The evening before the ceremony was to take place, Mr. Barclay came in with two ladies.  One, a benign but august looking personage; the other, a sylph-like, beautiful creature of eighteen, whom he introduced as his mother and younger sister.  Ethelind timidly but gracefully received them.  Their kind and easy manner soon removed the little restraint there was at first, but she was still bewildered, and could hardly fancy she was not dreaming; their appearance, too, increased rather than diminished her wonder, for they were most elegantly attired.  After allowing a short time for conversation, she went out and fetched her mother, and all parties seemed delighted with each other.  After sitting some time, Mr. Barclay, looking at his mother, rose, and taking Ethelind’s hand, said, “now, my disinterested girl, allow me to introduce myself as Frederic Barclay Eardly!”

“Can it be possible!” exclaimed Mrs. Fortescue and Ethelind at once, and with the utmost surprise, while Lady Eardly and her daughter sat smiling and pleased spectators.

“Yes, my dear Ethelind; but the deception has been very unpremeditated on my part, as you shall hear.  Arriving in England alone, I came down, merely intending to look round, having had some reason to be dissatisfied with Mr. Jones, the acting curate, by whom, when I got to the inn, I was supposed to be the new curate, and as such, I believe, received very differently to what I should have been as the rector; and anxious to know exactly the state of my parishioners, thought, in the humble capacity, they had taken me, I might better do this.  In calling to see your mother, who, I thought, from her previous good deeds in the parish, was likely to be an efficient adviser, I was invited to tea, and from the conversation of both you and her, I found, that while as the curate I should have free intercourse at the cottage, as the Hon. Frederic Eardly the doors would be closed on me; added to this, was a lurking hope that I might, eventually, gain your affections, and know that you loved me for myself alone.  Your reserve however, dispelled, for a time, that illusion.  Beatrice Trevor came and threw out lures I could not resist, and I was fairly entrapped; however, I will not dwell on what has led to such happy results.  Bennet, alone, knows my secret.”

Lady Eardly now took an affectionate leave.  She had brought a splendid wedding dress for Ethelind, but her son insisted on her wearing the plain white muslin she had herself prepared.

A union founded on such a basis, could not fail to bring as much real happiness as mortals, subject to the vicissitudes of life, could expect.  Frederic Eardly passed many years of usefulness in his native place, aided, in many of his good works, by his amiable wife.  But though blessed with many earthly comforts, they were not without their trials, they had a promising family, but two or three were early recalled; and in proportion to their affection for these interesting children, was their grief at the severed links in the chain of earthly love.  The mother, perhaps, felt more keenly than the father, but both knew they were blessings only lent, and they bowed submissively.