And now the bustle of servants and tradesmen, the various preparations that precede the departure of greatness, announced the secession of the Torrendale family from the Derbyshire neighbourhood. Already had Emily, with moist eyes, taken a tender farewell of her brother, and wept at parting with him, because he was going for some time; and at bidding farewell to Lady Strathallan, because it was possible, she said, she might soon return.

Lady Torrendale was to set off in a few days for Cheltenham; Spencer, to whom the waters were recommended as conducive to his perfect recovery, was to be of the party. Though suffering little from the effects of his quarrel, except the mortification of having one eye still covered, there was evidently a weight that hung upon his spirits at times sufficient to alarm the watchful tenderness of his mother; and though she was pretty well satisfied that she had little to fear from the partiality he had once professed for Arbella, her Ladyship was determined, before she left the country d'en avoir le cœur net, as she phrased it, upon the subject. We must then imagine the mother and son seated on opposite sofas; her Ladyship employed in her new and favorite amusement of plaiting chips; Spencer, indolently lounging, sometimes returning, and more often neglecting, the caresses of Floss, who most ambitiously raising himself on his hind legs, sought the honor of licking his hand. After a silence of some continuance, the Countess began the conversation, observing, 'You look uncommonly well to-day, Spencer; you will only / require a month at Cheltenham completely to recover your former self. But I had forgotten – the rooms and walks may not present the same attraction; for I tell you candidly I shall not take Arbella with me.