The amiable neighbour, foreseeing a storm, immediately repented of what she had said; but it was impossible to recall it. She looked out of the window, and saw that Miss Vernon was excited to such a degree as to make her forget the patrician languor, which usually characterized her movements. Obeying an impulse, for once in her life, she walked rapidly across the garden to the paternal mansion. As if a case of life and death were impending, she startled her mother with this abrupt annunciation: “Do go directly to cousin Alfred, and tell him he _must_ devise some means to remove Edward from this neighbourhood, forthwith. You know, he has been promising, for some time past, to secure a suitable situation for him; and unless you see to having it done immediately, you may prepare yourself to have your son disgrace the whole family by marrying a servant.” She then repeated what she had just heard, and added: “You know, mother, that Edward never _could_ be induced to pay so much regard to the distinctions of rank, as he ought to do. It would be just like him to go off to Gretna Green with a servant girl, if he happened to take it into his foolish head that she was a paragon of beauty and virtue.” Great was the consternation in all branches of the Vernon family; and their alarm was not a little increased when Edward frankly declared that it would be easy to procure a suitable education for Sibella, and then she would be a desirable companion for any gentleman in the land. How his father glowered at him, how his mother wept, and what glances his sister hurled from her haughty eyes, need not be told. He retreated to his own apartment, and for several days remained there most of the time, revolving plans for the future; some of them of the most romantic kind. He longed for a secret interview with Sibella, to avow his love, promise eternal constancy, and obtain from her a similar pledge in return. But his nice sense of honour restrained him from taking any step that might cast a shadow upon her. He made several attempts to see her openly, but he was closely watched, and she never appeared; for Mrs. Barton informed her that the family had taken offence at the attentions he paid her. The anxious conferences in Edward’s family ended with an announcement from his father that he must prepare to start for Italy the next week, as traveling companion for a young nobleman, about to make the tour of Europe.