Clara Maynard | Page 2

possessed those sterling qualities which would tend to secure his
daughter's happiness. Harry had met her when staying with some
friends at Cheltenham, and admired her before he knew that she
possessed a fortune. He had thus the satisfaction of feeling that his love
was purely disinterested. Of this she was aware, and it had greatly
influenced her in returning his affection. When Clara wrote to her

father, from whom she had no concealments, to tell him of the attention
she was receiving from Captain Caulfield, his reply was, "I am very
glad indeed to hear it; nothing could give me greater pleasure. Tell him
to come down to Luton, and that I shall be delighted to see him."
Clara shortly afterwards returned home with her Aunt Sarah, and Harry
of course followed, accompanied by his father, the general, who,
finding a house in the neighbourhood vacant, engaged it for the sake of
being near Captain Maynard, and thus enabling the young people to be
together without depriving himself of his son's society. Harry's
regiment was in India, and he was under orders to rejoin it. Though
fond of his profession, in which he had gained distinction, and had
every prospect of rising, he at first thought of selling out; but to this his
father objected, and even Captain Maynard agreed that, as Clara was
very young, they might wait a couple of years till he had obtained
another step in rank, and that he would then consent to her
accompanying him back, if necessary, to India. The course of true love
in this instance appeared to run smoothly enough. Harry was most
devoted in his attentions, and admired Clara more and more every day
he spent with her--while she was satisfied that it would be impossible
for her to love any one more; and had not she felt that it was her duty to
remain with her father, she would willingly have married at once, and
gone out to India. She saw clearly, however, that her Aunt Sarah was
not suited to take her place or attend to her father, as she had observed
of late that his health was failing, so that even for Harry's sake she
could not bring herself to quit him. She had therefore consented to
Harry's leaving her, though not without a severe struggle. It was the
first shadow which had come over her young and hitherto happy life
since the loss of her beloved mother. She was convinced that Harry was
in every way worthy of her affections. He was a fine, handsome fellow,
with frank agreeable manners, and a large amount of good sense and
judgment. He had managed even to win the good opinion of Miss Sarah
Pemberton, who was not in general inclined to think well of young men
especially of officers in the army, whom she designated generally as an
impudent, profligate set, with fluent tongues and insinuating manners,
whose chief occupation in life was to break the hearts of young girls
foolish enough to trust them.

Among the rest of the company on board the yacht was Mary Lennard,
a girl of about fourteen years old, a sweet young creature, and a great
favourite of Clara's. She was the daughter of the Reverend John
Lennard, who had been for some years vicar of the parish of
Luton-cum-Crosham, but only as locum tenens, he having been
requested to take charge of it by the patron, Sir Richard Bygrave, who
had promised to bestow it on his young relative, Dick Rushworth, as
soon as Dick was of an age to take orders. The said Dick Rushworth,
however, having lately unexpectedly come into a fortune, had quitted
the university, and declined becoming a clergyman; and Sir Reginald,
influenced by his wife, had bestowed the living on her cousin, the
Reverend Ambrose Lerew, who had graduated at Oxford, and had been
for some time a curate in that diocese. He had lately married a lady
somewhat older than himself, possessed of a fair fortune, who had been
considered a belle during two or three London seasons, but had failed
to secure such a matrimonial alliance as she and her friends considered
that she ought to make when she first came out. At length, awakening
to the fact that her youth was passing away and her beauty fading, she
had consented to give her hand, and as much of a heart as she possessed,
to the fashionable-looking and well-connected young curate, an
especial favourite of her friend, Lady Bygrave.
Mr Lennard had held the living longer than he had expected, and to the
best of his ability had done his duty to his parishioners. He was a genial,
warm-hearted man, of good presence; his manners urbane and
courteous; fond of a joke, hospitable and kind,