will carry you off, first to see Mamma, who is in her boudoir, and then to have a cup of tea in the school-room, by which time Esther will have unpacked your things, and we can adjourn to your room to talk.'

'I admire your giving me the credit of these arrangements,' said Hugh. 'I advised Miss Kerr to rest, and you reply by laying out a fatiguing hour's work.'

'I wonder,' said Norah, as she gathered up the folds of her shawl-'I wonder where Phil is. It is a remark I shall often have to make in the course of my visit.'

'He and Dick are in the stables,' replied Tom, who was sitting cross-legged on the carpet. 'He said he would teach Dick to curry horses like a Bushman; and he will not come back till dark, because he does not choose to drink tea with girls and a governess.'

Norah looked a little dismayed; but laughingly observed, that if Phil had any respect for her authority, she would go herself to the offices in search of him.

'Phil always does as you tell him,' Ellen said, turning to Colonel Oliphant; and he instantly laid down his paper and repaired to the stables, with Tom for his guide. The rest of the party dispersed, with a paternal admonition from Lord Calton, that the young ladies were not to spoil their dinner by eating bread and butter in the school-room.

CHAPTER XV.

Confuso più non sono
Quando mi vieni appresso:
Col mio rivale istesso
Posso di te parlar.

Chè più l'usato impero
Quei labbri in me non hanno:

Quegli occhi più non sanno

La via di questo cor.

METASTASIO.

ECIL led the way to Lady Calton's pretty

CEC

boudoir, and there they left Lord John, looking happy and handsome, as he sat beside his mother on the sofa. Ellen could not wonder that he was such an object of family adulation, although a sore, impatient sense of her own delusion inclined her to do him injustice, and to construe his gaiety and good humour into a shallow flippancy. Grave and restrained manners were, she decided, far more really attractive. Freed from Lord John's embarrassing presence, her spirits rose. Everything was new and delightful, for she had never been in a great house before; and after leaving Norah in her room, she readily accompanied Cecil through the labyrinth of corridors leading to the school-room.

The Babel of voices which greeted their ears when they opened the door astonished Ellen, as

she thought of the silence and order which had reigned in the little north room at Rose Cottage. Willy and the five pupils were all talking at once, with their mouths full of bread and butter; and Mademoiselle's shrill voice rose above them all, as she threw topics at Colonel Oliphant, who leaned against the mantel-piece with an air of patient endurance, which amused Ellen, and made Cecil laugh outright. The sisterly admonition, 'Now, my dear children, hold your tongues,' had more effect than the Silence, donc!' by which Mademoiselle endeavoured to enforce order, and conversation at the tea-table was limited to the ever-recurring demand for fresh supplies. Ellen profited by the calm to ask after Phil.

'I was waiting here to tell you of the success of my mission,' said Hugh. They left the stables with me, and then went in search of an extempore meal, since their dignity would not

allow them to drink tea here.'

'I warned Mamma that Dick's sensitive feelings would be wounded,' said Cecil. She made him dine at luncheon, because he always looks so bored and sulky when we have any one to dinner.'

'Are there people to-night?' Ellen asked.

One or two, coming to dine and sleep; not a real party,' said Cecil.

'There is an arrival now,' observed Hugh, looking out of the window.

'And there is no one in the drawing-room but Papa. Do, Colonel Oliphant, hunt up the lovers, who are somewhere in the garden, and tell Harriet she must come in to do the honours, for

6

I don't mean to go down again. And if you see Johnny,' Cecil added, as Hugh prepared to comply with the request, tell him that we have not done tea yet, and I desire him to come up and join us.'

Ellen was tolerably secure that this message would not reach its destination, yet she lost no time in finishing her tea, and then she made her escape, on the plea that it was time to prepare for dressing.

The 'one or two people' presented a formidable appearance to Ellen, when she and Norah entered the drawing-room. Harriet and Cecil were inaccessible, surrounded by two or three young ladies, and Lord John's attention was claimed by another, a bright and pretty girl, whom Norah set down for an accomplished coquette, for he looked as if he wished to join them. Colonel Oliphant was the first to detach himself from the knot of gentlemen; and he was presently followed by Lord Calton. Norah forgot the son in her anxiety that Ellen should make a favourable impression on his father; and she was satisfied, as far as her beauty and her smiles went, but Ellen's words were few, and Lord Calton, who was one of those elderly gentlemen who prefer to be amused without much effort on their own part, soon turned to Norah herself, whose lively and piquant manners had first attracted him.

'You look quite revived,' Hugh said to Ellen. 'Yes, thank you; dressing is a great refreshment. Will you please tell me who is to take me in to dinner.'

'I will, if you will allow me. Oakleigh had proposed to usurp the privilege, until I represented to him that Miss Leigh took precedence as a baronet's daughter.'

'I suppose that is Miss Leigh to whom he is talking. She is very pretty,' Ellen added, with rising colour.

'Yes,' said Hugh, coolly; 'her claim might otherwise have been disallowed.'

After all, Hugh's arrangements were disconcerted; for when they were sitting down to dinner, Lady Calton and Norah agreed that it would be imprudent for Ellen to sit with her back to the open window; and Miss Leigh volunteered to change places, declaring that she never caught cold. It was an act of some heroism on Miss Leigh's part, since Colonel Oliphant subsided into one of his most silent moods; and the old county member, on her other side, did not appreciate her lively sallies so highly as the excellence of Lord Calton's venison.

Ellen began by being very shy and constrained with Lord John; but insensibly they fell back into their old relations on his side, of and gay courteous deference quiescence in his attentions.

on hers, of blushing acShe was partly

driven into cordiality by her inability to respond to her other neighbour, Mr. Vane, who made one or two attempts at conversation. He talked chiefly of London; and the discovery that Miss Kerr had never been to the Opera, excited some languid astonishment: he hoped that she would make a point of going next season, and envied her first