future, see much of us. Rosamond was hoping to have the pleasure of her cousins' company constantly, and had made many plans for inducing us to share in the pleasures and amusements her London season was to introduce her to. My mother shook her head doubtfully, and began a sentence about Mr. Scott's unfortunate dislike to society; but Lady Helen did not wait for her to finish it. "Eight o'clock!" she exclaimed; "is it possible? I ought now to be at the other end of London. Well, good-bye; I see I have gained the young people, and I leave the matter in their hands. However strict Mr. Scott's views about society may be, I am sure they will be modified by the pleading of such sweet brown eyes as these down here." stroked Nesta's cheek as she said this, shook hands hurriedly with my mother and me, and left us. She It was not till Charlie had returned from handing her to her carriage that we were sufficiently at our ease to begin making remarks upon our visitor. My mother spoke first. "Well, I certainly never was more surprised in my life," she said. "It was very inconsiderate of Lady Helen to call on such a rainy day; and yet I cannot be sorry that she came. It is pleasant to know that it is only a fortnight to-day since she saw Hilary, and she has told me many things about him that I am very glad to know. I shall always think the better of her for knowing so much about Hilary." "I like her, Janet," whispered Nesta. "I cannot help liking her. I hope you won't mind it. Did you notice how sad she looked when she was not speaking?" Charlie pronounced that she had character, a dictum which at that period was the single meed of praise he ever awarded to any one, for he professed to think it a matter of indifference whether the character were good or bad, so long as it was (what he called) individual. Our father, who had been detained by a meeting of school trustees (a quarterly infliction especially hateful to him), came home very late and much tired -too tired to show any interest in our account of Lady Helen's visit, or to take other notice of her invitation to us than by pronouncing an indifferent "Indeed!" when my mother repeated it verbally. CHAPTER X. „Du, die du alle Wunden heilest, SCHILLER. CHARLIE left us the next morning, and our days fell into the routine which his coming had disturbed. We had no second visit from Lady Helen, neither did we hear any news of Rosamond Lester, though we knew from Hilary's letters that she must now be in London. Seeing that our father disliked the subject, we left off talking about her coming; but Nesta and I wasted many half-hours privately in wondering when we should first see her; whether she really wished to make us her constant companions; and if she did, whether we should be allowed to be much with her. When we were alone, we laid elaborate plots for learning our father's decision on this matter; but when we saw his worn anxious face at night, we had not the heart to ask him any questions. An accident at last led to the desired talk. One evening, about a fortnight after Charlie had left us, Mr. Armstrong called earlier than usual to walk with my father to the lecture; and while I was still occupied in arranging my father's notes and books, he sauntered to my writing-table, and amused himself by turning over the scraps of paper with which it was littered. He was welcome to turn them over, for, with the exception of some little pictures with which, in idle moments, I had adorned the edges of sheets, they contained only half-worked sums and problems in algebra. It was one of the duties bequeathed to me by Hilary to work out in full, and write legibly, all the sums and problems on which the boys in my father's class were likely to be engaged during the week; that my father might spare his eyes by making the monitor of the class correct their papers by mine, instead of looking them over himself. I had no great aptitude for figures, and must have resigned my task long ago, if Mr. Armstrong had not, since Hilary's departure, made a practice of dropping in before the lecture-hour, on one evening of every week, and carrying off from my table all the half-done and wrongly-done sums he could lay his hands upon. These usually came back to me in one of my father's coat-pockets when he returned from the lecture, not only correctly worked, but with explanatory notes appended, which made all my puzzles clear to me. On the Friday week after Charlie left us, I was conscious that I was very much behind-hand with my work. I had devoted a long afternoon to it in the hope of making up for past dreamy hours; but I had not been in the right mood; the figures would not add up, and I had impatiently thrown aside one problem after another in despair. When I saw how many papers Mr. Armstrong was preparing to carry away, I was so much ashamed of myself, that I could not help speaking crossly. "Papa is ready, Mr. Armstrong," I said; "and I do wish that you would leave all those papers alone. I know some of them are wrong, but I can put them right. It is very disagreeable to have one's work taken away just as one is beginning to understand it." "I know it is disagreeable," he answered, “and therefore I will not have my work taken away from I have lit upon a puzzle which I must solve. me. |