in the occasional interviews he had with his sister Mrs. Arden, who, in compliance with her husband's taste, did not spend so much of her time in her town-house as in the pompous mansion they had purchased on their marriage. But though not regular inhabitants of London, their access to it was easy; and in their frequent excursions they were transported thither in all the ostentatious grandeur of a carriage and four, showy liveries, outriders, &c. &c. De Brooke was struck by a display of such splendour, in his opinion, unsuitable to one of a rank comparatively but moderate in society. Although sometimes induced upon such occasions to pay them a visit, nevertheless his reception was uniformly constrained, and to the last degree short of incivility, formal and ceremonious.
With her new name and pretensions, his once much-loved sister, the companion of his childhood, seemed to have assumed a new character: this was the effect of her constant association with one, who, immersed in worldly-mindedness, regarded wealth, under whatever name, as the idol and object of this world's adoration; who despised all others less favoured by fortune; and who had but too successfully instilled into her mind his cold-hearted maxims; so that in proportion to the
