THE

REFUGEE IN AMERICA :

A NOVEL.

BY

MRS. TROLLOPE, voces (Metan)

AUTHOR OF "THE DOMESTIC MANNERS OF THE AMERICANS.'

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

WHITTAKER, TREACHER, AND CO.

AVE MARIA LANE.

1832.

THE

REFUGEE IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Ah! comment me consolerais-je à le fois de n'être pas à vous, et d'être à une autre.-ROUSSEAU.

MR. EDWARD GORDON was one of those fortunate persons, who, while yet in the pride of their youth, find themselves possessed of station, wealth, and independence. Nor were these all his advantages: a fine person, a cultivated intellect, and a generous heart, were also among his claims to a kind reception from the world; and at twenty-one he was the person whom nearly all his acquaintance considered as the most enviable individual they knew.

It may be considered, perhaps, rather as the consequence of his advantages, than as one of them, that he was not only the admired of all eyes, but also the desired of many hearts. Beautiful faces turned tenderly towards him from all sides; and, under such circumstances, to escape unscathed was impossible. It was not long before Mr. Gordon was seen dancing three quadrilles in one evening with the beautiful Miss Armitage.

His was not a heart to be thoroughly won in a ball-room; nevertheless an unspeakably sweet face, with a clever mother to manage the affairs of the tender heart it belonged to, formed a battery before which more experienced generals than Mr. Gordon have fallen; and at the age of twenty-one years, five months, and six days, he found himself, after a delightful morning visit of three hours in Bryanstone-square, engaged to the fascinating, elegant, portionless Caroline Armitage.

Some weeks prior to the evening of the abovementioned important quadrilles, he had arranged

with a young man to whom he had strongly attached himself at college, to travel with him to Rome. This young man was poor, or it might not have occurred to Mr. Gordon that he still wanted a tutor; but as the easiest way of assisting him, the proposal had been made in the usual manner, and accepted with a gratitude which sufficiently showed its importance. Passionately in love as Mr. Gordon was, he still wished to keep this engagement; and it fortunately happened that the mother of his betrothed, having a wealthy uncle who resided in the north of Ireland, particularly wished to pay him a visit previous to the marriage of her daughter. It might be that she thought such a visit, at such a time, would open the heart and the coffers of her venerable relative, and thus furnish means for procuring the thousand and one elegant necessaries which such a marriage rendered absolutely indispensable, but which it might not be easy to obtain without such assistance.

It was therefore settled, to the satisfaction of