And then it was, For God's sake, Charlotte; and, Let me entreat you, Lady G----. And let me, too, beseech you, madam, said Emily, with tears stealing down her cheeks. You are both very good: you are a sweet girl, Emily. I have a too-playful heart. It will give me some pain, and some pleasure; but if I had not more pleasure than pain from my play, I should not be so silly. My lord not coming in, and the dinner being ready, I ordered it to be served.--Won't you wait a little longer for Lord G----? No. I hope he is safe, and well. He is his own master, as well as mine; (I sighed, I believe!) and, no doubt, has a paramount pleasure in pursuing his own choice. They raved. I begged that they would let us eat our dinner with comfort. My lord, I hoped, would come in with a keen appetite, and Nelthorpe should get a supper for him that he liked. When we had dined, and retired into the adjoining drawing-room, I had another schooling-bout: Emily was even saucy. But I took it all: yet, in my heart, was vexed at Lord G----'s perverseness. At last, in came the honest man. He does not read this, and so cannot take exceptions, and I hope you will not, at the word honest. So lordly! so stiff! so solemn!--Upon my word!--Had it not been Sunday, I would have gone to my harpsichord directly. He bowed to Lord and Lady L----, and to Emily, very obligingly; to me he nodded.--I nodded again; but, like a good-natured fool, smiled. He stalked to the chimney; turned his back towards it, buttoned up his mouth, held up his glowing face, as if he were disposed to crow; yet had not won the battle.--One hand in his bosom; the other under the skirt of his waistcoat, and his posture firmer than his mind.--Yet was my heart so devoid of malice, that I thought his attitude very genteel; and, had we not been man and wife, agreeable. We hoped to have found your lordship at home, said Lord L----, or we should not have dined here. If Lord G---- is as polite a husband as a man, said I, he will not thank your lordship for this compliment to his wife. Lord G---- swelled, and reared himself up. His complexion, which was before in a glow, was heightened. Poor man! thought I.--But why should my tender heart pity obstinate people?--Yet I could not help being dutiful.--Have you dined, my lord? said I, with a sweet smile, and very courteous. He stalked to the window, and never a word answered he. Pray, Lady L----, be so good as to ask my Lord G---- if he has dined? Was not this very condescending, on such a behaviour? Lady L---- asked him; and as gently-voiced as if she were asking the same question of her own lord. Lady L---- is a kind-hearted soul, Harriet. She is my sister. I have not, madam, to Lady L----, turning rudely from me, and, not very civilly, from her. Ah! thought I, these men! The more they are courted --Wretches! to find their consequence in a woman's meekness--Yet, I could not forbear shewing mine.--Nature, Harriet! Who can resist constitution?