"This is a strong sentiment, I admit, but no stronger than is necessary, for you know that I am an excellent judge of character, and that it is not my habit to quote Holy Writ unless the occasion demand: it. The occasion, my dear Rubina, demands it now, and my earnest advice to you is to discourage the visits of Major Semberry to the Manor, and to break off; if possible, the intimacy which now exists--to my great regret--between him and Olive's future husband. I speak for his sake as I speak for hers, and you may take my word for it that the less they see of this military Belial, the better it will be for both of them. "And now, my dear sister, I must conclude my long but, I hope, not uninteresting letter, by inquiring after our mutual friends and acquaintances. I trust that young Lord Aldean is in good health, and that he is benefiting to the utmost extent of his mental powers--not that I think much of them--by the instruction of his tutor, the amiable Mr. Mallow, whom I esteem greatly for his many admirable qualities. If Lord Aldean only emulates the moral and social and scholastic example of his friend and tutor, I am convinced that he will prove a useful and ornamental member of our House of Peers, in which, doubtless, he will shortly take his seat. "Let me also inquire after Miss Ostergaard, the young lady of Danish extraction, from New Zealand; you will remember how highly I approved of her on the occasion of my last visit to Casterwell. It is to be desired that Olive should make an intimate friend of this charming young gentlewoman, in order that she may have constantly before her eyes a character of such sterling merit. Miss Ostergaard is a particular pet of mine, and I could wish our dear Olive no better fortune than that she should become just such another delightful girl. "I presume that Dr. Drabble is still in our parish, practising his profession during his intervals from political excitement and Radical speeches. It is to be regretted that such a firebrand should endanger the peace and rustic charm of our quiet corner of England, and, as I always said, it would be much more to Dr. Drabble's credit if, instead of promulgating dangerous dogma, he gave more attention to his hard-working wife and her too-numerous family. The man is a red Anarchist, a subverter of law and order, and I fully expect that he will end by throwing a bomb into Casterwell Church--a circumstance which is the more likely to occur from the fact that he is an atheist and an ardent follower of Monsieur Voltaire, to say nothing of the infidel Thomas Payne, and that abominable American, Colonel Ingersoll.