It is true that a less kindly use bas sometimes been made of these opportunities. Rumors have occasionally reached me from the village of bitter allusions to packs of fools, and other disparaging sarcasms; but these are very rare exceptions, and have never resulted in putting us out of conceit with the idea, which we rival one another in attempts to realize effectively. Thus the Hewsons' ten-of-spades flowerbeds were much admired, and flattered by speedy imitation along the rest of the row, whilst our own device of filling our diamond-shaped casements with glowing scarlet blinds was considered extremely happy, and Tom Bridgford's note-paper stamped with tiny clubs seemed almost too subtle and recondite a flight of fancy. Then one spring the Miss Lysters came out in smart white dresses upon which they had sewed innumerable little hearts made of some thin pink stuff. But I be lieve that one of their Rochester cousins who soon afterwards came to stay with them must have condemned these costumes as vulgar, for they were presently discarded, and once, when Dora Hewson said something about them, I noticed that the girls looked discomfited, and seemed to avoid the subject.

But though the name did not jump with | plicable by the laws of association. We Mr. Hornidge's humor, and was most se- find them useful, moreover, as a means of verely frowned upon by Rectory and Hall, restoring harmony, for if any coolness or it was adopted quite enthusiastically by unpleasantness has sprung up between two many of the Densleigh folk, and especially of us, there is no easier way of sliding by the parties chiefly concerned. I sup- back into the old friendly groove than pose the main reason why we dwellers through the interposition of such a joke, in The Pack have got on, as a rule, so the perpetrating and recognizing of which well with one another and have become, are always regarded as a tacit reconcilia. for the most part, such permanent ten- tion, and often have I seen scared good ants, is that we happen to be a peaceable, humor lured back by recourse to this steady, unenterprising set of people, fond simple expedient. neither of squabbles nor flittings; still, I always fancy that the eccentric nomenclature of our habitations has somehow acted as a bond of union among us, inspiring us with a species of esprit de corps, and causing us from the first to feel an interest in our immediate surroundings which we should not have possessed had we been obliged to describe them by such commonplaces as Prospect Villa or Willow Grove. Perhaps the strongest element in this bond is wit. No outsider could imagine how perennial a source of facetiæ those names afford. From the arrival of the morning letters - and is not an envelope addressed, "Mr. Bell, Diamond Mount, The Pack," a passable witticism in itself? to the extinction of the cheerful lamplight globules in the four little drawing. rooms, when ten to one somebody will say something funny about "following suit," occasions for these displays of cleverness are continually turning up. The topic is a perfect godsend to those amongst us who have a reputation for brilliant conversational gifts to keep them unrusted. For, given the presence in the company of any body connected with The Pack, the slight est emphasizing of such ordinary phrases as, for example, "It's quite on the cards," or "I'm not a good hand at it," immediately converts the speech into an epigram which is sure to be applauded by members of the audience, who, foreseeing the likeli hood of similar openings for distinguishing themselves, are all the readier to establish appreciative precedents. This applause is louder when the speaker achieves an appropriate personality with reference to its subject's abode: "Ah! Mrs. Lyster's heart's in the right place; ""We all know that Mr. Hewson's not afraid to call a spade a spade"-but bons mots of this calibre cannot be looked for every day. Indeed, many of the jocular remarks with which we neighbors are content to entertain ourselves wholly lack the attribute of novelty, and no doubt for that very reason we "like them better than a better jest," the fondness being a propensity easily ex

The Lysters lived in Heart Lodge, which stands at the east end of our row. Their family consisted of father, mother, and two daughters, for the only son, being generally at sea, did not count. They were our newest comers, having, at the time I am thinking of, been only about three years in residence, and they were also, not quite solely for this reason, the least esteemed inmates of The Pack. Not that we had any particularly serious fault to find with them. It was rather that the Lysters' family failings were of a kind calculated to wound their neighbors' sen. sibilities more than some ethically graver delinquencies would have done; these failings being chiefly manifested in a tendency to give themselves airs and think themselves better than other people, "why, goodness only knows," as we always said

