Speak not of fortune, I would give my child to you, had you but yourself to offer.

But I am but a secondary personage in this business," he added, playfully; "there is the enchantress who holds the fate of my Caroline more firmly than I do.
Away with you, St.Eval, plead your cause to her." "Caroline, my own, does your happiness depend on my consent, or have you done this merely for my sake ?" murmured Mrs.Hamilton, as her child clung in silence to her neck, and Lord St.Eval seized her hand and pressed it to his lips, as if eloquent silence should tell his tale, too, better than words.

Mrs.Hamilton spoke in a voice so low, as to be heard only by Caroline.
"Speak to me, love; tell me that St.Eval will be the husband of your free, unbiased choice, and my fondest blessing shall be yours." Caroline's answer was inaudible to all, save to the ear of maternal affection, to her mother it was enough.
"Take her, St.Eval; my consent, my earnest wish to behold you united has long been yours; may God in heaven bless you, my children, and make you happy in each other!" Solemnly she spoke; her earnestness was affecting, it struck to their hearts; for a moment there was silence, which Mrs.Hamilton was the first to break.
"Does my Caroline intend appearing at dinner in this costume ?" she asked, playfully, alluding to her daughter's morning dress.

Startled and blushing, Caroline, for the first time, perceived her mother was dressed for dinner, and her father, determining to banish all appearance of gravity, held up his watch, which pointed to some few minutes after the usual dinner-hour.

Glad to escape for a few minutes to the solitude of her own room, Caroline hastily withdrew her hand from St.Eval's detaining grasp, and smiling a brief farewell, brushed by Emmeline and Ellen, who were that instant entering, without speaking indeed, but with very evident marks of confusion, which Mr.Hamilton very quickly explained to the extreme satisfaction of all parties.
Caroline was not long before she returned.