Mr. Cranstoun, soon after this, taking his leave of Henley, set out for Scotland, as has been already observed.  A day or two after his departure, Mr. Cranstoun wrote me a letter on the road, wherein he begged me to make acceptable to my father his most grateful acknowledgements for his late goodness to him.  “This,” he said, “had made such an impression upon him, that he never should forget it as long as he lived; and that he should always entertain the same tender sentiments for him as for his father, the late Lord Cranstoun,[25] himself, had he been then alive.”  In the same letter, he also desired me to permit my letters to be directed by some body who wrote a more masculine hand than mine; since otherwise they might be intercepted by some one or other of Miss Murray’s family, as they were jealous of the affair carried on between us two.  He likewise therein insisted upon my subscribing myself “M.C.” instead of “M.B.” tho’ he did not discover to me the real view he had therein.  Soon after he arrived at his mother’s, he wrote me another letter, wherein he informed me, that he told his mother[26] we were married, and had been so for some time:  and that she would write to me, as her daughter, by the very next post.  This she did; and her letter came accompanied with one from her son, wherein he desired me, if I loved him, to answer his mother’s by the return of the post, and sign myself “Mary Cranstoun” at length, as I knew before God I was, by a solemn contract, entitled to that name.  This, he pretended, would make his mother stir more in the Scotch affair.  On the supposition that I was her daughter, she wrote many tender letters to me, always directing to me by the name of “Mary Cranstoun,” and sent me some very handsome presents of Scotch linen.  He also obliged his eldest sister, Mrs. Selby,[27] and her husband, to write to me as their sister.  Lady Cranstoun likewise wrote to my father in a very complaisant style, thanking him for the civilities he had shewn her son; and hinting, that she hoped it would be in her power to return them to me, when she should have the pleasure of seeing me in Scotland, which she begged might be soon.  Lord Cranstoun, his brother, also wrote to my father, and returned him thanks in the same polite manner.  During this whole period, my father’s behaviour to me was very uncertain; but always good after he had received any of these letters.  In a few months, however, after Mr. Cranstoun’s departure, my father’s temper was much altered for the worse.  He upbraided me with having rejected much better offers than any that had come from Scotland; and at last ordered me to write to Mr. Cranstoun not to return to Henley, till his affair with Miss Murray was quite decided.  I complied with this order, writing to him in the terms prescribed me.  To this I received an answer full of tenderness, grief, and despair.  He said, “He found my father loved him no longer, and was afraid he would inspire me with the same sentiments.