I told you that I had remarked a change in Mr. Otway’s colour when he first saw this deeply interesting young woman. Since that time he has been minutely inquiring about the handkerchief which Fanny picked up, and is fully confirmed by the letters marked upon it in the belief that he has known her family in former days, and seen her when a child; but some circumstances, which I am unable to fathom, deter him from putting any question to her that might determine the point. Perhaps she married without the consent of her friends; yet she seems so good that it would take much evidence to convince me that she had ever made her parents unhappy. Again, were she not so perfectly elegant, so modest and refined in her ways of thinking, it might be supposed that she had conformed to the vulgar views of high life, by marrying some mere man of fashion, in whom she had been disappointed, and by whom, perhaps, she may have been left to mourn over conduct, at the remembrance of which she blushes; but Madame de Lisle _cannot_ be a hypocrite, and if not her husband must have been worthy of her. No ignoble motive could have induced this sweet and lovely creature to bestow her hand without her heart. Whatever be the reason, she desires concealment, and we alone, I believe, constitute her attraction to Turin. If Mr. Otway be right in his conjecture, she is the daughter of an English nobleman; but he will not tell us more till he brings the matter to a certainty. I am this moment informed, that a letter is just received by Frederick from Arthur, announcing his mother’s death. Excellent young man! he rejoices in the idea of having been with her, and enabled, to the last moment, to minister to her comfort. He speaks of her tranquil exit with feelings of the deepest gratitude to heaven; and mentions, that she had from time to time derived the greatest relief from unburthening her heart to an admirable clergyman, who visited her frequently in the latter days of her life. The letters which informed the family at Selby of all that had taken place here, had not reached England when Arthur wrote. It is his intention to come here as soon as possible, accompanied by my cousin Louisa. You shall hear regularly from me of all that passes. Loves _from_, _to_ all. Ever my dearest Julia’s affectionate, EMILY DOUGLAS. LETTER XLVI. FROM ARTHUR HOWARD TO THE READER. My dear Reader,