A great change awaited our young friend; quiet lodgings and the rooms of an invalid were exchanged for the spacious accommodations and elegant ease of the home they had left. Aunt Matilda was sadly discontented, and shrewdly suspected what had taken place at Parkhurst. "Madeline, I have a right to know; I am sure that Lord N---- loves you deeply. Have you rejected him? Are you such a blind, silly girl?" "Do not ask me, aunt; surely I have a right to some privacy of thought and action." "You cannot deny it; you have rejected one of the first offers in Great Britain, and you are just a fool, and nothing else, Madeline Hamilton!" "Would you have me give my hand without my heart, Aunt Matilda?" "A fiddlestick for a heart, Madeline, when a coronet was laid at your feet, to turn away--I know what for; I am so ashamed for you, that I cannot utter all I think. Now I am sure that you love that beggar-boy; for nothing else could make you reject such a splendid match as the son of an English earl." "Spare me, dear aunt, and let us talk of something else; when dear papa is so ill we have enough to think about." She could not forgive her niece, and seldom exchanged any thing but the merest words necessary for daily duties--cold, constrained, often harsh. She took the first opportunity to acquaint Mr. Hamilton with the facts of the case. He was both surprised and grieved, for he had seen with pleasure the growing attachment of the young nobleman. "Madeline, how is it that you rejected Lord N----? Few young ladies would turn away from such an offer. I had hoped that his goodness and mental worth, not to speak of his lovely family, would have certainly won your heart." "Do not let us talk about it, dear papa, I do not love Lord N---- as I should a husband; he is a dear friend, but nothing more." "I cannot account for it, Madeline, unless your heart is previously occupied; if so, should you not tell your father?" "I am bound to no one, dear papa; just let me wait upon you, and administer to your comfort, that is all I ask." "Remember what I have said, Madeline; it would have made me very happy if you could have accepted this young man, not on account of his noble birth, or wealth, but just for his modest, manly piety and worth. But in this matter you must choose for yourself, and God will bless my daughter."