when discussing the matter. Perhaps the | in her company, so cheerful, alert, sensi-
reason why partly lay in the circumstance ble, and sympathetic is she, so bright
that the Lysters were a little richer than are her dark eyes under her white, spun-
the rest of us, and had been accustomed, glass-like hair, and so shrewd and kindly,
before their father's retirement from busi- and withal up to date, are her comments
ness, to live upon a larger scale, so that upon their long course of observations.
they regarded The Pack as somewhat of a Here also dwelt Mr. John Connor, her
"come down" in the world, whereas we younger brother, and Miss Gertrude Banks,
were inclined to plume ourselves upon the her niece, an old-maid, middle-aged and
gentility of our abodes. Again, the satis- poor.
factory proportion between the size of Spade Villa adjoins Diamond Mount,
their income and of their domestic circle and at this time was very densely popu-
enabled them to do much more in what we,lated by the Hewson family. Two grown-
when censoriously mooded, called "the
gadding about" line than could be at
tempted by us, whose resources would not
stand the rapid transmutation of shillings
and pounds into hotel bills and railway
tickets; and some of us did not enjoy
being asked what our plans were for
Easter, or Whitsun week, or the summer
holidays, when we happened to have no
plans at all. But perhaps the most im-
portant point about them was the fact that
they were blessed with relations of the
buoying-up, air-bladder type, which forms
so enviable a contrast to the depressing |
dead-weights whom many of us are fain to
number among our kin. Their relatives
seemed almost without exception to oc-
cupy that position in the social scale which
renders it a pride and pleasure to make
mention of their names with the prefix of
"my uncle
or "my cousin ; and the
Lysters frequently indulged themselves in
this way. One family of cousins there
was residing near Rochester whom they
appeared to consider peculiarly distin
guished, and it was upon the occasion of
visits from these prized connections that
we had observed a disposition to ignore
customary intimacies, and to assume an
attitude of temporary aloofness, which nat-
urally outraged our proper pride and
stiffened our manners for some weeks
afterwards. Apart from those specially
irritating circumstances, however, we
really liked the Lysters well enough. The
girls were bright and talkative, and Maud
was rather pretty.

Next to Heart Lodge comes Diamond Mount, where I board and lodge, though, by virtue of a very distant cousinship and a very close friendship between myself and the house's mistress, my position in the establishment is never regarded from the hard, cold point of view which that phrase suggests. Mrs. Wyatt is a lady whom her friends wish otherwise in one respect alone, namely, the number of years by which her age exceeds fourscore; and even this drawback is easily forgotten

up daughters, two big boys at school, and
five or six smaller fry served as ample
explanatory notes to the not unfrequently
harassed looks of Mr. Hewson, who had a
not more than tolerably good solicitor's
practice in Maythorpe, and accounted for
the slightly dilapidated and shabby condi.
tion of their furniture and premises, where
the locust-like ravages of the children out-
stripped the possibilities of replacement
and repair. Under these circumstances,
1 was pleased to observe that the girls
managed to keep themselves trimly and
freshly attired, a result which was, I be-
lieve, principally due to the exertions of
Miss Etta, the eldest sister, for Miss Dora
had studious tastes, and was more indif-
ferent to her toilet than behoves a young
lady of eighteen, her mind being divided
between her books and repinings over the
restrictions which her sex imposed upon
the utilization of her learning.
"Miss
Dora Hewson goes in for Latin and Euclid,
doesn't she?" Hume Bridgford said to me
one day; "she looks as if she did, at any
rate," added the Oxonian superciliously,
evincing that want of appreciation for
female thirst after knowledge which is so
often noticeable among his compeers.
Etta Hewson had no such misplaced
propensities. A pretty edition of her
hard-featured sister, and constitutionally
light-hearted and good-tempered, she gen-
erally seemed to be well contented with
her lot in life, a little dull, perhaps, now
and then, or a little worried by the chil-
dren, but, upon the whole, fleeting the
time carelessly enough, untroubled by
darker, forward-looking thoughts than suit
the golden age of twenty.

