certainly burst, if we add much more to the load it already carries."

"Shall I order a post-chaise to follow with Matilda's dressing-box ?" asked Sir Francis dryly. "You fill up more room in the world now, Eleanor, than in the days when I took Matilda and you, three in a gig, to Argyle-shire; and your baggage might then have been tied up, like Mr. Dowlas's, in a pocket-handkerchief."

The young heiress made no reply. She always felt a mix-ture of fear and respect for Sir Francis Howard, whose rallying manner and ready humor had acquired a sort of influence over her which no one else could have possibly preserved. His quick sense of the ridiculous, and unrivalled turn for mimicry, often enabled him to show her up in a way that made Eleanor conscious how absurdly she had acted or spoken; and frequently, when she could have braved Lady Olivia's affectionate remonstrances, the keen shaft of Sir Francis' eye, and the cutting sharpness of his ready wit, kept her in awe; and yet she liked him as well as her blunted feelings could enable her to like any one, and enjoyed a frequent war of wit with him, in which species of mental gladiatorship it was difficult to say whose weapons were the brightest, or which came off victorious.

“Have you heard that Barbara set out this morning for Argyleshire ?" inquired Sir Francis. "Poor soul! she is sadly altered. I declare it is melancholy to see how amiable she has become now! I have lent her Ptarmigan Cottage during pleasure, and we hope she will soon become quite herself again!"

"I hope not, for anybody else would be better," replied Eleanor, laughing; "you should change the name to Termagant Cottage, till she abdicates it."

"I shall postpone that alteration till you are settled there," answered Sir Francis gravely. "You are as pungent as a vinaigrette this morning, Eleanor !"

“There is nothing more dangerous than a bad example.” “Well, adieu! You are longing to be off, I suppose, and to reach the rural plains of Inverness-shire. 'Oh! for a lodge in some vast wilderness-some boundless contiguity of shade!' Eh, Eleanor? Long life to you, then! and take care of my precious Matilda. I grudge you every hour of her society that we lose, for she is the very light of my eyes now. But, my dear girl, write constantly; keep a pen behind

your ear, and as long as you are absent I trust we shall hear that Time has had his wings 'parfumées de bonheur.'"

When the carriage stopped in Maitland-street for Miss Marabout, Eleanor turned to her cousin, saying "By the way, Matilda, have you any objection to sit backwards? it would be such a charity! for Miss Marabout is subject to headaches, and it kills me outright, the seat is so narrow, and the back so perpendicular. I have less scruple in venturing this proposal, because you are such a good creature; and we young ladies are seldom promoted to any other side."

"No more are governesses in general; but I shall willingly give up this place, in memory of old times, when neither you nor I, Eleanor, could dare hardly to sit down in her presence at all," replied Matilda, with her wonted vivacity of look and manner, for she could not help feeling diverted at Eleanor's extreme absurdity,

The heiress gave her cousin a good-humored, but a rather patronising nod when she vacated her seat; and for some time after the carriage had driven on, Matilda was occupied in realizing to her own mind that the proud, consequentiallooking personage opposite, wrapped up in ermine fur and Chantilly lace, with a grave, dignified aspect, and a pompous, commanding voice, could actually be the lively, frolicsome companion of her own juvenile days, with whom she had once lived in the free interchange of every thought, and in the happy confidence of unbounded, and, as she then believed, unalterable affection. "Cease ye from man," thought Matilda; "alas! how early am I taught the frailty of human friendship! By the changeableness of one, and by the death. of another, I have equally lost the two who were dearest to me on earth. Oh! may the sorrow of this hour only serve to confirm the more gratefully my dependence on that eternal Friend who will never either disappoint or forsake me !"

Meantime Eleanor and Miss Marabout had thrown themselves gracefully back into opposite corners of the britschska, almost buried alive in cloaks and cushions, while they became deeply engaged in an animated discussion of all that everybody had said or done for the last few months, during which nothing could exceed the skill and perseverance with which Miss Marabout flattered her ci-devant pupil, unless it were the readiness with which her douceurs were accepted; for frequent practice had taught her to suit the bait to those she wished to catch, and Eleanor was becoming every day less

fastidious in respect to the quantity or the quality of adulation which she could believe to be sincere as it was wellmerited.

"That was so like you!" Miss Marabout was in the act of saying, when Matilda first aroused her attention. "As soon as I hear of anything generous or amiable, it instantly reminds me of Miss Fitz-Patrick, for we so rarely see the heart expand in proportion to the fortune; but yours were formed to suit each other.

Miss Marabout was apt to run aground in her quotations, to which Eleanor had long been accustomed, so she did not supply the cue, but continued the train of her own thoughts and plans. "I always wished, as you know, to transplant the Muckleraith family from Ashgrove, but Lady Olivia entertained some odd notions on the subject. The old man is dead now, so I have taken that rustic beauty, Nanny, whom we have so long raved about, into my service, and she looks like a perfect fairy. The plain elder sister may blush unseen, and remain with her mother, who will be a picturesque-looking old woman for attending to my fancy dairy and poultry-yard."

