“I am sure I shall break mine,”said Lydia.

“And my aunt Phillips is sure it would do me a great deal of good,”added Kitty.

Their affectionate mother shared all their grief;she remembered what she had herself endured on a similar occasion, five-and-twenty years ago.

But the gloom of Lydia's prospect was shortly cleared away;for she received an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the wife of the colonel of the regiment, to accompany her to Brighton. This invaluable friend was a very young woman, and very lately married.A resemblance in good humour and good spirits had recommended her and Lydia to each other,and out of their three months' acquaintance they had been intimate two.

“Lydia will never be easy until she has exposed herself in some public place or other,and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to her family as under the present circumstances.”