"Maria thinks she is doing the child a great kindness."

"That only makes it more necessary to open her eyes; I did hope poor Edith's death would have made her remember the end' more than she used to do."

"You know very well I think her as wrong about the unlucky child as you do, but I cannot help it; it is no use talking to me about it."

"Is your game nearly over?" said Mrs. Lawrence, after they had played in silence for some time; "it is past ten, Catherine went up stairs a quarter of an hour ago, but I do not believe you have missed her."

"We were too

Harriet rose immediately. deep in our game, I suppose, but I am quite ready to go to bed, mamma." The parting "good night" was said, and they all retired to their

rooms.

CHAPTER II.

"Excessive indulgence to others, especially to children, is, in fact, only self-indulgence under an alias."-Guesses at Truth.

The little Lawrences were well tutored both by mother and nurse, and told they were to take no notice of Helen's gambols, and if she asked them to play with her they were to say they were not allowed to do so. Of course this puzzled them not a little.

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Why may we not play with her, nurse?" asked Arthur, the second child, who was nearly a year older than Helen; "she is a pretty little girl, and very nicely dressed."

"You had better mind your mamma, Master Arthur; she is pretty enough, but she is not fit to play with the likes of you, and my little ladies."

"I am sure she is much prettier than they are," said Arthur, discontentedly.

"Why, Master Arthur, she's only a grocer's child that your aunt Maria keeps to amuse her; some ladies like dogs, and some parrots, but it

seems she fancies a child, more's the pity, so now do be a good boy, and let her alone."

Arthur was not inclined to let Helen alone, notwithstanding her plebeian parentage, and was seen the very next morning, running races with her in the garden, regardless of the remonstrances of his nurse, who was standing by with the two little girls.

The scene produced a warm altercation between Maria and her sister-in-law, which was with difficulty stilled by Mr. Lawrence, and ended in the delinquent Arthur being sentenced to go without his dinner. Little did his mother suspect that his playmate Helen contrived to supply him with cakes and fruit.

A still more flagrant case occurred a day or two after their nurse having a bad cold, the little Lawrences were turned into the garden to play by themselves, with a strict charge not to go near Helen's flower plot, and to have nothing to say to her if she should try to join them. Their mother felt very easy on the subject, as she was at work near the window, and could see what was going on. It was a capital place for play, that large old-fashioned garden, with its thick yew hedges, here and there cut into strange shapes and deep arbours, the fittest place in the county for a game at hide and seek.

After a time the entrance of morning visitors diverted Mrs. Edmund's attention, and just then

little Helen peeped round a corner, tossed a ball on to the grass, and ran laughing away. Arthur snatched up the ball, and ran after her; his sisters glanced at the window, their mamma's back was turned, and they followed the others.

More than half an hour passed before the children were missed, and when they were, their mother concluded they were gone back to the nursery; and Mrs. Lawrence having proposed a walk in the garden, she took no farther trouble about them. There was a fine collection of roses; both the ladies were fond of flowers, and Mrs. Lawrence took great pleasure in showing off her garden, which was now in great beauty. Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by shouts of laughter from the other side of the yew hedge.

"I thought the children were in the house," said Mrs. Edmund, as they passed under the verdant archway into the kitchen garden. She stood in silent indignation, as the cry of "whoop" from a neighbouring thicket, announced that Arthur was in hiding, and there were Bessy and Mary Lawrence, and Helen Lester, unconscious of the eyes that were upon them, laughing, screaming, and puzzling about to discover his place of concealment; the look with which she turned to her mother-in-law said, as plainly as words could have done, "this is not to be borne."

"What is all this? what are you doing here, Helen?" asked Mrs. Lawrence; but Helen had caught a glimpse of Arthur's foot, and before the question was finished, she was pulling him. by the legs from the midst of a large bushy bay tree, where he had ensconced himself; almost at the same moment the two little girls caught sight of their mother, and a sudden panic seized them, their first impulse was flight, if they could but reach the house, nurse would intercede for them. Not so the audacious Helen, who, panting with her exertions, ran up to Mrs. Lawrence, exclaiming, "Oh, I am so hot! but we have had such fun."

"I am not at all pleased with you, Helen; how came you here? I thought you were gone to Stenham to see your mother."

"I didn't want to go," murmured Helen, "and Missy," so she always called Miss Lawrence, "said I might do as I pleased." And not at all liking the tone of her questioner, she quickly made her escape.

"You see," said Mrs. Lawrence to her daughter-in-law, "it was quite a chance meeting; I will do all I can to prevent it for the future."

If the speaker had been Maria, instead of her mother, an angry debate might have ensued, but Mrs. Edmund Lawrence always treated her mother-in-law with respect, and contenting her