were unknown in the land of his birth, save that they were sometimes whispered by a few in similar coteries, and then more as conjecture than reality.  So long a time had elapsed, that the wild errors of his youth, which had been perhaps the original cause of his leaving England, were entirely forgotten, as if such things had never been, and the Viscount now found himself quite as much, if not more, an object of universal attraction in his native land than he had been on the Continent.  He was now about thirty, and perfect indeed in his vocation.  The freshness, naivete, and perfect innocence of Caroline had captivated his fancy perhaps even more than it had ever been before, and her perfect ignorance of the ways of the fashionable world encouraged him to hope his conquest of her heart would be very easy.  He had found an able confidant and advocate in Miss Grahame, who had contrived to place herself with her father’s friend on the footing of most friendly intimacy, and partly by her advice and the suggestions of his own heart he determined to win the regard of Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, before he openly paid attentions to their daughter.  With the former he appeared very likely to succeed, for the talent he displayed in the House, his apparently earnest zeal for the welfare of his country, her church and state, his masterly eloquence, and the interest he felt for Grahame, were all qualities attractive in the eyes of Mr. Hamilton; and though he did not yet invite him to his house, he never met him without evincing pleasure.  With Mrs. Hamilton, Alphingham did not find himself so much at ease, nor fancy he was so secure; courteous she was indeed, but in her intercourse with him she had unconsciously recalled much of what Grahame termed the forbidding reserve of years past.  In vain he attempted with her to pass the barriers of universal politeness, and become intimate; his every advance was repelled coldly, yet not so devoid of courtesy as to make him suspect she had penetrated his secret character.  Still he persevered in unwavering and marked politeness, although Annie’s representations of Mrs. Hamilton’s character had already caused him to determine in his own mind to make Caroline his wife, with or without her mother’s approval; and he amused himself with believing that, as her mother was so strict and stern as to keep her children, particularly Caroline, in such subjection, it would be doing the poor girl a charity to release her from such thraldom, and introduce her, as his wife, into scenes far more congenial to her taste, where she would be free from such keen surveillance.  In these thoughts he was ably seconded by Annie, who was constantly pitying Caroline’s enslaved situation, and condemning Mrs. Hamilton’s strict severity, declaring it was all affectation; she was not a degree better than any one else, who did not make half the fuss about it.  Lord Alphingham’s resolution was taken, that before the present season was over, Caroline should be engaged to him, nolens volens on the part of her parents, and he acted accordingly.