"Go now!" said Alice. "Do not stay. We will treat you unusually well if you restore Lord Carleton's spirits. It makes us unhappy to see him in this state. There! go now. I dare say you will find him in his study, and dear Miss Price with him. She says he should not be left alone. So she finds it necessary to consult the great folios there."

Slowly Lord Merle withdrew his eyes from the fair girl, whom he hoped some day to call wife, and whom he loved as he had never loved any woman-wholly, devotedly, and with reverence almost religious. After he was gone, the sisters spoke of him.

"How bright, how handsome he is!" exclaimed Alice. 'Really Arundel's idea is correct, and Frank is like sunlight on the waves in summer. The house grows darker when he leaves it!"

"It is well you think so, darling!"

"Why do you say that, Geraldine, when you know Lord Merle is no more to me than he is to you? father's will enjoins no mariage de convenance.

Remember, my He is emphatic on that point. If my daughter can give her heart with her hand,' he says; 'not else.' Not else, indeed!"

Her voice faltered, and her cheek became paler; so much so, indeed, that Margaret Hastings, who was approaching at the moment with her brother James, said, when they approached

"You are looking very pale, Lady Alice!-you must be fatigued."

“Not in the least, I thank you. How do you do, Mr. Hastings ?"

"You left Mrs. Russell well, I hope ?" asked Lady Geraldine with marked courtesy, but without any of that graceful freedom which made her manner so charming in general. It seemed as if she had some feeling in her mind against this young man. It was strange that it should be so, for he had many qualities that gain a woman's good opinion. He was a perfect gentleman in appearance and manner. There was a winning look of gentleness and truth in his face—he was

modest, brave, and withal of a quiet, determined spirit, that influenced others in a way quite marvellous to themselves. Lord Merle and Margaret both felt that they could take no important step in life without consulting James. There was something irresistibly amiable about him; and Lady Geraldine always protested that she "hated amiable people!"—she said they were "all either crafty or silly." She could not think my father was either. But perhaps she suspected the passion he felt for her sister; and the Trevor pride rebelled against it; perhaps she was tired of hearing Lord Merle declare that "there was no one like James Hastings". -as the Athenians wearied of hearing Aristides called The Just.

My father replied with ease and dignity to Lady Geraldine's inquiries about Mrs. Russell and other London acquaintances, and then lapsed into silence, and walked beside Lady Alice. Margaret walked on the other side of Lady Geraldine.

“I have been thinking about the children's fête," said the latter. "I wish Arundel would come. He knows so much, and has such exquisite taste in tableaux. However, as the time is so short, we must get up something easy. Shall it be from the World of Poetry or from that of History?"

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'Oh, for children like the Fortescues it had better be from history," said Margaret. "I don't think they ever heard any poetry but Dr. Watts's hymns. If you could get up a tableau of the Sluggard, now, to serve as a frightful example to Master Jacky, it might tell, perhaps. Otherwise, let us have some well-known incidents from English history. Alfred giving Bread to the Beggar-Margaret of Anjou, the little Prince and the Robber-Queen Elizabeth and Raleigh with the Cloak, etc."

Lady Geraldine laughed. "I'll have nothing to do with scenes so hackneyed. Wait till Arundel comes, and then trust all to us."

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Oh, willingly!" said Margaret. "I know, dear, you are both much better judges than I. And, perhaps, it may be best for the children to see something they don't quite understand."

"Unquestionably it is! Let them stretch their lazy young minds up to the height of our great argument. I have chosen a few subjects for improvisation. It shall be one they knowCinderella,''The Yellow Dwarf,' 'The White Cat,' and the 'Sleeping Beauty.' You shall fix on one of these tales—or, let the little ones choose, and tell me at the time. By the way, can we see this wonderful oak parlour of yours ? Is it possible to arrange a curtain? Have you secured George Green and his wife? We can do nothing in carpentry or upholstery without them."

“Oh," said Margaret, "you don't know half the Raby accomplishments. Arundel is as good a carpenter as Green, and Lord Merle is a better. They will be too happy to work under your direction. I can make long stitches capitally. Oh, you shall see. Then the room is made for our purpose."

