person, before I have been five minutes in the room with him.'

'You seem to have become quite intimate in this three weeks' accquaintance,' observed Clara. 'He quoted your opinion and Miss Kerr's, as he called Ellen, at every turn.'

'Mine, perhaps,' replied Norah; but he must have exercised a vivid imagination to quote Ellen's, for she did not favour him with many words. He has not much to say to young ladies, though he and Ellen are on more easy terms than they were at the first dinner party.'

CHAPTER XXIII.

Profess indeed I do not Cupid's art,

But you, fair maids, at length this true shall find
That his right badge is worn but in the heart.
Dumb swans, not chattering pies, do lovers prove:
They love indeed, who quake to say they love.
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

ON

the following Monday afternoon, there was a solemn procession of the whole family from Rose Cottage to the Oaks, to make any hospitable arrangements which might be necessary for the comfort of the expected visitors. It was a pretty walk across the fields; and Norah was enchanted by the sight of the picturesque pile of farm-buildings, and the house of discoloured and moss-grown brick; nor did she change her opinion when she entered the large, low kitchen.

'I declare,' she said,' that George and I will settle here when we have made our fortunes. Cannot you fancy George sitting in the chimneycorner ?'

6

6

Quite well,' said Phil; and how, if he escaped the ham in the chimney, he would knock his head against the beam in the ceiling every time he got up, or bury his face in the side of bacon - and how he would rub his eyes in a scared, absent way, as if it had never happened before.'

person, before I have been five minutes in the room with him.'

'You seem to have become quite intimate in this three weeks' accquaintance,' observed Clara. 'He quoted your opinion and Miss Kerr's, as he called Ellen, at every turn.'

'Mine, perhaps,' replied Norah; but he must have exercised a vivid imagination to quote Ellen's, for she did not favour him with many words. He has not much to say to young ladies, though he and Ellen are on more easy terms than they were at the first dinner party.'

CHAPTER XXIII.

Profess indeed I do not Cupid's art,

But you, fair maids, at length this true shall find
That his right badge is worn but in the heart.
Dumb swans, not chattering pies, do lovers prove:
They love indeed, who quake to say they love.
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

ON

N the following Monday afternoon, there was a solemn procession of the whole family from Rose Cottage to the Oaks, to make any hospitable arrangements which might be necessary for the comfort of the expected visitors. It was a pretty walk across the fields; and Norah was enchanted by the sight of the picturesque pile of farm-buildings, and the house of discoloured and moss-grown brick; nor did she change her opinion when she entered the large, low kitchen.

'I declare,' she said, 'that George and I will settle here when we have made our fortunes. Cannot you fancy George sitting in the chimneycorner?'

'Quite well,' said Phil; and how, if he escaped the ham in the chimney, he would knock his head against the beam in the ceiling every time he got and up, or bury his face in the side of bacon how he would rub his eyes in a scared, absent way, as if it had never happened before.'

'Provoking boy,' said his mother; 'I thought it had been Anne or Ellen. Where are they all?'

'The Griffin is in the dairy, guarding the interests of the Phœnix, and insisting that he shall have his cream and butter at the market price. And the others have gone up stairs.'

Norah followed them, and she found Kate and Ellen pushing the chairs about, with the endeavour to give the room a more inhabited air. Willy was indulging the little girls with a sight of the shell cottages and china figures which adorned the mantel-shelf; and Clara sat in the window, and said languidly, that nothing could make a lodging in a farm-house look comfortable.

'I don't agree with you at all,' said Norah; ‘I would rather live in the kitchen, for that polished grate is a sadly modern innovation; but it will not look so ill if we clear away the cut paper. We must send an arm-chair and some books, fill the jars with flowers, and charge Mrs. Worsley to have tea ready, and a small wood fire burning, and the west window open, if it is a sunny evening. And then we shall see who will call it comfortless.'

Anne, who came in while Norah was expressing her energetic intentions, demurred to their execution. She thought that the chairs of the house were sufficiently comfortable; that if Mrs. Oliphant wished for books, she would bring them with her; and that flowers were altogether a superfluity. Clara wondered what their neighbours would think of such officious cordiality;