And where was Strathallan while Matilda, introduced to new connexions, united by the ties of mutual obligation to that part of her family with which she had been till lately unacquainted, tasted some few pleasures, and suffered many a bitter pang, of which he was not the source? His mind had, like hers, endured a revolution since they parted; and he had become strengthened in a determination to forget her, which seemed now equally necessary to his honor and his repose. Whether it would stand the test of renewed intercourse, remained still to be decided. /

Sir Harold allowed his sister every advantage that the best masters could afford, and though averse to exposing her delicate health to the dangers of crowds and late hours, was yet so far indulgent to her favorite taste, as to request Mrs. Melbourne would in the course of the season take her to one opera; an amusement respecting which she had expressed a vehement curiosity.

The fashionable winter had set in, and Matilda reminded her mother of this promise.

‘We must think about tickets,’ said Mrs. Melbourne; ‘the time is past since I had them pouring in upon me for Lady Such-a-one's box, and Mrs. Such-a-one's box. How many faces that used to welcome me with smiles now look on me as on a stranger! London is altered much since I lived in it at my father's house, and I am altered. The connexions I had, I neglected to cultivate. I gave up the world for one person; it is fair the world in its turn should give me up.’

It was agreed they should try for tickets at Hookham's; and, taking Julia by the hand, Matilda set out, attended by a servant. She was just crossing over to the library, when she was stopped by the run of carriages, which happened at that moment to be very great, and stood fearful of venturing till she had let them pass.