“My dear young friend,” said his lordship, whose voice became tremulous, and whose face grew like the whitest ashes.

“Have you got ill, my lord?” asked Sir Edward, a good deal alarmed:  “shall I ring for assistance?”

“No,” replied his lordship; “no; I only wish to say that you know not the extent of your own generosity in making this proposal.”

“Generosity, my lord!  Your lordship will pardon me.  In this case I have all the honor to receive, and nothing to confer in exchange.”

“Hear me for a few minutes,” replied his lordship, “and after you shall have heard me, you will then be able at least to understand whether the proposal you make for my daughter’s hand is a generous one or not.  My daughter, Sir Edward, is illegitimate.”

“Illegitimate, my lord!” replied the other, with an evident shock which he could not conceal.  “Great God! my lord, your words are impossible.”

“My young friend, they are both possible and true.  Listen to me: 

“In early life I loved a young lady of a decayed but respectable family.  I communicated our attachment to my friends, who pronounced me a fool, and did not hesitate to attribute my affection for her to art on the part of the lady, and intrigue on that of her relatives.  I was at the time deeply, almost irretrievably, embarrassed.  Be this as it may, I knew that the imputations against Maria, for such was her name, as well as against her relatives, were utterly false; and as a proof I did so, I followed her to France, where, indeed, I had first met her.  Well, we were privately married there; for, although young at the time, I was not without a spirit of false pride and ambition, that tended to prevent me from acknowledging my marriage, and encountering boldly, as I ought to have done, the resentment of my relations and the sneers of the world.  Owing to this unmanly spirit on my part, our marriage, though strictly correct and legal in every respect, was nevertheless a private one, as I have said.  In the meantime I had entered parliament, and it is not for me to dwell upon the popularity with which my efforts there were attended.  I consequently lived a good deal apart from my wife, whom I had not courage to present as such to the world.  Every day now established my success in the House of Commons, and increased my ambition.  The constitution of my wife had been naturally a delicate one, and I understood, subsequently to our union, that there had been decline in her family to such an extent, that nearly one-half of them had died of it.  In this way we lived for four years, having no issue.  About the commencement of the fifth my wife’s health began to decline, and as that session of parliament was a very busy and a very important one, I was but little with her.  Ever since the period of our marriage, she had been attended by a faithful maid, indeed, rather a companion, well educated and accomplished, named Norton, subsequently married to a cousin of her