He fell in love with Lady Barbara Sinclair; and he had no sooner done this than he felt, as we are all apt to do on similar occasions, how wise a thing he had done! Besides a lovely person, Lady Barbara Sinclair had a character that he saw would make him; and, in fact, Lady Barbara Sinclair was, to an inexperienced eye, the exact opposite of Lord Ipsden.
Her mental impulse was as plethoric as his was languid.
She was as enthusiastic as he was cool.
She took a warm interest in everything.

She believed that government is a science, and one that goes with _copia verborum._ She believed that, in England, government is administered, not by a set of men whose salaries range from eighty to five hundred pounds a year, and whose names are never heard, but by the First Lord of the Treasury, and other great men.
Hence she inferred, that it matters very much to all of us in whose hand is the rudder of that state vessel which goes down the wind of public opinion, without veering a point, let who will be at the helm.
She also cared very much who was the new bishop.

Religion--if not religion, theology--would be affected thereby.
She was enthusiastic about poets; imagined their verse to be some sort of clew to their characters, and so on.
She had other theories, which will be indicated by and by; at present it is enough to say that her mind was young, healthy, somewhat original, full of fire and faith, and empty of experience.
Lord Ipsden loved her! it was easy to love her.
First, there was not, in the whole range of her mind and body, one grain of affectation of any sort.
She was always, in point of fact, under the influence of some male mind or other, generally some writer.

What young woman is not, more or less, a mirror?
But she never imitated or affected; she was always herself, by whomsoever colored.
Then she was beautiful and eloquent; much too high-bred to put a restraint upon her natural manner, she was often more _naive,_ and even brusk, than your would-be aristocrats dare to be; but what a charming abruptness hers was! I do not excel in descriptions, and yet I want to give you some carnal idea of a certain peculiarity and charm this lady possessed; permit me to call a sister art to my aid.
There has lately stepped upon the French stage a charming personage, whose manner is quite free from the affectation that soils nearly all French actresses--Mademoiselle Madeleine Brohan! When you see this young lady play Mademoiselle La Segli'ere, you see high-bred sensibility personified, and you see something like Lady Barbara Sinclair.
She was a connection of Lord Ipsden's, but they had not met for two years, when they encountered each other in Paris just before the commencement of this "Dramatic Story," "Novel" by courtesy.
The month he spent in Paris, near her, was a bright month to Lord Ipsden.

A bystander would not have gathered, from his manner, that he was warmly in love with this lady; but, for all that, his lordship was gradually uncoiling himself, and gracefully, quietly basking in the rays of Barbara Sinclair.
He was also just beginning to take an interest in subjects of the day--ministries, flat paintings, controversial novels, Cromwell's spotless integrity, etc .-- why not?
They interested her.
Suddenly the lady and her family returned to England.