last,' said Sir Richard with a furtive glance, which seemed to appeal to his sister's admiration.

'She has grown very like Anthony,' said Mrs. Grey. 'I was afraid-I thought, at least that she was going to take after her mother.'

'Where is Anthony, grandpapa ? said Thomasina; and the question perplexed her aunt, who said,

'Whom does the child mean?'

'Anthony-her father,' said Sir Richard,

with a gruff chuckle of amusement.

'She

has always called him so since she could

speak plain; she has never heard him called anything else.'

Upon my word!' ejaculated Mrs. Grey. 'I suppose, child, that you never heard of the fifth commandment?'

The commandments are stuck up among the monuments at church,' said Thomasina,

with a mental resolution that she would make it her object next Sunday to ascertain how often her obnoxious name was inscribed in letters of gold on black marble tablets.

'Sir Richard will tell you,' resumed Mrs. Grey, 'that we always addressed our dear parents as honoured sir and madam.'

'Did you really?' said Thomasina.

'If

I said so, Anthony would think that I was laughing at him.' And again Sir Richard's hearty laugh applauded her sharpness. It must be tea-time,' the little girl added, with a serene sense of victory. I will go up to mammy's room.'

Sir Richard hardly waited until the door was closed to ask his sister what she thought of her godchild, and, although he scarcely expected an enthusiastic reply, her faint praise did not satisfy him.

'She is pretty enough, Sir Richard, but she wants discipline.'

'Sir Richard and her father do spoil her,' said Lady Bertram. 'If I say a word to her, they declare that I want to break her spirit. But she is a good child.'

'As good a child as ever breathed,' said Sir Richard.

I don't doubt it, Sir Richard; but the best meat will be spoiled by bad cooking. It is against nature to bring up the child by herself, with all her elders to worship her, and you ought to send her to school, to be knocked about until she finds her own level. I only do my duty as a godmother in giving this advice, but of course you will not act upon it.'

'Of course not,' said Sir Richard; 'the child shall never leave the Chase in my time. I don't want her to be turned into a pert, stuck-up school-girl, or to hear of her moping and pining, which is more likely. She is all that a child ought to be-natural and intel

ligent, and not a bit forward. I don't believe that there is another like her in all the country for ten miles round.'

'You might as well say in all England,' rejoined Mrs. Grey.

'And so I will,' said Sir Richard stoutly. 'Not in all England, to my mind.'

'And then you say that the child will not be spoiled!' said Mrs. Grey, lifting up her hands and eyes. Sir Richard took up the newspaper and crackled it noisily, as a sign that he had had enough of the discussion.

Thomasina, meanwhile, had gone to her mother's room, from whom, perhaps, of all the inmates of the great house, she received least of the worship deprecated by Mrs. Grey. Before entering the room she instinctively smoothed her hair and adjusted the tippet, which had twisted itself awry, since there was apt to be more of criticism

than of affection in her mother's greeting. She, too, thought that Thomasina was allowed to grow up wild and untutored, and, with the languor of failing health, she fretted over evils which she felt herself powerless to remedy.

How late you are, dear child!' she said; 'I waited tea for you, and now it is almost cold.'

'I am sorry that I am late, mammy. I was obliged to stay a minute in the drawingroom to speak to Aunt Thomasina.'

And what does Aunt Thomasina think of you?'

'I do not think that she likes me much,' said Thomasina, with the quick instinct of a child to divine disapprobation; I am sure that I do not like her.'

'Your father is very fond of Aunt Thomasina,' said Mrs. Bertram.

Yes, mammy; I remember his saying so