of imprudence, is, I am sure, devoid of serious impropriety. There were no gentlemen concerned, nor does it appear to be anything more than a scheme of romantic friendship. My mother is gone to Waterford for Miss Butler and her, and we expect to see them to-night."
The principal odium of this strange elopement fell on Lady Eleanor, who was the moving spirit throughout. Lady Betty Fownes, in a letter to Mrs. Goddard, says—"We hear the Butlers are never to forgive their daughter, and that she is to be sent to France to a convent. I wish she had been safe in one long ago; she would have made us happy. Many an unhappy hour she has cost me, and, I am convinced, years to Sally" (Sarah Ponsonby).
This young lady herself adds in a postscript—"They propose great terms to Miss B. (Lady Eleanor) if she will reside in a convent some years, and give me up for ever. I am not heroic enough to wish she should accept them. Worn out by misfortunes, I have still the comfort of self-approbation. Were it to do again, I would act as I have done."
Old Sir William Fownes still went on making love to his adopted daughter, to her dismay and misery. One entry in Mrs. Goddard's diary is as follows:—
"I talked again to Miss Pons., not only to
