THE TOILET.

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"Wild, "Her First Appearance;" "Marion Leigh;" Flowers ;" "Two Evenings ;" ""The Seamstress "School Hours;""Exoteric Poetry" (returned); and Street Musician;" 66 Rain-words;" "True to the Last;""The Devotee."

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THE COMMONER'S DAUGHTER.

By the Author of "A Few out of Thousands."

CHAP. IV.

common

rare

times in signifying his whereabouts, for at first he had given agreat deal of trouble, being found Three months after my mother's death I sat once, after a whole day's search, ensconced one morning in the chamber that had been her in the back-kitchen oven, fortunately not that bedroom. I was deeply engaged in the pages of day in use. At another time he was up a bedroom a romance, with one of the terrific titles invented, chimney. Again he took refuge in one of the I fancy, by the Minerva school of fiction "The men-servant's new boots, and being mistaken Black Pirate; or, the Dark Valley of the Dell, by our "Jeames" in his fright for a rat, only of Doona:" one of a series which I imagine Mr. escaped by the merest chance being knocked Castlebrook had bought at a sale of books, and on the head and finished on the spot. When which lay altogether in one corner of the book-time had corrected these vagaries of his kittenshelves, which dignified his sanctum with the name of library. While I read I was nursing a little black cat, my own exclusive property and pet. I thought this animal no quadruped. When a kitten, he had been rescued by my mother, in the course of a morning's walk, from impending torture and ultimate death, at the expense of sixpence and a lecture on humanity. Some juvenile ruffians were testing the poor little brute's powers of endurance by pulling his legs to see if they would break before they drowned him. They were just on the point of making a furious onslaught on his ears and tail when we interfered, and although the lecture was not sufficiently powerful to obtain a cessation of hostilities, yet the sixpence I was allowed to offer as ransom, proving more effectual, the kitten was given up. He must have had all his fabulous nine lives pretty nearly teazed out of him, for he was at his last gasp. I cried over the cat like a great baby, and begged that if he lived I might keep him for a pet. I cannot describe my joy when my mother consented. Without friends or companions of my own age, I was delighted to have this poor little kitten to hug and caress. By dint of much training, careful feeding, and no end of petting and coaxing, he had become a much worthier specimen of feline nature than most creatures of his kind with which I have had any acquaintance. The cat had no regular name. We were so long in fixing on one that was sufficiently to my fancy, that his designation had settled into " Tootsy" and to no other would he answer, so he remained "Tootsy" all the rest of his days. I decorated him with a scarlet leathern collar hung with little brass bells, which, besides contrasting tastefully with bis glossy black coat was extremely useful at

hood, he settled down into an amiable, intelligent, coaxing mouser, and, saving the feathered tribe, which formed a temptation he could never wholly overcome, he was honest and faithful qualities in his kind. He was always in my presence day and night, and slept at the foot of my little white bed. The cat then, as usual, was on my lap, and my whole heart and mind were occupied by intense interest in the scene where the Black Pirate had imprisoned the heroine in a subterraneous cave of "The Dark Valley of the Dell of Doona," and I had come to the part where she defies him with a dagger she had worn concealed in her bosom, while her other hand disengaged threatened to fire a train of gunpowder, which by some unaccountable neglect the Black Pirate had forgotten to notice or remove, when at that exciting moment, I was startled by the entrance of Mrs. M'Logie, the housekeeper, and, indeed, I may say the factotum-general of our household. This person was a most particularly disagreeable, ill-tempered and vindictive old Scotch woman, who having been my father's nurse, and a dependent on him for many years, took it upon herself to be as disrespectful and as arrogant towards the uninfluential merabers of the family as she chose. She was between sixty and seventy years old, mostly attired in a rusty, scanty black silk gown, and wore large white aprons with bibs, at which the smart young maids laughed. She had a hard cruel cold grey eye, and took great quantities of high-dried snuff, which habit, indulged for long years, had imparted a dark shade over the upper lip, which resembled an incipient moustache, and was anything but improving to the general contour of her countenance. This venerable servitor, who especially disliked me, now entered with

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such a grim and ill-subdued expression of | are shrewd and deep observers. I had seen too gratified malice on her withered face, that knowing full well her chief happiness consisted in the miseries and vexations of her fellow creatures, I naturally forboded evil.

