"Gratify my curiosity now.

Did Lady Helen evince any sorrow at the separation ?" "Not so much as, for Lilla's sake, I could have wished.

She has been so unfortunately prejudiced against her both by Annie and Miss Malison, that although I am convinced she loves her child, she never will evince any proof of it; and Lilla's unhappy temperament has, of course, increased this prejudice, which I fear will require years to remove, unless Annie be soon married, and Miss Malison removed from Lady Helen's establishment.

Then Lilla's really excellent qualities will quickly be made evident." "Mr.Grahame is already convinced she is a very different girl to that she has been represented, is he not ?" asked Ellen.
"He is; and I trust, from the awakened knowledge, happiness is dawning upon them both.

I could not see unmoved his struggle to part with her to-day, brief as the separation will be--scarcely six short months." "I was quite sure Mr.Grahame loved his children, though Annie and Cecil did say so much about his sternness," said Emmeline, somewhat triumphantly.
"Mr.Grahame's feelings are naturally the very wannest, but disappointment in some of his dearest hopes has, in some cases, unfortunately caused him to veil them; I regret this, both for Cecil and Lilla's sake, as I think, had he evinced greater interest and affection for them in their childish years, they might both have been different in character." "But it is not too late now ?" "I trust not for Lilla, but I greatly fear, from all I have heard, that Cecil's character is already formed.