Lady Alice said she was tired and would go to her own room. Geraldine could come to her when she had seen the oak parlour. She accompanied them to the corner of another gallery, down which she glided, and James Hastings saw her no more till she appeared in the full lustre of her adorned beauty at the dinner-hour. He spent some time answering Lady Fortescue's questions about North Ashurst, and ended by saying "North Ashurst will be a model to all English landed proprietors in twenty years' time, if Arundel continue alive and well. He is not for making a sudden stride forward in one direction and standing still everywhere else. His plan is for slow, continuous, general progress. If there is one thing about which he is Quixotic, it is his belief in the effect of education. His schools are his greatest hobby."

“I have heard they are quite absurd!" said the lady. "That he has the lowest children taught a great many things besides what it is proper they should be taught—to read and write, and say their catechism. Depend upon it, Mr. Hastings, no good will come out of all this. It's just rank Radicalism and nothing else."

"What are the Radicals, mamma?" inquired Jacky Fortescue, who, with his sister Anna, had just entered the room.

"You and Lord Carleton are for everlasting talking about them! What are they?"

"My dear," said Lady Fortescue, smoothing the rough head of her darling, "the Radicals are people who live in the midland counties, and burn haystacks."

"Then cousin Arundel can't be a Radical!" exclaimed Anna; "for North Ashurst is not in the midland countiesit's in Yorkshire."

Presently, two or three more children came bursting into the room, and James Hastings withdrew. As he had time enough before dinner, he went down to the village, and called at the Rectory to see his old companion, William Grey, the new rector who was living there en garçon.

"It's not so pleasant living here as it used to be, James," observed that worthy young ecclesiastic. "Somehow, nothing is as pleasant as it used to be. I thought I should like coming to live here for the sake of old times; and now I find it's the thought of the old times that makes me so wretched here! I go about the house thinking of your father and mother, and all us boys; and Sophia and Margaret-and-little Naldo. often think of him. When I see 'Aged 11 years' on his tombstone, I can scarcely believe all his suffering and knowledge was crammed into so short a space. I can't bear this life much longer. I get as stupid as a dormouse alone here in the winter."

"It is not good for man to live alone, you know," said James; "and it is not good for the parish that the parson should. Suppose you turn your thoughts to a wife."

"D'ye think I should have a chance of getting the woman I want ?"

66 It's my belief that a man will get anything he wants, if he try hard enough."

"Humph!" said Brutus. "I suppose it's time for me to dress. If you will wait a quarter of an hour we can walk back together. Go about the house as you like-it's all open -you're free of the place-not naturalised, like me, but born a natural."

He laughed heartily at his own clumsy witticism, and James did so too. They both felt a genuine liking for each other, founded upon those early associations.

As he paced about the familiar rooms, James Hastings' thoughts glided from the past to the present. "Would to God Arundel were right!-that by intellect and industry I could found a house nobler than that of Raby or Trevor. How I would toil to win my bride, if that were all that is required. I would even dare the scornful finger of the worldly great ; they might call me adventurer, fortune-hunter, vulgar intruder. If I thought there was any love in her heart, all pride should be cast to the winds! No sacrifice, not even that bitter one, would be too great to make for her! And, sure of her love, nothing human or material should hinder me in my course to fame and fortune. The name of Trevor should veil its honours before those of Hastings. But how can this be? Shall I seek to win her from my friend-the friend who is dearer to me than a brother? She is Merle's promised bride; and he loves her! I am sure of it; I can read it in his face. Can Merle woo any woman in vain? There is no restraint upon him-no terrible conventional gulf fixed between them. She will love him, even if she do not love him now. Here! Here! Coming, Grey. Don't make such a noise."

CHAPTER III.

CHRISTMAS NIGHT AT CARLETON.

"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go."

Hamlet.

WHILE Margaret was dressing for dinner on the Christmas-day spoken of in the last chapter, Audrey, the housekeeper, came to her room.

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Oh, Miss Margaret! I'm glad you are dressed! And very nice you look in that beautiful green velvet. It's just like my Lady Geraldine's, I see. I'm very glad her ladyship