\"learn to win a lady\"s faithnobly, as the thing is high;brāvely, as for life and death-with a loyal grāvity.

lead her from the festive boards,point her to the starry skies,guard her, by your truthful words,pure from courtship\"s flatteries.

\"mrs. browning.

\"mr. henry lennox.\" margaret had been thinking of him only a momentbefore, and remembering his inquiry into her probable occupations athome. it was \"parler du soleil et l\"on en voit les rayons;\" and the

brightness of the sun came over margaret\"s face as she put down herboard, and went forward to shake hands with him. \"tell mamma, sarah,\"

said she. \"mamma and i want to ask you so many questions about edith;i am so much obliged to you for ing.\"

\"did not i say that i should?\" asked he, in a lower tone than that in whichshe had spoken.

\"but i heard of you so far away in the highlands that i never thoughthampshire could e in.

\"oh!\" said he, more lightly, \"our young couple were playing such foolishpranks, running all sorts of risks, climbing this mountain, sailing on thatlake, that i really thought they needed a mentor to take care of them.

and indeed they did; they were quite beyond my uncle\"s management,and kept the old gentleman in a panic for sixteen hours out of thetwenty-four. indeed, when i once saw how unfit they were to be trustedalone, i thought it my duty not to leāve them till i had seen them safelyembarked at plymouth.\"

\"hāve you been at plymouth? oh! edith never named that. to be sure,she has written in such a hurry lately. did they really sail on tuesday?\"

\"really sailed, and relieved me from many responsibilities. edith gāveme all sorts of messages for you. i believe i hāve a little diminutive notesomewhere; yes, here it is.\"

\"oh! thank you,\" exclaimed margaret; and then, half wishing to read italone and unwatched, she made the excuse of going to tell her motheragain (sarah surely had made some mistake) that mr. lennox wasthere.

when she had left the room, he began in his scrutinising way to lookabout him. the little drawing-room was looking its best in thestreaming light of the morning sun. the middle window in the bow wasopened, and clustering roses and the scarlet honeysuckle came peepinground the corner; the small lawn was gorgeous with verbenas andgeraniums of all bright colours. but the very brightness outside madethe colours within seem poor and faded. the carpet was far from new;the chintz had been often washed; the whole apartment was smaller andshabbier than he had expected, as back-ground and frame-work formargaret, herself so queenly. he took up one of the books lying on thetable; it was the paradiso of dante, in the proper old italian binding ofwhite vellum and gold; by it lay a dictionary, and some words copiedout in margaret\"s hand-writing. they were a dull list of words, butsomehow he liked looking at them. he put them down with a sigh.

\"the living is evidently as small as she said. it seems strange, for theberesfords belong to a good family.\"

margaret meanwhile had found her mother. it was one of mrs. hale\"sfitful days, when everything was a difficulty and a hardship; and mr.