"Oh, an are ye there, Miss Isabella," she cried, peering into the room, and holding the door half-open with her hand; " ay, idling with thae beuks I see, when ye suld be at yer saumpler. Jist pit yersel smooth, and gang ben the library, the maister's speering for ye, and ye maun gang till him wiout ony loss o' time."

"Very well, Mrs. M'Logie," said I, "I will go to papa directly."

"An jist take wi ye a few hints for yer behaviour, my fine-spoken young leddy. Mr. De Trevor Castlebrook's no in the sweetest o' moods the day. Dinna fash him mair by ca'ing him yer pawpa."

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Why," said I, my temper rising at her tone of sarcasm, my cheeks flushing, and my eyes beginning to glisten, "he is my father, I suppose.'

"Hoot toot, I suppose sae; but vera much agin his gude will I'm thinking," answered the old woman with a sneer. "No, Miss, gang yer ways. Ye'll hear news maybe; I hope 'twill content ye, it will me, fine."

As she spoke she took a huge pinch of snuff, a "sneeshin" she called it, and fixing her grey eye on me, it bore such an expression of malignity that I was glad to rid myself of such a presence, even by obeying her injunctions. I caught up the cat in my arms, for her malice | was most especially directed towards him, and prepared to quit the room, first doubling down a leaf of "The Black Pirate," regarding whose fate I was compelled to remain in suspense, and wondering what delinquency had summoned me to the library, too well aware my father never required my presence except to reprove. As I reached the door Mrs. M'Logie called to me.

often in the lifetime of my poor mother, how much more the servants were regarded than the mistress, and I too bitterly felt that in my father's house I was of much less account than the lowest menial who ministered to his wants and pleasures. As I laid my hand on the handle of the library-door, my forebodings again arose as to what could possibly form the present grounds for reproach. Was it about the abstraction of "The Black Pirate" from the book-shelves? I had never been precisely forbidden to read novels. Indeed no one cared now sufficiently for my welfare to restrain my reading, but certainly I had indulged in a very extensive course of fiction, so I concluded, that being the weightiest matter on my conscience, that "The Black Pirate" must be the cause of this unpleasant summons.

My father was seated in a luxurious easy chair, and his eyes were fixed so intently on the fire, that at first he did not appear to notice my presence, thus I had a few minutes in which I could contemplate Mr. De Trevor Castlebrook. In the heat and fervour of my romantic fancy I identified myself with my latest cherished heroine, and imagined myself standing in the presence of the redoubtable Black Pirate himself, though now I have so little recollection of the author's description of that hero, that I cannot say how far my father's personal appearance coincided with his.

Mr. Castlebrook was a tall, strongly-built man, with large, not unhandsome features, and thick dark brows, which when knitted gave him a look more repulsive than nature originally intended. Many, I believe, designated him a "fine man," and he was at this period in the very prime of life, for, as I have before told, he had married young. When angry or excited, his face flushed more than was conformable with strict elegance, his mouth was large, with full and prominent lips, and his eyes of an uncertain fey-shifting colour.

"For ony sake, Miss Isabel, pit down that beastie. Ye wouldna surely gang in'tye ther's presence hugging that varment. Jistlet me catch him stealing the cream on my teatray again, an I'll hang him as high as the doorpost, or drown him in the Serpentine. Ay, ring awa, as Tootsy shook his bells violently; ring awa, my bonnie beast, yer mistress will sune hae something better to employ her time wi', I'm guessin, than nursing a wee cat, an readin novels a' the lang day."

My hasty temper was soon irritated, and I haughtily told the housekeeper to show a little more respect to her master's daughter. Being the weaker of the two, in power at least, I had best have kept silence. A storm of vindictive anger, in the broadest Scottish dialect, came down on my head, causing me to run to the library as fast as I could, to escape the abuse showered on me.

Out of Scylla into Charybdis !—I was indeed only too certain that if I ventured to complain of Mrs. M'Logie's unpleasant manners, and still more unpleasant language, I should meet with no redress. Lonely, companionless children

Raising those eyes, while I was constructing a romance in the recesses of my brain, Mr. De Trevor Castlebrook espied me standing at the further end of the large writing-table.

Tootsy had escaped from my arms, and was occupied in making an inspection of the furniture, which was new to him, and exceedingly