DEMURE little puss!

EVALLA.

BY W. BEILBY BATEMAN.

XIV.

WHOM DOES THE CAP FIT?

There she sat, on the smallest possible stool, before the largest possible fire, in the old stone hall, making another of those trim little caps, which never seemed to have been arranged so coquettishly, and with malice aforethought, as they really had been, upon her smooth, glossy back hair, but to have descended, gossamer-like, and to have alighted there zephyr-wise. Nannette was in her own corner, near enough for warmth, but not so close as to secure comfort at the expense of complexion.

Opposite sat Mr. Samuel Sloe, with his eyes opened wide, and his mouth opened wider, and ever and anon he scratched his forehead, and stirred the fire, to attract her attention. But it was no use. She was quite ignorant of his presence-would not detect the fact that he had the scarlet waistcoat on-never recognised the blue tie dedicated to the presiding genii of high-days and holidays-even left unnoticed the nosegay in the button-hole, not to speak of another bouquet which he was fumbling about, first in one hand and then the other, until the mixture of detached leaves would have puzzled a floriculturist, and the cabbage-roses had little of rose and much of cabbage. Of course, as she never looked up, she had no idea she was being admired-not the least. Perhaps, however, she guessed it, for she permitted various expressions to fit across her face at intervals, and at every change of countenance Sammy Sloe opened his mouth, showed a set of grinders that would not be trifled with by beef however tough, gazed into the fire, reflected, shut his mouth again, and then opened it moderately wide, as at first.

She smiled-he looked into the coals, and straightway among the gleam rose a four-roomed cottage, with a neat muslin blind to the parlour window, two pots of mignionette in full bloom outside, and a neat paper filigree suspended from the ceiling inside to attract the flies. That mellow mahogany bit of coal was the sideboard-a good, old-fashioned, long square piano-say-with plenty of room for plates, dishes, and glass on the top, and his handsome library, consisting of "The Whole Duty of Man" and "A Treatise on the Glanders," carefully arranged where the keys and notes had once been in the interior, then no more melodious. A little flash of light on one side was Nannette, and a nobbly bit of blaze opposite was himself, in the scarlet waistcoat, complacently smoking his pipe and inspecting his possessions. He was proceeding further in this architectural extravagance-he was turning the small forked flames, that only flashed forth in sudden bursts, into kitchen pots and pans, scrubbed to such supernatural brightness as rendered it a sin to use them. He even got beyond to

But just then it occurred to Nannette that she was tired of smiling. So she chose to pout.

And the coals fell in with a rattle, and the four-roomed cottage was let to somebody else, and the piano sideboard was smouldering among the ashes. And seeing thus his imaginary household gods figuratively shivered around him, he started up to put fresh logs on the real hearth before them.

"Ah!" said Nannette, awakened by the sound, "but it is triste here; how I shall be glad when I leave with mademoiselle !"

"Leave!" said Sammy Sloe, aghast.

Yes," answered Nannette, "to hear something new. Ah, cher Paris! but we have never any news here."

"No noose here!" replied Sam. "Come, dang it, lass-Miss Nannette, I mean,—I likes that; why the village is as full o' noose as a turkey o' stuffing on the arternoon o' noo-year's day."

Nannette shrugged her shoulders doubtfully and daintily.

Why," continued Sam, "arn't Bill Stokes's sow had ten at a litter? and didn't the beadle fall into the horse-pond, and get pretty near eat by the eels, only he took hisself into custody in time, and fined hisself for being drunk? and didn't the parson's son fall out o' the tree where he was a nabbin' the apples yesterday, and get carried 'ome by the Newfunlan' dog? and arn't Mrs. Spigot at the Blue Boar had twins this wery night as is, for the third time, and arn't Spigot hisself took to his bed o' grief in consequence, and when they gied him consolation and bitters, and said they'd come more than ever to gie him a turn, didn't say that no amount o' screws of bacca or goes of gin served in the bar couldn't meet these ewents, if natur' kept a goin' on so? And yet you talk o' no noose, and goin' to leave! Woman is lovely, but wery wexatious!"

he

Nannette went on with her cap.

"The 'orses don't do it," continued Sam; "when I gies 'em a mash, or a pat, why they gies me a neigh. Come, Nannette, I 'a brought ye a nosegay, and isn't there the fair i' the village? and arn't I ready to take ye? won't you gie me a neigh, too? or, not a 'nay,' but a 'yes?'" Sam evidently thought this a triumph of logic, but as it made no impression on Nannette, he took counsel from the fire again, and asked her what France was like. This was another stroke of high art, for she began to sing in reply,

"Vive Paris, le roi du monde !

