beds, ruddy with scarlet geraniums. The occupants of this pretty room were two. Standing by the window was the master of the house--Lord John Bevan himself. A fine personable man he was; tall, well-made, with a fair, ruddy English complexion, and a curling brown beard. Both he and his wife wore an air of ease and good-breeding, perfectly in harmony with their surroundings. She was handsome where he was only good-looking. In her youth, Lady Bevan had been a very lovely girl; now in her mature womanhood she was almost as attractive. Unlike her sister, Mrs. Hulme, she was above the middle height, and dark. These differences, with the twelve years between their ages, made it hard to think of them as sisters. In character, they were as diverse as in person. Each in her way was estimable, and each in her own sphere was a favourite. But it may be remarked that Mrs. Hulme, with her gentleness and lady-like tastes, would have graced Lady Bevan's position as well as Lady Bevan herself; while her sister, doomed to poverty and its attendant inconveniences and inelegancies, would certainly have been miserable and useless where Mrs. Hulme was happy and invaluable. Heaven apportions to each the trial he best can bear; if Lady Bevan could not have struggled through money cares, neither could Mrs. Hulme have lived through the sorrow of losing four children. Lady Bevan had had four boys, and had seen them all die before Frederika was born. Mrs. Hulme, who idolized her children, and was

proud of her eight sons, even more than of her one daughter, could hardly understand her sister's knowing happiness again, after such trials to her maternal love. When she and her husband heard of little Frederika's birth, they said naturally enough, 'Won't she be spoilt?' And so said many other people; but they were all wrong. Lord John and his wife loved the children they had lost with a sad fondness; but they did not make that love nor that grief a reason for spoiling the little one left to them. In this matter they were both of one mind. As time sped on, and Frederika was still their only one, she crept more and more into their hearts, but still they kept her well in hand. Indulged she was, to a certain point; beyond that, trained and disciplined as a child should be-far more carefully, indeed, than was her cousin Audrey, whose will in her own circle was almost law, and whose judgment was more taxed and more relied on than was at all good either for her age or disposition. In her independence and her self-assertion, Audrey was much more like the spoiled child than Frederika.

The breakfast-room was very still, for Lord John and Lady Bevan were busy over the morning papers and letters. But letters and papers were laid aside as the door opened, and a fresh young voice said, 'Good morning, papa, dear. Good morning, mama,

darling.'

Frederika was always prodigal of her terms of endearment, but it was from no affectation. Her

natural warmth of feeling must have warmth of expression; and something in the tone in which they were uttered redeemed her words from familiarity, however warm they might be. So now, her entrance, though sprightly, was gentle; and her greetings were given with a pleasant charm of deference, amidst all their freedom.

Frederika Bevan was not a beauty by any means; but she was attractive, by virtue of a pleasant manner and a bright smile, to say nothing of a sweet voicethat greatest and rarest of all charms. Her red and white complexion, and fair brown hair, were like her father's; and she resembled him, too, in being tall and slight. But in her gestures and way of speaking she was more like Lady Bevan, only infusing into her ease and pleasant grace a dash of her own sprightliIt must be said, also, that her good looks, such as they were, had all the advantages that dress and care could give them. In her fresh pink muslin, with her fair hair coiled round her head in shining plaits, Frederika looked, it must be confessed, more attractive than her cousin Audrey, whose features were far more regularly pretty, but who was always shabbily, and often untastefully, dressed.

ness.

Audrey Hulme might with justice have been called a very pretty girl. Her hair and eyes were dark, and her complexion, though pale and less brilliant than her cousin's, was clear. As the Bevans' daughter, Audrey might have seen her good looks much thought of, but in her own family her vanity escaped the snare.

Brothers do not often perceive their sisters' charms; and if Mr. and Mrs. Hulme thought anything on the subject, at least they never talked of it: and Audrey was not apt to think much of appearance, so she was not boastful of her beauty. Frederika had no particular beauty to boast of; but she did attach a great value to appearance, and pleaded guilty to the wish to be very pretty indeed.

'Mama, Taylor says the Hulmes arrived last night. Ought we not to go down to the Rectory and welcome them?'

'Taylor made a mistake,' said Lord John. 'Only your uncle, with Audrey and the two elder boys, are here. Mrs. Hulme and the little ones join them to-morrow evening.'

'Oh, but since Audrey is come, we must pay her a visit of welcome,' said Frederika.

'You may go to her as soon as you please, my love,' said Lady Bevan. 'But I should be only in your cousin's way. There is a great deal to do on entering a new house. Audrey is busier just now than you have any idea of, Freda.'

'Oh, mama!' remonstrated Frederika rather aggrieved; 'when we went to Hastings last year, was I not busy one whole morning settling my rooms?'

Miss Frederika Augusta Bevan's idea of settling her rooms was the finding them all ready furnished to her hand, and then deciding where her books and boxes should be placed. This was a kind of business she took great pleasure in; so she looked forward

with double delight to surprising Audrey Hulme in the midst of her treasures, and growing very friendly over their arrangement.

'Then, mama, you will not come with me?' she said.

'No, dear, I think not. But tell your cousin, with my love, that we shall hope to see her here this evening with your uncle. He is to dine with us, you know.'

'I will remember.

mama.

Good-bye for the present,

Must I be home to luncheon?'

'Not if your cousin presses you to dine with her,' said Lady Bevan, smiling at her eagerness.

Frederika started very gleefully on her walk. It lay through the Park grounds, and a shrubbery path brought her to the Rectory garden.

The Rectory of Holy Royston was not a very large house, hardly large enough for the new Rector's family,—but the advantage of living rent free was too great for him to set aside. So the numerous party crowded in, well pleased to have so pleasant a home, and congratulating themselves that its size, at any rate, eclipsed that of the Cindreton semi-detached suburban dwelling they had just left.

Audrey had made herself extremely useful in the removal, packing and unpacking the few drawingroom ornaments so deftly that not one of them was broken, inventing makeshifts of all kinds, and rendering them acceptable by her own good-humoured faith in them; and solving her mother's perplexity by

G