"How very kind and judicious!" exclaimed Miss Marabout; "but I always foretold that you would be a model for the rich as well as a friend to the poor, and few people combine so much power and inclination to be both."

"That silly girl Nanny imagined herself attached or engaged to the under-gardener, William Grey, though I hope she will learn better taste in my service than to fancy such a clownish-looking youth; but, with my usual good-nature, I have engaged him to work for me in the Highlands--and my greatest achievement of all remains to be told. Poor old Millar is already at Barnard Castle. She can make herself of no earthly use; but in every large country-house there must inevitably be an old nurse, or superannuated housekeeper, who is a pet in the establishment, with nothing to do but drink oceans of tea and grumble at the other servants So I have taken Millar as a necessary grievance, and shall let her be at grass while she lives.

Matilda felt surprised at the contemptuous tone in which Lady Olivia's faithful, attached servant was noticed, and she was hurt that none of these interesting communications

were addressed to herself; but anxious not to be " overcome of evil," she listened with animated attention, and tried to appear as if the oversight was entirely unnoticed, by joining in the conversation with a degree of cheerfulness suited to the tone of her companions, though they were so agreeably occupied with each other that neither seemed conscious of the remarks which Matilda occasionally intruded upon them.

"With respect to your old victim, Sir Alfred Douglas," continued Miss Marabout, complaisantly, "I have it from undoubted authority that he admired no young lady abroad." "Of course not, for you know he had seen me," replied Eleanor.

Ah, very true! He is said to have become handsomer and more repulsive than ever, if that be possible; for Lady Montague says that all Florence was in an uproar about him, and the most diverting anecdotes were in circulation of the hauteur and indifference with which he kept every body at a distance last winter; but the more he tried to repress people's attentions, the more they were obtruded upon him."

"Of course! that is the way always !-whenever you wish to get on in society, begin by cutting three or four perfectly respectable people."

"Lady Montague mentioned a curious circumstance about Sir Alfred," continued Miss Marabout, evidently wishing and expecting to be asked for the sequel; "but she told it me under seal of the strictest secrecy.'

"Oh! delightful !" exclaimed Eleanor eagerly; "it gives such zest to a story when people have promised not to tell it. Now go on!"

"But" said Miss Marabout, with a hesitating look at Miss Howard.

"Nonsense!” cried Eleanor, impatiently, "you know very well that if Matilda had been Blue Beard's wife, she might have been alive yet, for any danger of her prying into secrets or repeating them. So now for your story."

"It was very much whispered that, a few days before Lady Amelia's death, she sent for her son, and extracted a promise from him that he would neither marry nor engage himself, for a certain length of time which she specified; and it appears, from what Lady Montague can learn, that his mother had some very eligible match in view, but that he prefers another, whom she does not think desirable. I can

not understand the business, having always been certain that he was devoted to you, and Lady Amelia would have felt too thankful for the slightest prospect of making that out, which would have rendered her son the most envied man in existence."

"I hate 'dying requests,' because they are sure to be always something so disagreeable or inconvenient that no living person could expect them to be granted! We must have an act of Parliament to annul all such extorted promises!" exclaimed Eleanor, indignantly. "I can now explain the whole enigma of Sir Alfred's conduct, for there need surely be no doubt that he was an admirer, in his dry, distant, odd way; but some 'good-natured friend' has certainly shown Lady Amelia the caricature I drew of her, as a bearleader, taking about the young Baronet with a rein round his neck. The sketch was thought so inimitable that it circulated more than was prudent, and very probably fell into Lady Amelia's hand, who would certainly be angry, because her own portrait was dreadfully like; so it becomes evident that she wishes to prevent his proposing to me in a spirit of very laudable vengeance. As long as there are old people in the world, the course of true love never will run smooth."

"But your conjecture can scarcely be correct," interposed Matilda, trying to speak with the same indifference as if she had been dissenting from Eleanor's verdict on the weather, or setting her right about the day of the month, though a rebellious blush rose on her cheek and dyed it with crimson. "You must have mistaken Lady Amelia's opinions, because I heard her admiring you in terms that would satisfy even Miss Marabout. You used to say that she puffed off her favorites as if they were quack medicines, and that Lady Amelia should be poet-laureate to the japan blacking: so on this occasion your opinion would have been quite confirmed, for she was all in superlatives."

"Then what took Sir Alfred abroad, unless she had doubts of his being accepted, which would be quite reasonable and proper, for I am not at all sure upon that score myself; but one would, at any rate, like to be asked, if it were only for the good it would do Sir Alfred to be surprised with a refusal. I shall set about it as soon as he comes to lionize Barnard Castle at Christmas, when he will of course renew his attentions."

"Attentions!" exclaimed Matilda in undisguised astonishment. "I thought, Eleanor, you complained that he never