Je le revois avec amour.

Ah, France!" she added, "to tell you of France, you!

Ce grand Paris, plus d'un"

"Don't," cried Sam, in a melancholy howl, "go on with that 'ere; I ain't been in ferrin parts like you, and spoilt my grammar; sing us a good old English song o' harvest time, or sheep-shearing, that's straightfor'ard, like the trail o' the plough, and clear like the note o' the skylark or the Tally-ho! o' Huntsman Robert in winter time; I can't a-bear France or ferriners!"

"Thank you, Mr. Sloe !" returned Nannette, who had been waiting her opportunity to quarrel, not from any real animosity, but merely to pass the time; "you have right; France is where we live, where we

dine, where we know to love; France is not for you, who eat bacon on a gate and déjeûner on raw turnips:

Aimons vite,

Pensons vite,
Tout invite
A vivre vite;
Aimons vîte,
Pensons vîte,
Au galop,
Monde falot!

What is that?" she exclaimed, reining in her voice, as it were, suddenly, and with a start.

"Why, what should it be," replied Sam, "but the wind a getting up, and the shutters a rattling? You should hear it sometimes among the old trees at night when it wakes the rooks and sets 'em a cawin' in the churchyard, and all the tombstones looks like ghosts sitting on their own graves, and 'aving a chat by moonlight! Lord, if I haven't been there arter dark, when I could a sworn I saw that face on old Bung's headstone a puffin' and blowin', just as they say he did when he was butler to Sir Rudimer, and a carryin' the claret to the banquet-hall at The Willows, and I thought a'most I could hear him say

"Dieu !" said Nanette, with a shiver, looking hastily round her, and drawing nearer Sam, whom, being frightened, she had now determined not to quarrel with, "do not talk of such things. I fear 'revenants.' Is it true that The Willows are haunted ?"

“Is it true that I am here that you are there, Nannette, a lookin' so pretty? Why o' course it is, and nobody along o' that would take the house for years; and, somehow, every one as goes there-no matter how gay and glad he may be at first-isn't long afore he gets sad and sorry; I don't know as they see the ghost, but they feel him!"

"Aimons vite!" "Nannette tried to sing, but it was no use; she crept every minute nearer to the scarlet waistcoat.

"Look at Mr. Wilders," continued the loquacious servitor, who saw the effect he had obtained, but who was equally, be it observed, impressed with the belief himself" look at him! Don't he look haunted? Well, when Mr. Helmet come first, he was at the Blue Boar, and happy enough, and went a shootin' every day, and killed his birds as dead as old Bung the butler every time as the gun went up, but lately"

Another rattle at the shutters, and scream of night wind down the chimney, and Nannette drew quite close to Sam.

At this juncture he ventured to place his arm upon the back of the chair which she had chosen close to his.

“And look at him now!" said Sam, "as he is, or, being gone, as he were. Didn't Mrs. Maple tell me as how he was put in the haunted room where the mirror is, and didn't he grow gradiwally grave? and arter our good mistress the lady o' the squire visited there, didn't she get more quiet-like than ever, though her face was always like a marble statter, werry beautiful, but werry cold? When I sees them three together," Sam went on, "I can't help thinkin' as they're all haunted May-VOL. CXVI. NO. CCCCLXI.

H

by summat; and as it can't be evil consciences, why it must be The Willows!"

"Well," said Nannette, "one lady is not haunted, and that is my lady, dear Mademoiselle Lilian. She is ever happy, and most when she sees those around her gay. I would walk barefoot round the world to serve

her."

"No occasion for that," said the young lady in question, entering, and running towards the fire where they sat, and whence they both rose immediately. "What, ghost-stories again! Instead of running round the world, take the round of the larder and see what there is for supper. We are all as hungry as race-horses; and Mr. Livermore has a drive in prospect."

"Monsieur Livermore! Ah!" said Nannette.

"Mr. Livermore. Oh !" said Sam Sloe.

Lillie took up the cap which Nannette had been arranging.

66

Nannette,' " said Lilian, "what beautiful lace! I never saw anything like it before in Eversley. Where can you have found it? Surely you have not bought this ?"

"Oh no, mademoiselle; it was given me by―"

Her eyes happened to glance towards the door that led from the stable to the stone hall, and there stood Mark Margrove, with a brow of thunder, a fiery eye, and a frown of warning that commanded her to dissemble, and dared her to proceed.

