Here, within sound of the great cataract and, on clear, typically
Canadian days, within sight of York, thirty miles distant across the
lake, Sir Peregrine and Lady Sarah Maitland found a grateful retreat
from the cares of public life. Not that they loved society less, but
solitude more; especially, to use a Hibernicism, when that solitude
was shared. In the early summer of 1827 Stamford Cottage was filled
with people after its pretty mistress's own heart. If she suspected
one of her guests of being also after the heart of another, it did not
endear him the less to her. Why should she not remove from the paths
of her _proteges_ the scarcely perceptible obstacles which prevented
them from being as happily married as herself? But one day she
discovered that the role of match-maker is as arduous as it is
alluring, and with this she went at once to her husband's study.
"Dear," she began, "I have become greatly interested in a young man,
and I thought it only right that you should know about it before it
goes any further."
"Ah, yes, certainly." The gentleman looked rather abstracted. "And the
young fellow--is he interested too?"
"Oh, interested is a feeble word.
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