'No, not really, Phil?'

'Yes, really, Aunt Ellen. Dick Croft was my particular playmate; but I made a point of winning, in order to discourage his gambling propensities.'

'You need not mind, Aunt Ellen,' said Willy: 'he was so vexed about it afterwards, that he persuaded Mamma my straw hat was worn out, that he might give it to Dick.'

After this satisfactory justification, Phil demanded from Mademoiselle the French of certain patriotic sentiments, by which he proposed to enlighten M. De Sylve's mind. She was 'ravie' to furnish him with the desired information; and amid the amusement excited by her rendering of 'The French are all slaves, and wear wooden shoes,' Ellen and Cecil made their escape to dress.

CHAPTER XVIII.

La violetta

Che in sull' erbetta
Apre al mattin novella,

Di; non è cosa

Tutta odorosa,

Tutta leggiadria e bella?

CHIABRERA.

ALLEN regarded the bouquet which lay on her toilette table with some dislike, and a strong inclination to wear her spray of briar rose in its place. But her courage failed when it came to the point, and she left the rose in the vase in which she had placed it, consoling herself with the knowledge that it would live the longer.

Norah, who had been educated abroad, and Lord Calton, who spoke French with a magnanimous disregard to grammar and accent, were the only two people who willingly addressed M. De Sylve; and Ellen was amused by the dexterity with which the rest of the party skirted the room in order to avoid coming in contact with him. She, like the others, had been glad to take refuge beside Lady Calton, even though Lord John was leaning over her sofa.

'Oliphant is still reading the papers,' he observed: 'I think he must be spelling the hard words.'

'I have discovered something interesting,'

Hugh said, as he handed the paper to Ellen. not Dornton your post town?'

'Is

Ellen did not clearly see why Colonel Oliphant should be interested in an advertisement of 'desirable lodgings' at a farm-house, with liberty to shoot over the adjoining manor; but she observed that it must be Wycherly, as the shooting was let every year.

'Are you thinking of taking it, Oliphant ?' inquired Lord John; and his mother took up the plan in earnest.

'It would be a good plan for you to take it together. Then, Johnny, you will solve the difficulty of how you are to dispose of your time while we are in London.'

'Very well,' said Hugh.

6

'Then it is all settled,' added Lord John, and I will leave the arrangements entirely in your hands.'

'That is to say, I am to take the trouble, and you are to reap the benefit. However, I will answer the advertisement at once, and I hope the negotiation will be successful.' And Ellen no longer looked forward to their return to Rose Cottage with dislike and unwillingness.

It was a lovely evening; and, after dinner, Ellen wandered out on the terrace with Mary. Cecil, who first said that she was tired, presently discovered that she was only lazy, and bounded after them; and after the first turn, she further increased the party by springing up the steps to tap at the dining-room window, as a signal to her brother to join them. He presently appeared,

accompanied by Colonel Oliphant and Sir Charles, whom Cecil dismissed with the information that Harriet was standing at the bay-window.

'When I can think of nothing else to say to Sir Charles.' she added, 'I tell him where Harriet is. 1 wonder whether they are not the least in the world tired of each other's company.'

'What a madcap you are, Cecil,' said Lord John: 'I did not object to your interruption of a scientific disquisition on icthyosauri; but our savant looked quite scandalized.'

'Yes,' said Hugh, 'Lady Cecil will have furnished a leaf in the antiquarian note-book, or a chapter on mœurs Anglais in his work on geology, in which it will be laid down as the general practice for young ladies to call the gentlemen from their wine.'

6

'I never called you, Colonel Oliphant,' rejoined Cecil; and I quite forgot M. de Sylve's existence until I saw him. I shall be obliged to hint, in the course of the evening, that it was Ellen who sent me.'

'Or Mary,' Lord John suggested: 'it is not fair to make free with a guest's name.'

Almost involuntarily, Ellen slipped her hand within Mary's, which trembled in her grasp, and she replied to her cousin's words by a patient smile, which seemed to change his mood. He bent forward, and said, in a low, eager voice, This plan for the shooting season depends entirely on you, Mary.'

Instead of replying, Mary laid her hand on Ellen's arm, as she was about to draw back to re

join Cecil: 'You engaged to walk with me, Miss Kerr.'

'If I had been aware of that,' Lord John said, haughtily, 'I should not have intruded upon you. But Miss Kerr never hinted that it was an intrusion.'

'No more did Miss Mortimer,' Ellen replied, with spirit; 'only she thinks it more sociable that we should all keep together.'

'So do I,' said Cecil, rejoining them; and yet you are always running away from me. I don't think you have spoken three words to me to-day. Colonel Oliphant looks satirical, implying that no one need attempt to speak when I am in company; but I talk so much in self-defence. I never saw such a set; one solemn, another severe, another sulky, another sober - all silent.'

'Be definite, Lady Cecil, and give us each our own epithet,' said Hugh.

6 No: your own consciences may apply them; only the mildest belongs to Ellen, who is always sober.'

6

The twilight is sober,' said Ellen.

Cecil drew a long breath before she replied: 6 There, I waited in vain for some one to answer, though I must do Ellen the justice to say that she has originated a remark.'

'How can you talk such nonsense, Cecil?' said her brother.

'Because my friends refuse to impart to me any of their wisdom. Mary, have you nothing to suggest?'

'Mary is in the other extreme,' observed Lord