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The first name in the house with which Mr. Falconer had joined himself was Mayton, a gay bachelor, the third as we already have observed, was Ingalton, a man of mild, unassuming deportment, married to an amiable, lady-like woman, who had made him the happy father of a promising family. The first partner travelled much as they had an extensive iron foundery in Sweden; the last in the firm managed their affairs at home, for which he was well calculated in every respect, save the delicacy of his general health. Mr. Falconer held a middle station, as having too little knowledge for a leader, yet being too important to be placed last, and reduced as his fortune really was, he yet brought with him a reinforcement of money, which was of great consequence to the house, and was magnified so much by report, that he now entered on his new station under circumstances not less flattering to his self-love, than to those hopes, it was his error and misfortune to indulge.

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It will be evident that our little heroine, for some time at least, would exchange one set of flatterers for another, and would move the queen of a new empire, perhaps more seductive than the last, since she was frequently made the medium of paying court to her mother by those ladies of B——, who were desirous of classing themselves in the highest circle of society their country boasted. Mothers wished to see their daughters possess the same graceful agility, the same unaffected dignity, and artless witchery, which made her beauty but a second charm in Maria, and which even a London education at a great expense did not impart to their darlings, but these advances rarely led to any thing that could be termed intimacy with mother or daughter. Mrs. Falconer really loved Mrs. Ingalton, and she was amused by the society of Lady Trevannion, and with them and the busy, lively companions who were always with her, she was content. The circumstances of her married life, added to her early loss of friends, had impressed a pensive character, a meek, but constant solicitude on her spirits, which made the glare and bustle of life rather painful than pleasurable to her, she loved society, but she disliked parade, and the beauty and elegance which rendered her an object of unbounded admiration, never affected her in any way incompatible with this love of retirement; and her continued devotion to a husband whose fine person, and frank and graceful manners, she now saw to more advantage than ever, in a circle where they were unrivalled.