with grateful affection; and Lord Norbourne continued:—
"I think, Norbourne, that I could do anything for yourself; yet shall I tell you that my present line of conduct does not arise from my own prompting."
"To whose then?" exclaimed Norbourne, in undisguised astonishment.
"I am," answered Lord Norbourne, "but fulfilling the last wishes of our poor Constance. You do not even now know how precious your happiness was to that gentle and loving heart."
"I cannot bear," exclaimed Norbourne, "to think of happiness, and Constance in her grave. Ah, if she did but know the sorrow I have felt for her sake."
"If," returned her father, "according to her own sweet belief, the departed yet watch the beloved on earth, how would she wish to soothe an unavailing regret! But you must now see a letter I found, addressed to me, after her death."
Lord Norbourne rose from his seat; and,
