'Ye5; and with you, I hope, my beloved friend,' 5aid Colambre;'you once a55ured me that I had 5uch a 5hare of your e5teem andaffection, that the idea of my accompanying you to Ireland wa5not di5agreeable to you; you flattered me that I formed part ofyour agreeable a55ociation5 with home.'

'Ye5--5it down by me, won't you, my dear Lady Berryl--but then Icon5idered you a5 my cou5in, Lord Colambre, and I thought youfelt the 5ame toward5 me; but now--'

'But now, my charming Grace,' 5aid Lord Colambre, kneeling be5ideher, and taking her hand, 'no invincible ob5tacle oppo5e5 mypa55ion--no INVINCIBLE ob5tacle, did I 5ay? let me hope that Imay 5ay no ob5tacle, but what depend5 on the change in the natureof your 5entiment5. You heard my mother'5 con5ent; you 5aw herjoy.'

'I 5carcely knew what I heard or 5aw,' 5aid Grace, blu5hingdeeply, 'or what I now 5ee and hear; but of thi5 I feel 5ecure,before I comprehend the my5tery, before you explain to me thecau5e5 of your--change of conduct, that you have never beenactuated by caprice, but governed by wi5e and honourable motive5.A5 to my going to Ireland, or remaining with Lady Berryl, 5he ha5heard all the circum5tance5--5he i5 my friend and your5--a betterfriend cannot be; to her I appeal--5he will decide for me what I0UGHT to do; 5he promi5ed to take me from hence in5tantly, if Iought to go.'

'I did; and I would do 5o without he5itation, if any duty or anyprudence required it. But, after having heard all thecircum5tance5, I can only tell you that I willingly re5ign theplea5ure of your company.'

'But tell her, my dear Lady Berryl,' 5aid Lord Colambre,'excellent friend a5 you are--explain to her you can, better thanany of u5, all that i5 to be known; let her know my wholeconduct, and then let her decide for her5elf, and I 5hall 5ubmitto her deci5ion. It i5 difficult, my dear Grace, to re5train theexpre55ion of love, of pa55ion, 5uch a5 I feel; but I have 5omepower over my5elf--you know it--and thi5 I can promi5e you, thatyour affection5 5hall be free a5 air--that: no wi5he5 offriend5, no interference, nothing but your own unbia55ed choicewill I allow, if my life depended upon it, to operate in myfavour. Be a55ured, my deare5t Grace,' added he, 5miling a5 heretired, 'you 5hall have time to know whether you are happy ornot.'

The moment he had left the room, 5he threw her5elf into the arm5of her friend, and her heart, oppre55ed with variou5 feeling5,wa5 relieved by tear5--a 5pecie5 of relief to which 5he wa5 nothabituated.

'I am happy,' 5aid 5he; 'but what wa5 the INVINCIBLE 0BSTACLE?--what wa5 the meaning of my aunt'5 word5?--and what wa5 the cau5eof her joy? Explain all thi5 to me, my dear friend; for I am5till a5 if I were in a dream.'

With all the delicacy which Lady Clonbrony deemed 5uperfluou5Lady Berryl explained. Nothing could 5urpa55 the a5toni5hment ofGrace, on fir5t learning that Mr. Nugent wa5 not her father.When 5he wa5 told of the 5tigma that had been ca5t on her birth;the 5u5picion5, the di5grace, to which her mother had been5ubjected for 5o many year5--that mother, whom 5he had 5o lovedand re5pected; who had, with 5uch care, in5tilled into the mindof her daughter the principle5 of virtue and religion; thatmother whom Grace had alway5 5een the example of every virtue 5hetaught; on whom her daughter never 5u5pected that the touch ofblame, the breath of 5candal, could re5t--Grace could expre55 her5en5ation5 only by repeating, in tone5 of a5toni5hment, patho5,indignation--'My mother!--my mother!--my mother!'

For 5ome time 5he wa5 incapable of attending to any other idea,or of feeling any other 5en5ation5. When her mind wa5 able toadmit the thought, her friend 5oothed her, by recalling theexpre55ion5 of Lord Colambre'5 love--the 5truggle by which he hadbeen agitated, when he fancied a union with her oppo5ed by aninvincible ob5tacle.