Westward The Pack terminated in Club House, the Bridgfords' abode. Old Mr. Bridgford had also retired from business, over the nature of which, however, he made no attempt to throw that glamour of vagueness diffused by the word " mer. chant" wherewith the Lysters sought to invest their antecedents. All the world were welcome to know, so far as he was

the fact that, having watched them grow up together from mere children, seeing the frankness of ten and twelve supplanted by hobbledehoy seventeen's gawky indifference and the monosyllabic bashfulness of unformed fifteen, we had latterly noted signs which led us to augur the springing up of an attachment between our favorites. My cousin and I had never alluded to the subject, but I believe that each was quite aware of the other's surmise, and that we both agreed in looking on with approbation. It was true that the match would be a by no means wealthy one, but Tom's prospects were fairly good, as with all his athletic feats and soldierly bearing he was admitted to have a clear head for business, and to be as steady as old Time; whilst the portionless Etta was simple in her tastes, and had already manifested some talent for thrifty housekeeping. Altogether we deemed ourselves justified in feeling the satisfaction with which, in these days of multiplying old maids, a benevo lent elder may see a young life timely quitting the path towards their forlorn precincts by the safe and honorable exit of a genuine love marriage.

concerned, that he had been the senior partner in the firm of Bridgford and Peters, who had for many years carried on business as seedsmen in York; not over prosperously of late, so that he had been able to dispose of his share in the concern upon only moderately advantageous terms when he withdrew into private life. The Bridgfords, like the Hewsons and ourselves, were, so to speak, autochthons, having inhabited Club House ever since its walls were dry, though their numbers had been diminished by the marriage of both daughters and the departure of the eldest son to grow tea in Assam, whence he had before very long despatched a pair of small, fat, anything but exotic-looking children to be spoiled by his old mother at home. The only one of the young people, therefore, still permanently quartered at Club House was Tom, who had a good clerkship in Maythorpe, whither he repaired every morning, perched atop of a big, intricately spoked wheel like a gigantic spider's web. His youngest brother, Hume, was for the most part absent, keep ing his terms at Oxford, having attained to a university career through the aid of a scholarship and a maternal uncle. If a This being so, it was with no small chastranger had been called upon to point out grin that in the course of the particular which of the two brothers was the under- summer which I have in my mind we graduate of Christ Church, he would perceived a gradual clouding over of our probably have guessed wrong, for Hume hitherto sunny little romance. It is not Bridgford was not only awkward and shy improbable that several minor causes may qualities compatible enough with the have co-operated in bringing about this rôle of a reading man - but had also, de-effect, but it is certain that the most potent, spite his unquestioned abilities, a duli and and to us the most patent one, was the heavy countenance, joined to a generally prolonged sojourn at Heart Lodge of the bucolic aspect more suggestive of agricul- Lysters' cousin, Miss Daisy Hancock. tural than of academic pursuits; whereas She was a young lady who, as a general Tom, besides being a tall, good-looking rule, looked about five-and-twenty, though young fellow, well set up, athletic, and when she was tired or cross, certain fine slightly military in appearance, possessed lines showed themselves at the corners of the further advantages of easy, polished her eyes and mouth, as old finger-marks manners, and a certain high-bred air for reappear when you breathe upon glass, which we found it difficult to account ex- and wrote her down some years nearer cept by supposing him to have inherited thirty. Be this as it may, the only fact it from his mother's family, who were ru- about her which much concerns us here mored to have regarded her marriage as a was that she belonged to the class of mésalliance. It was not, however, merely women who find existence impracticable the possession of these superficial merits without some phantom, at least, of what that had made Tom Bridgman so great a housemaids naïvely term a follower, and favorite with us of Diamond Mount, sec- for whose piece of mind it is well that the ond only, indeed, to Etta Hewson, who activity of their imaginations is but little had been long installed in the position of impeded by the discouragingly passive the nicest girl we knew; for the lad was demeanor of any individual whom they well-principled and far from unintelligent, may elect to look upon in that light. Daisy being gifted with a sense of humor which Hancock, like all those of her clan who saved him from either priggishness or are meagrely endowed with personal cynicism. charms, had gained considerable expe rience in the conduct of more or less lopsided flirtations, and accordingly, hav

At the time I think of our interest in these two young people was enhanced by

IN THE PACK.

