We have noticed already that Markham was very much struck with the personal appearance of Clara Rivolta when he saw her in the cottage of poor old Richard Smith; he was not less pleased with her when he saw her in those circumstances which he had in the first instance thought most appropriate to her. When he became more acquainted with her, and by conversation had traced the existence of as much mind and of as good feelings as her features and their expression had already intimated to his imagination, it is no wonder that he should be more interested in her than ever. When also he learned, as he did from the sociable communicativeness of old Mr. Martindale, how nearly she was related to a wealthy man; and when he saw how much of a favorite she was with the old gentleman, it was not likely that his regard for her should be diminished. Markham was by no means a selfish man, nor was he insensible to the desirableness of a fair fortune. He was not quite so romantic as to despise wealth; and if he had been originally addicted to that propensity, the frequent receiving of fees would have had no small tendency to cure it. However, it should be said that the motive for his attachment to the young lady had not, in the first instance, any thing to do with pecuniary expectations. Mr. Martindale himself contributed to cherish the attachment, for he was constantly soliciting the young man to favor them with his company; for as the old gentleman lived almost entirely at Brigland, he knew comparatively nothing about London, and the season of the year was not that at which any of his friends were in town.