“Arthur, you have evil tidings for me?” exclaimed Mr. Hatfield, advancing towards his noble half-brother. “Nay--they can scarcely be called evil, Thomas,” was the reply: “and yet--’twould perhaps have been better----” “Speak! Keep me not in suspense,” interrupted the other. “Charles--your son----” “Ah! he has discovered his parentage!” cried Hatfield. “Yes--I am sure that this is the circumstance which you came to communicate;”--and he walked twice up and down the room in an agitated manner: then, suddenly turning towards his brother, he said, “How did this occur, Arthur?” The Earl related the incident just as it had taken place, not forgetting the short but impressive dialogue which he had with his own daughter, Lady Frances, respecting the sudden and accidental revelation of the secret of Charles Hatfield’s birth. “After all, I am not sorry that this has so happened,” observed the nobleman’s half-brother. “Sooner or later the truth must have been confided to my son--my dear son;--and since the secret may still be preserved in respect to the world and to those whom we would not wish to become acquainted with it----” “Sir John Lascelles himself does not even suspect it,” interrupted Arthur. “It is known but to our immediate family--and Georgiana’s honour is as safe as ever it was. The breath of scandal cannot reach it.” “Thanks, my dear brother--a thousand thanks for this assurance!” exclaimed Mr. Hatfield. “And now let my son come hither to embrace me as his father:--but, Arthur,” he added, sinking his voice to a low and solemn tune, “let him not enquire into the motives which induced his parents to envelop his birth in mystery. Enjoin him to forbear from any attempt to gratify his curiosity in that respect!” “I hope--indeed, I believe that you have no painful ordeal of such a nature to apprehend,” replied the Earl of Ellingham; and having thus spoken, he quitted the library. Two minutes elapsed, during which Mr. Hatfield once more paced the apartment in an agitated manner: for, knowing the fine spirit of his son, he trembled lest it should be checked or even broken by the mortifying suspicion that he was illegitimate! “A falsehood is abhorrent to me,” he thought within himself: “and yet--if he should question me respecting his birth--I dare not avow the truth! I must not confess to my own son that his being resulted from an atrocious outrage perpetrated by myself:--nor must I permit him to suspect the honour of his mother! Silence on my part, I now perceive, would engender such suspicion in respect to her; and she must not lose one particle of the dignity of virtue in the eyes of her own offspring! Alas! painful position!--and, Oh! with what foolish and short-sighted haste did I ere now affirm that I was not sorry for the discovery which he had made!” At this moment the door opened, and Charles sprang forward into his father’s arms, which were extended to receive him.