The family at the Rectory.

39

'Perhaps he repents having refused your offer, and wants you to take her off his hands,' said Mr. Russell, as he fed little Gertrude with bread and jam.

'Oh, I hope not!' exclaimed Olive, the eldest of the seven daughters. I am sure we don't want her here. Mrs. Marsh told us she was such a dreadful child, always in scrapes.'

'I don't suppose she is as demure and quiet as Lilly and Georgie Marsh,' said her father; but from all I have heard, she must be a warmhearted little thing. Her brother seems devoted to her. Just pour me out another cup of tea, my dear; mamma is too much absorbed in her letter to notice my empty cup. What a long yarn Herbert seems to have written !'

'Yes, he has,' said Mrs. Russell, as she laid down the letter and took up the teapot; 'I must read it to you before you go out. Have you quite finished, children? No, True, no more bread and jam. Look, Miss Carey's waiting for you. Now, baby Violet, mother will lift you down, and then you must run up to nurse. Take her with you, Sybil dear, and tell nurse the little ones are not to bathe to-day.'

When the children had left the room, Mrs. Russell said to her husband, 'There's many a true word said in jest. This letter from Herbert is actually to ask that Milly may come here.'

'What is she too much for him? Let me hear what he says.'

Mrs. Russell commenced reading the letter, some passages of which we will quote :—

'FAIRFIELD MANOR, August 20th.

‘MY DEAR MRS. Russell,—In your last letter you said

you hoped I would bring Milly to see you any time after your return to Samborough, and I am writing now to ask when that event will take place, as, if you are not going there just yet, I think I must take her to the seaside for a short time first, as she requires a change. The little puss has not been very well lately, and looks thin and pale, the result, I suppose, of her two last scrapes, of which I must tell you to show you what a wild, thoughtless, but goodhearted, generous, and affectionate little creature she is.'

Then followed a short account of Joe's half-crown and Mary's fright, all of which we know.

"This ghost affair,' he went on, 'happened about four or five days ago; but the poor girl is still lying ill from the effects of the fright. Milly has taken it to heart very much, and I am sure it will be a long time before she again indulges in practical jokes. She is really and truly sorry for her thoughtlessness, and I hope she has learnt a lesson this time which will not be readily forgotten.

'For all that, I feel that it will never answer for her to go on living here with me. I am obliged to confess that my scheme has proved a failure. I see plainly that Milly is not a child to be educated by herself; she needs the companionship of other children, and of these there are, as you know, very few in this immediate neighbourhood. Mrs. Marsh's little girls are almost the only ones, and to them Milly has taken an inveterate dislike. Poor Miss Horne is an excellent person, but most unsuited as a governess to a child like Milly; she has just told me that it will be impossible for her to continue in her situation, as the constant anxiety she undergoes is too much for her health. Poor thing! when I engaged her she had visions of a little quiet pale girl, rather languid, as children sent home

Mr. Russell willing to receive Milly.

41

from India usually are, instead of which she had a wild romp put under her charge! And now I want you to tell me what had better be done. Shall I keep her with me doing nothing, while I write out to India, or shall I make any arrangements about sending her to the school her mother spoke of? Or are you and Mr. Russell still anxious to have her to live with you? I shall miss her more than I can possibly tell you; for in many ways it is an immense pleasure to me to have her here; but I feel that I have undertaken a task very much beyond my powers, which humble confession, I daresay, you will not be surprised to hear!

'Will you kindly send me a speedy answer? Of course I have not yet mentioned the subject to Milly.-With kind regards to Mr. Russell, believe me, very sincerely yours, 'HERBERT GRANT.'

'Poor Herbert!' laughed Mr. Russell, he has evidently caught a Tartar in Miss Milly. Well, I am as ready as ever to have her here; I think the seven will be a match for her. What do you say, Mary ?'

'Oh yes,' replied his wife; 'her scrapes don't frighten me; but I can quite fancy that she is beyond Miss Horne's management, from all I have heard of that lady. Of course the poor little creature wants companions. I never thought Herbert's scheme would succeed, or that it was a wise one ; but it was so good and nice of him to wish to make a home for his little sister, that one couldn't put any opposition in the way, and it might perhaps have answered with a child of a different nature.'

'I think, if I were you, I should write and tell Herbert to bring her to us in about ten days' time. We shall be going

to Samborough next week, and I suppose we should be

Tell him to leave We shall then be

ready for them at the end of that time. her with us on a two months' visit. able to see which will be best for her-school, or a home with us.'

'Very well,' said Mrs. Russell; 'I'll write at once. I wonder what the children will say when they hear she is really coming!'

Mrs. Russell was Millicent's aunt; Mrs. Grant being her sister. Their father, Sir Charles Pocock, had been a judge out in India, and the two sisters, who lost their mother early in life, were educated in England under the care of their grandmother. When the time came for their return to India, Mrs. Grant was the only one who rejoined her father, her elder sister being engaged to be married to Mr. Russell. The two sisters felt the separation very much, for they were warmly attached to each other, and it was a great grief to Mrs. Russell, when her sister married Colonel Grant, to know that, in all probability, very many years would elapse before she and her husband would return to England. When Millicent was old enough to be sent home, she wrote at once, begging Mrs. Grant to let her have the care of her little niece.

Knowing her sister to have seven girls already, Mrs. Grant thought it hardly fair to inflict her with so much extra care and responsibility, much as she would have liked her child to have been under her wing, and she had almost decided on sending her to the school where she and her sister had been educated, when a letter from Herbert arrived, pleading so earnestly that he might make a home for his little sister, that Colonel Grant at once decided to agree to his wishes.

Milly going to change her home.

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Milly, too, was all anxiety to live with the brother of whom she had heard so much, and did not seem to fancy the idea of school or of the seven little cousins in the same degree. So the knotty point was settled in Herbert's favour, and Mrs. Grant was comforted, in sending her darling home, by the thought of the loving hearts and open hands willing to receive her. Soon after Milly's arrival at Fairfield, it was arranged for Mrs. Russell and Olive to come on a visit to make acquaintance with her; but just before the day named, little Rhoda was taken ill with the measles, and in a very short time all the other children caught the complaint also, so that Mrs. Russell had her hands full for some time to come, and could not possibly leave home. It had, therefore, so happened that Milly had never seen her aunt or cousins. She knew that she and Herbert were to pay them a visit some time before the year was out, and she was looking forward to it with mingled feelings of dread and pleasure. She had the greatest possible desire to see her Aunt Mary, whose name had been a household word to her ever since she could remember; but having been so little with other children, the thought of the seven girls rather appalled her. She hardly knew, therefore, whether to be glad or sorry when, on the receipt of Mrs. Russell's letter, Herbert told her that their contemplated visit was to take place almost immediately, and that it would be a very long one as far as she was concerned. For the present he thought it better to say nothing of the probable change of homes.

'Are we going to Elworthy or to Samborough?' she asked.

'To Samborough,' answered Herbert. Mr. Russell is in residence now, and will spend the next three months there.'