"My husband has adhered most religiously to his word up to the present time, as you will see by the date of this letter. We are now visiting the lakes of Cumberland. Never could a spot be better situated for the furtherance of my wishes. The calm repose and silent beauty of these waters must be reflected upon the mind of any one of feeling, which the colonel certainly does not want, and when you consider that I am exerting all the art which poor woman has to please, I do hope and pray to heaven that I may succeed in entwining myself round his heart before his worldly views are destroyed by disappointment. Pray for me, dear Valerie--pray for one who loves you dearly, and who feels that the whole happiness of her life is at stake.--Yours,-- "Adele." "So far all goes well, my dear Adele," thought I, "but we have yet to see the end. I will pray for you with all my heart, for you deserve to be happy, and none can be more fascinating than you, when you exert yourself. What is it in women that I do not feel which makes them so mad after the other sex? Instinct, certainly, for reason is against it. Well, I have no objection to help others to commit the folly, provided that I am not led into it myself." Such were my reflections, as I closed the letter from Adele. A few days afterwards I received a note from Mr Selwyn, junior, informing me that his father had been made a puisne judge. What that was I did not know, except that he was a judge on the bench, of some kind. He also stated his intention of calling upon me on the next day. "Yes," thought I, "to receive the music from Caroline. Of course, she will return it to me when I give her a lesson to-day." I was right in my supposition. Caroline brought me a piece of music with a note, saying, "Here is the music belonging to Miss Selwyn, Valerie; will you take an opportunity of returning it to her? Any time will do; I presume she is in no hurry," and Caroline coloured up, when her eyes met mine. "To punish her," I replied, "Oh, no, there can be no hurry; I shall be down at Kew in a fortnight or three weeks, I will take it with me then." "But my note, thanking Mr Selwyn, will be of very long date," replied Caroline, "and I want the other piece of music belonging to me which I left at Kew." "Well, Caroline, you cannot expect me to be carrying your messages and going to the chambers of a handsome young Chancery-barrister. By-the-bye, I had a note from him this morning, telling me that his father is advanced to the bench. What does that mean?" "That his father is made a judge. Is that all he said?" replied Caroline, carelessly. "Why, now I think of it, he said that he would call upon me to-morrow, so I can give him this music when he calls."