Lord Altamont nodded to him in token of favour and recognition, half rose from his seat, and shading his eyes with his hand, fixed them on the great clock over the chimney; then drawing out from his black velvet waistcoat a chased gold watch, to ascertain the agreement of the time-keepers, paused a moment, and the next a sonorous bell struck twelve, while the pressed repeater echoed the hour in faithful precision.

"Very exact!" he said; and resuming his seat, took up a small MS. book, and, running his finger over the notes of the opened page, read aloud:

"The palings round the young plantations of the East Park to be repaired: I saw one of the outlying deer there two days ago. Let me not have to mention this a second time."

Lord Altamont dropped his book, and fixed his eyes on his steward as though waiting for a reply. "Your lordship shall be obeyed; depend upon it, my lord, not a mouse shall get through in future.”

"And the east gate, leading to the inner park, Clarkson: the trefoil ornaments on the

top have suffered injury, and I suspect the mischief has been done by those idle boys the Bensons; if so, and if you can ascertain the fact, I will no longer allow their father to occupy the lodge. Tell him this,- tell him so directly, Clarkson."

"I shall obey your lordship's commands." "Which of the masons will you employ about the porch of the church? Was it Howden or Benson who last worked there?"

Howden, my lord."

Well, then, let Benson be employed now." Clarkson pulled the ends of his cravat,stood first upon one foot, then on the other : there was a considerable pause.

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My lord, may it please your lordship, if I may be so bold as to say it, Howden is the better workman of the two."

Maybe so; but it does not please my lordship that Howden should be the man em

ployed. You have my

orders."

A bow, and again a pause.

"When will the roan mare be fit for use?

She has been a long time out of work."

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Indeed, my lord, she is but poorly; and

unless Hornaway the farmer can do more for her than your lordship's groom, I think she had better be shot."

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Humph!" emphatically burst from Lord Altamont; and, after a minute's silence, he asked, "How is your lameness, Clarkson ?”

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Why, thank your lordship, I am sorry to say I does not get much better. Sukey does all she can in rubbing of it, but—”

"Well, then, and because you are not better, you had best be shot - eh ?"

A sort of smile played round the steward's lips as he replied, "Your lordship knows there is a difference between a man and a beast."

"Yes; the latter is sometimes the least brute of the two."

Tap, tap, tap, swiftly repeated on the door, announced another visiter; and, without waiting for leave, in came the beauteous and only child of Lord Altamont, the Lady Elizabeth Delamere, and stepping up to her father, half courtesied, and kissing first his hand then his forehead, blessed the day that saw him in health and peace.

world has treated your father too scurvily for him again to enter on its scene, yet when my sister, Lady Juliana, returns from Ireland, you, my love, under her auspices, shall shine out among the first, as it is your right to do. Therefore, again I say, guard well your fancy; rein in that, and look warily around you, so shall you be safe. A woman's fancy is sure to be her ruin, if proper pride does not come to her aid. This Honourable Mr. St. Aubyn is, they say, a personable man, and not one of the nonentities whom the heads of great families put into the Church for want of knowing what to make of them. But enough of him

for the present at least.

When do you expect

Ethel Delamere, my love?"

"She comes to-night, I think, papa." "Between ourselves, if that poor sick brother of hers was dead, it would be no loss; for, with his deformed person, he can never live to much purpose, and she is always leaving you to attend him. She should remember that to wait upon my daughter is an honour which should supersede all other cares."

"Oh dear papa, I have no fault to find