A DARK NIGHT'S WORK,

BY THE AUTHORESS OF "MARY BARTON."

CHAPTER V.

A FEW days afterwards Ellinor's father
bethought himself that some further communication
ought to take place between himself and his
daughter's lover on the subject of the approval
of the family of the latter to the young man's
engagement, and he accordingly wrote a very
gentlemanly letter, saying that of course he
trusted that Ralph had informed his own father
of his engagement; that Mr. Corbet was well
known to Mr. Wilkins by reputation, holding
the position he did in Shropshire, but that, as
Mr. Wilkins did not pretend to be in the same
station of life, Mr. Corbet might possibly never
even have heard of his name, although in his own
county it was well known as having been for
generations that of the principal conveyancer and
land-agent of——shire; that his wife had been
a member of the old knightly family of Holsters,
and that he himself was descended from a
younger branch of the South Wales De Wintons,
or Wilkins; that Ellinor, as his only child, would
naturally inherit all his property, but that, in
the mean time, of course some settlement upon
her would be made, the nature of which might
be decided nearer the time of the marriage.

It was a very good straightforward letter, and
well fitted for the purpose to which Mr. Wilkins
knew it would be applied—of being forwarded
to Mr. Ralph Corbet's father. One would have
thought that it was not an engagement so
disproportioned in equality of station as to cause
any great opposition on that score; but,
unluckily, Captain Corbet, the heir and eldest son,
had just formed a similar engagement with Lady
Maria Brabant, the daughter of one of the
proudest earls in——shire, one who had always
resented Mr. Wilkins's appearance on the field
as an insult to the county, and ignored his
presence at every dinner-table where they met.
Lady Maria was staying at the Corbets at the
very time when Ralph's letter, enclosing Mr.
Wilkins's, reached the paternal halls, and she
merely repeated her father's opinions when Mrs.
Corbet and her daughters naturally questioned
her as to who these Wilkinses were; they
remembered the name in Ralph's letters formerly;
the father was some friend of Mr. Ness's, the
clergyman with whom Ralph had read; they
believed Ralph used to dine with these Wilkinses
sometimes along with Mr. Ness.

Lady Maria was a good-natured girl, and
meant no harm in repeating her father's words,
touched up, it is true, by some of the dislike she
herself felt to the intimate alliance proposed,
which would make her sister-in-law to the
daughter of an " upstart attorney," " not
received in the county," " always trying to push
his way into the set above him," "claiming con-
nexion with the De Wintons of——Castle,
who, as she well knew, only laughed when he
was spoken of, and said they were more rich in
relations than they were aware of "—"not people
papa would ever like her to know, whatever
might be the family connexion."

These little speeches told in a way the girl
who uttered them did not intend they should.
Mrs. Corbet and her daughters set themselves
violently against this foolish entanglement of
Ralph's; they would not call it an engagement.
They argued, and they urged, and they pleaded,
till the squire, anxious for peace at any price,
and always more under the sway of the people
who were with him, however unreasonable they
might be, rather than of the absent, even though
the latter had the wisdom of Solomon or the
prudence and sagacity of his son Ralph, wrote
an angry letter, saying that, as Ralph was of
age, of course he had a right to please himself,
therefore all his father could say was that the
engagement was not at all what either he or
Ralph's mother had expected or hoped; that it
was a degradation to the family just going to
ally themselves with a peer of James the First's
creation; that of course Ralph must do what
he liked, but that if he married this girl he must
never expect to have her received by the Corbets
of Corbet Hall as a daughter. The squire was
rather satisfied with his production, and took it
to show it to his wife; but she did not think it
was strong enough, and added a little post-
script:

"Dear Ralph,—Though, as second son, you
are entitled to Bromley at my death, yet I can
do much to make the estate worthless. Hitherto,
regard for you has prevented my taking steps as
to sale of timber, &c., which would materially
increase your sister's portions; this just measure