589

ing once determined that Tom Bridgford | ently further complicated by the arrival of
was to be their object, she began her Hume Bridgford to spend the long vaca-
manœuvres with a veteran's composure tion. For it so happened that he, simply
and aplomb. Have we not all seen the because she, as an old acquaintance, was
like? She made Tom teach her chess; less formidable to him than the Miss Lys-
she requested him to button her gloves; ters, whilst he suspected her sister Dora
she gave him commissions to execute for of desiring to engage him in learned dis-
her in Maythorpe (which was really rather course, attached himself to Etta with a
stupid of her, as small parcels are irritat marked exclusiveness which the casual
ing companions upon a bicycle); she took observer might easily have attributed to
short strolls along the Maythorpe road to other motives, and which she met with a
meet him on his way back from his office frank friendliness surviving from the time
a thing Etta Hewson would not have when she used to pity the ungainly school-
done for her weight in gold-and caused boy for always looking so awkward and
him to walk home beside her trundling uncomfortable.
his tall "express;" she painted a device
of clubs, rather badly, upon the handle of
his tennis-racket; she sang what she said
were his favorite songs, and she asked his
opinion and advice upon all manner of
subjects.

Under ordinary circumstances Tom would have thought nothing of this, the idea of Hume becoming his rival in any more practical matters than hendecasyllables or conjectural emendations being so entirely heterogeneous with all the growths of his previous experience that it could not easily take root in his mind. But now Etta's coldness bad roused a sensitiveness in him which was, I fancy, heightened by jokes and insinuations upon the part of Daisy Hancock, whom I once overheard saying something to him about "the inseparables" which made him look positively ferocious. It was soon after this that he began to talk quite seriously, as it seemed, about a promising opening for himself which he had heard of in an Australian house of business, and, upon the whole, affairs assumed an aspect which threatened to terminate in a case of " she was, and I thought her proud, thought her cold, and fled over the sea."

"shy

It need not be assumed, however, that in all this she had any more serious purpose before her than to amuse herself for a while in a way which, she imagined, gave her some prestige, and her proceedings some éclat, in her neighbors' eyes; and Tom himself quite understood the situation, and was slightly bored thereby, as I judged from the increasing frequency with which he absented himself from The Pack on Saturday half-holidays. But it was otherwise with Etta. Her experience of society had been extremely limited, nor were there in her own character and tastes any elements calculated to give her an intuitive insight into the nature of the phenomena presented by Miss Hancock. All she saw was that Tom and the new- This unsatisfactory state of things comer were constantly laughing and talk- weighed a good deal upon my mind, and ing together in tones of easy familiarity quite spoiled my pleasure in watching the upon which she, reasoning from very im- little groups upon the lawn-tennis ground perfect analogies, could only put one in- in the field at the back of The Pack, terpretation. She neither detected nor whither it was the custom of our young suspected the petty stratagems by which people to resort of an afternoon; for the Miss Hancock achieved that monopoly partners always "sorted themselves" of Tom's society, but their success was wrongly. Having a Promethean amount painfully apparent to her, and, if I am of leisure on hand, I could, and did, denot much mistaken, caused her many a vote much time to observing the progress melancholy hour. As the weeks went on, of the estrangement, until at last I became she grew very pale and quiet. At the best so well versed in the ins and outs of it, of times she was rather subject to shy fits, and could read so clearly between the lines the presence of a single stranger often of many trivial speeches and actions, that sufficing to envelop her in a silent and I occasionally felt half guilty, as if I had sad-visaged primness; but she now seemed obtained my knowledge by some surrep. to have permanently retreated behind that titious or otherwise unjustifiable means. effacing screen, and on more than one This feeling was particularly strong upon Occasion I saw Tom look puzzled and me one day, when I heard Etta, who was disconcerted when his remarks were re-paying us an early visit, say in a restless sponded to across an icy distance, the origin of which he was very far from divining. Matters, moreover, were pres

sort of way to my cousin, as they sat together over their knitting: "Mrs. Wyatt, don't you sometimes get horribly tired of