misguided niece might write, purely to save dear Rotheles from the vexation it would not fail to cause him, by reminding him of circumstances in his own early life of an afflicting nature. "Besides, she can only write for the purpose of getting money out of him—and he is not rich; he has been obliged to curtail Lady Anne's allowance, you know; and surely it would be very improper to give that wicked woman money which might be so much better bestowed on his own sister?"

"Dear Lady Rotheles, how good you are to think of mamma; I am sure, if you are her friend in the matter, we can get my lord to forgive her, and send her the same he used to do. As to the person that was Lady Allerton, depend upon it she will be no trouble to him, for she is gone to the East Indies with the colonel."

Lady Rotheles shrieked with delight. "The East Indies! Who told you so?"

"The Naval and Military Gazette, which is the best of all information, because it always knows the truth, and tells the truth. My brother Penrhyn happened to have one in his pocket when he brought me hither. I will shew it to you."

Suiting the action to the word, Georgiana quickly placed the precious document in the hands of the coun-