the long, lofty dining-room, feeling very much like a visitor, and wondering whether she should ever talk to Augusta and Mary with the same freedom and ease that she had been accustomed to with Georgina, and the thought crossed her mind that the wearers of those glacé silk dresses would be shocked at the idea of sitting in the centre of a circle of ignorant, poorly clothed children, or paying a visit to a poor woman in a mud cottage, and sitting down on a dusty chair in an untidy kitchen with a stone floor.

But it was no time for speculating on the future. For the present it was sufficient that they were really glad to see her home again, that Mrs. Falconer's kiss had been as kind and motherly as she had ventured to hope, that Augusta's arm was round her waist, and Mary saying how nice it was to have little Evy at home again.

How different the dinner was from Miss Templeman's one o'clock school dinners. How different the large handsome room, with its wide fireplace and oak panelled walls hung round with grand oil paintings in massive gilt frames, from the long narrow dining room at Redbourn, with its neat drab and blue paper and cold curtainless windows. How different the two tall, staid footmen in their imposing livery, from Miss Templeman's Susan in her lilac print gown and white apron, and how strangely different looked Augusta and Mary in their elegant dresses and easy, graceful attitudes from the long rows of girls in their simple high dresses, sitting stiffly upright, and talking in whispers. Yes, and had Georgina been there Evelyn thought what a pleasant change it would have seemed; and when with the remembrance of Georgina a sense of loneliness and uncongeniality stole over her, she hastily repelled it and carried on a lively conversation with her sisters, and en

deavoured to drown thought by throwing herself into the present, and entering into their feelings of pleasure and excitement at the prospect of the ball to which they had been invited, and to which Evelyn agreed to accompany them.

"You are very late, my love," said Mrs. Falconer, the next morning as Evelyn entered the breakfast room. "I suppose your long journey yesterday fatigued you. If you had sent word you should have had breakfast in your own room.'

Evelyn blushed; she had desired to be called at the same hour as her sisters, and had not allowed sufficient time for the reading with which she generally commenced the day. But it was impossible to give this as an excuse, and looking at her watch she said, "I am very sorry, dear mamma, I had no idea it was so late, I will ask Hunter to call me earlier to-morrow."

"Never mind, Evy," said Augusta, kissing her, "I always come down late after a dance or a dinner party, but papa is so dreadfully punctual, that I am generally punished for it by cold tea and eggs. But sit down and see what you will have. Here is fowl and marmalade, the eggs are already cold.

"Oh! never mind, thank you! 1!" exclaimed Evelyn, "I am not the least hungry ; if you will pour me out a cup of tea, and let me cut a piece of bread and butter, I shall do very well."

"My dear child, what a wretched breakfast," remarked Mrs. Falconer. "Mary love, ring the bell for some hot water and some more eggs.'

"Oh! no, mamma! I had much rather not. If I am late I deserve to suffer for it, and the tea is very tolerably warm."

"Well! there is no accounting for taste," observed Mary. "I am sure I should not have been as easily satisfied."

"What are the plans for to-day, mamma ?" asked Augusta, turning over the letters which had just been brought in to see whether there were any for herself.

"Well, my love, we must drive into Wortley this morning to order a dress for Evelyn to wear to Morley Hall, and I think afterwards we will go on to the Grange and inquire for Mr. Phillipson.

"Oh! thank you, dear mamma," exclaimed Evelyn, "but I have a dress that will do very nicely. I only had it last fall to wear to Aunt Layton's, and it is not the least soiled."

"What is it, my love?"

"White muslin with blue ribbons."

"My dear Evy," said Augusta with a laugh Evelyn did not quite like, "do you suppose you can go to the Kynastons' in a white muslin four months old at least? Why the youngest of the Phillipsons wouldn't do such a thing! You must have a white tulle, looped up with clematis, like ours, of course.'

Evelyn smiled, and said she knew nothing about such things, but of course it would be nicer to be all dressed alike.

"After breakfast, my love, you must let me hear you play," said Mrs. Falconer. "I think it would be a good thing for you to have some lessons with your sisters, as the Redbourn masters were not of the highest order."

"Mr. Lane comes here twice a week, Evy," added Mary. "He plays and sings beautifully, and it would be an immense advantage to you to have some lessons of him."

Evelyn said she was afraid he would find her very backward, not at all equal to Augusta and Mary, of whose musical talents she had heard so much.

"But we have no voices," remarked Augusta,

"at least Mary sings but little, and seldom before company."

"And you play on the harp, Augusta," said Evelyn. "Aunt Layton told me she had never heard any one play so well."

"Yes, she plays on the harp beautifully," said Mary warmly. "Mr. Brent remarked to me the other night, Augusta, when you were playing 'Auld Robin Gray' with variations, that he had never heard such taste and execution combined."

"Mr. Brent!" repeated Augusta disdainfully, "I wonder you listened to his comments upon my playing. How came you to be talking to him, Mary ?"

"Well," said Mary quickly, "he came up and spoke to me, and I could not help answering him, you know."

"Very presuming," remarked Augusta.

"Isn't he a gentleman ?" asked Evelyn. "I thought we used to be intimate with the Brents." Why, you see, my dear Evelyn," replied Augusta a little impatiently, "the Brents don't visit in our set. Mr. Brent is only a country surgeon, and as the Kynastons and Phillipsons, and others of our acquaintance don't visit them, it was impossible for us to keep it up. We bow to them if we pass them in the street, and leave a card there sometimes; but as to inviting them, or accepting their invitations, it was out of the question. What would the Kynastons have thought ?"

"You will understand when you know Mrs. Brent, Evy," added Mary. "A woman who tells you meat is risen, and candles are dropped, and how her cook has been deceiving her, and how

"Oh! Mary," exclaimed Evelyn smiling, "you must be exaggerating! she cannot be as bad as that!"

"I don't mean to say she would talk like that in public," returned Mary, "but at a morning visit frequently."

"It is quite true, Evelyn," rejoined Augusta. "You see we couldn't have asked them to meet our friends."

"No, not to meet them perhaps," said Evelyn slowly, "I only thought as you had once been

intimate

"If you have finished, Evelyn love," observed Mrs. Falconer, "I daresay you will ring the bell, and we will go into the library, and you shall play me your last new piece. I will write to Mr. Lane and request him to arrange to give us another hour on Tuesdays and Fridays."

"Where is papa ?" asked Evelyn, ringing the bell as she had been desired.

"He always walks over the grounds and gives orders to the men directly after breakfast, and then he goes into Wortley and reads the papers at the reading room," replied Mary. "In the afternoon he generally rides somewhere, into Crayford very often on business, because, you know, he is a magistrate."

66

Now, Evelyn, fetch your music, and let us hear what you can do!" exclaimed Augusta when they reached the library, seating herself at the piano, and running her fingers over a brilliant nocturne.

"Oh! Augusta," said poor Evelyn, her face flushing at the idea, "I cannot play at all like you! Oh! indeed, I would rather not!"

My dear child," said Mrs. Falconer, "we do not expect to hear you play like your sister. sister. You are much younger, and have not had the same advantages. Fetch your music, love, and do your best."

Evelyn obeyed; but it was with the feeling, "now the time is come, and they will all be disap