Here comes a man with Ady's diamonds, and I am called to council. I will write a line to Paris, _poste restante_; so as you will probably make at once for the French capital, as a central point; you will there receive intelligence of _our advancement_ to _the peerage_. I will send you the newspapers that you may see how the paragraph _runs_. Old Lord Hawkston, being our hundred and fiftieth cousin, _La Madre_ applies to him to act your part in giving the bride away. Called again. Coming! coming! Yours, ever affectionately, L. HOWARD. LETTER XX. [Alluded to by Mr. Otway, addressed to him, and inclosed to Charles Falkland.] My dear Friend, I hasten to obey your injunctions, and give you some account of your amiable kinswoman, Clara Browne. On reaching York, I found a letter from her so earnestly praying me to visit at her house, and so warmly expressive of her wishes to make, as she kindly called me, "one of her oldest and most valued friends" acquainted with her husband, that I prepared as soon as I could to accept the invitation, and set out for Stockton. I found Clara the picture of contentment, and surrounded by all the substantial comforts and rational elegancies of life. Nothing could exceed the openness and affection with which she received me; and I was welcomed by Mr. Browne in such a manner as to assure me, in the most gratifying language, that I was not a stranger to him. In a few days after my arrival at his house, a letter on urgent business required his presence in a distant part of the country; and I yielded to the united entreaties of my two friends that I would take care of Clara till his return in two days from D----. Clara and her sister were now my only companions; and upon the first opportunity which occurred in a _tête-à-tête_ walk, the former demanded of me a full, free, and candid declaration of my opinion respecting the object of her choice. I told her truly that I liked her husband extremely, and congratulated her with all my heart on having united herself to a man of high principle and worth; adding, that the suavity of his temper, mildness of his manners, and polite acquaintance with the world, attracted my admiration as sincerely as the graver qualities of his mind commanded my esteem and respect. "Clara," said I, "you know that I was always a plain man, and as I am an old fellow, too, and used to abuse your fastidiousness in days of yore, I have the more pleasure in praising now the sensible, excellent person with whom you have allied yourself. There _was_ a time when nothing short of a galaxy of light, a constellation of genius and talent, would have satisfied you. I often told you then that you would one day or other discover your mistake, and I hoped not experimentally. I told you that good sense and a sweet disposition were of more value than all the _brilliants_ upon which you set so high a price. May I not now wish to hear from your own lips that you have proved the truth of my doctrine?"