This eBook was produced by David Widger BOOK VII. CHAPTER I. VIGNETTES FOR THE NEXT BOOK OF BEAUTY. "I quite agree with you, Alban; Honoria Vipont is a very superior young lady." "I knew you would think so!" cried the Colonel, with more warmth than usual to him. "Many years since," resumed Darrell, with reflective air, "I read Miss Edgeworth's novels; and in conversing with Miss Honoria Vipont, methinks I confer with one of Miss Edgeworth's heroines--so rational, so prudent, so well-behaved--so free from silly romantic notions--so replete with solid information, moral philosophy and natural history--so sure to regulate her watch and her heart to the precise moment, for the one to strike, and the other to throb--and to marry at last a respectable steady husband, whom she will win with dignity, and would lose with decorum! A very superior girl indeed." ["Darrell speaks--not the author. Darrell is unjust to the more exquisite female characters of a Novelist, admirable for strength of sense, correctness of delineation, terseness of narrative, and lucidity of style-nor less admirable for the unexaggerated nobleness of sentiment by which some of her heroines are notably distinguished.] "Though your description of Miss Vipont is satirical," said Alban Morley, smiling, in spite of some irritation, "yet I will accept it as panegyric; for it conveys, unintentionally, a just idea of the qualities that make an intelligent coinpanion and a safe wife. And those are the qualities we must look to, if we marry at our age. We are no longer boys," added the Colonel sententiously. DARRELL.--"Alas, no! I wish we were. But the truth of your remark is indisputable. Ah, look! Is not that a face which might make an octogenarian forget that he is not a boy?--what regular features! --and what a blush!" The friends were riding in the park; and as Darrell spoke, he bowed to a young lady, who, with one or two others, passed rapidly by in a barouche. It was that very handsome young lady to whom Lionel had seen him listening so attentively in the great crowd, for which Carr Vipont's family party had been deserted. Yes; Lady Adela is one of the loveliest girls in Loudon," said the Colonel, who had also lifted his hat as the barouche whirled by--"and amiable too: I have known her ever since she was born. Her father and I are great friends--an excellent man but stingy. I had much difficulty in arranging the eldest girl's marriage with Lord Bolton, and am a trustee in the settlement. If you feel a preference for Lady Adela, though I don't think she would suit you so well as Miss Vipont, I will answer for her father's encouragement and her consent. 'Tis no drawback to you, though it is to most of her admirers, when I add, 'There's nothing with her!'" "And nothing in her! which is worse," said Darrell. "Still, it is pleasant to gaze on a beautiful landscape, even though the soil be barren."