"It was given me, mademoiselle, by-by my former mistress, mademoiselle. You know she was a-a Marquise, and when she died-que Dieu lui donne repos !—she was kind to all her attendants."

'Supper-supper!" laughed Lilian, as she ran away.

"Chattering little fool!" muttered Mark to Nannette, when Lilian "will you never learn to hold your tongue?"

was gone,

"I do no tlike to hold my tongue," replied Nannette, very deliberately, but in great anger; "and I am going to the fair with Mr. Sloe, and I have no wish for you!"

Perhaps Sam's scarlet waistcoat did not swell then!

With a contemptuous laugh Mark Margrove turned on his heel and left them hurriedly, apparently too busy for words.

"He's got that lantern again," said Sam. "I'll see where he goes with it some night. It's strange, ain't it, that the broadest chap, and the tallest chap, and the strongest chap in Eversley should be the only one as wants a lantern to light him about the farm of Oak Hollow!"

Lillie, fleet as a deer, had soon regained the dining-room, where the family were assembled, and as D'Arcy Livermore was about to leave, she resumed the tactics of which he had been the victim during the whole of his visit; and made him the sport of so many caprices with apparently such perfect unconsciousness, that he never knew when she was seriously inclined in his favour, or whether she was joking at his expense; when she was rejoicing in an embryo lover, or whether she only chose to amuse herself with a passing toy. D'Arcy had flattered himself that he knew the world, and yet here he was fettered to the car of (what he considered) a country-girl, and as much her slave as admiration could make him her very humble servant, who would have given the universe for the merest tip of one of her golden curls.

While Mr. Castelmaine conversed with Evalla upon the subject of the expedition to Spankie House, and the necessary arrangements involved by her absence (for he was unable to accompany her, but was to follow them later), D'Arcy was imprisoned beside Lilian's work-table in the bow-window, holding a skein of silk across his two extended hands, while she proceeded leisurely to wind it off. Now even this, though it appears on the face of it the most simple operation in life, may give rise to a myriad of heart flutterings. Silk has a wayward way of achieving entanglement, and then there is a great deal to do and a great deal to undo; and fingers come in contact with electric touch, and the proximity is so very close that you must meet each other's eyes; and then come smiles, and sometimes such smiles as lead to sighs; and when the lady is very beautiful, and the gentleman very much in love, the odds are unfair in the extreme!

"I have just had a letter from Wilders," said Mr. Castelmaine to Evalla, "in reply to mine, telling him that there would be some repairs here, and painting, and abomination while you were away, and he offers me The Willows, so I shall sleep in Helmet's room there, until I come to fetch you back from Berkshire."

"Entangled again!" said Lillie, pulling at the skein; "you may well say you are only going to be a nominal barrister, Mr. Livermore; I am sure you will never accomplish the silk!"

"Probably not," he replied, laughing, "but when will you arrive in Berkshire?"

"We start to-morrow, or next day. And you ?"

"I intended to go to-morrow, but as I shall not see you-I mean, as we shall not meet that is to say, as I take leave of Mr. and Mrs. Castelmaine and of you this evening, I think I shall drive on the whole distance to Waltham Abbey to-night. I like a midnight journey with my groom Rattle; he's such a dreadful coward. For him, every leafless tree is a spectre, and every sign-post a highwayman!"

Supper was quietly spread, combining the solid fare that had reigned there from time immemorial with the lighter and more graceful viands that Evalla had learned to love in youth-the pear, the grape, and the fig, and the produce of vines that grew beside the Rhine and the Garonne.

A hurry up the drive, a bustle in the hall, and a stamping of hoofs, and shaking of harness, soon after told them that the carriage had arrived before it was announced by Nannette. Knowing instinctively that D'Arcy was an admirer of her young mistress, she thought it her duty to be in attendance before she went to the fair. D'Arcy, though very far gone in love, was too much a man of the world to allow any exhibition of feeling to escape him on such an occasion. His thanks for the hospitality he had received, and his hopes for the renewal of their association in Berkshire within a few days, were expressed in a tone of the most gentlemanly kindness, but nothing more; and he soon stood cloaked and cigared beside the vehicle. It was a tandem. But in reply to a remark about its safety, he said that the leader was a well-trained brute that he had driven for some length of time, and that had never swerved or shied. He jumped up, Rattle the groom covered him with a rug, and gave him the long-lashed whip. The lighted lamps