about her was, that she never spoke without
thinking, and always spoke at the right
time. He felt a little uncomfortable therefore,
and dropped the subject, saying, "I
will tell them, then, tomorrow morning.
Did you speak to Mrs. Ashurst?"

"I did!"

"And she——?"

"She is almost as happy as her daughter,
at the thought! Is that sufficient?"

"God bless her! said Mr. Creswell.
"Her comfort shall be our first care!  Ah,
Marian, you are an angel!" And Marian
thought it mattered very little how the young
ladies might receive the announcement of
their uncle's intended marriage, so long as
their uncle held that last expressed opinion.

The next morning, while the young ladies
were at their music practice, they received
a message that their uncle wished to see
them. It was not meant to be a formal
message, but it certainly smacked
somewhat of formality. Hitherto, whenever
their uncle wanted them, he had been in
the habit of either coming to their room,
or of calling them to him. Maud looked
astonished at the solemnity of the phrase
"wishes to see you" as the servant delivered
it, while Gertrude raised her eyebrows at
her sister, and audibly wondered what it
meant.

They found their uncle seated in his
library, the desk before him as usual heaped
with papers and accounts, and plenty of
Miss Ashurst's handwriting, so horribly
neat and so painfully legible, as Gertrude
described it, to be seen everywhere. Mr.
Creswell rose as they entered, and received
them with all his usual kindness; Maud
thought his manner was a little flurried
and his face a little pale, but she could not
gather from anything she saw the reason
of their summons. Gertrude had made up
her mind that somebody, she did not know
who, had proposed for Maud; but then she
could not see why she was required to be
present at the announcement.

There was rather an uncomfortable hitch
in the proceedings at first, Mr. Creswell
obviously finding it difficult to touch upon
the topic which he had to treat, and the
girls having no topic to touch upon. At
length, Maud broke the silence by saying,
"You sent for us, uncle! You wished to
see us I"

"Yes, my dears—yes, girls, I wanted to
see you, and I asked the servant to beg you
to stop here, as I had something special
that I wanted to say to you, for you
know, my dear children, that since you
came to live with me, I have always treated
you as if you were my daughters—at least,
I hope I have; it has been my wish to do
so!"

"You always have done so, uncle!" said
Maud, decisively.

"Always, uncle!" echoed Gertrude, who
was best as chorus.

"That's right, my dears. I'm glad you've
found it so, as I intended it. So long as I
live you will find that you will be treated
in the same way, and I have made such
provision for you in my will as I would
have made for my own daughters, if it had
pleased God to give me any. Having told you
this, it's right that I should tell you of
something which is going to happen in this
house, though it won't make any difference
in your position, nor any difference to you
at all that I know of, but yet it's right you
should be made acquainted with it. I'm—
I'm going to be married!"

There was a pause for an instant, and
then it was Gertrude spoke.

"To be married!" she said. "You going
to be married! Oh, uncle, I know to
whom! I'm sure I can guess!"

"Guess, then, my dear," said Mr.
Creswell.

"To dear old Mrs. Ashurst, isn't it?"
cried Gertrude. "I'm sure it is! She
is the very kindest, sweetest old thing! and
if she only had better health—I'm right,
uncle, am I not?—it is Mrs. Ashurst!"

"No, my dear," said Mr. Creswell, with
hesitating voice and glowing cheeks—"no,
my dear, it's not Mrs. Ashurst!"

"Ah, then, it's some one you have met
away from Woolgreaves, away from the
neighbourhood, some one we don't know!"

"No, indeed!" said Mr. Creswell, "it
is some one you know very well, and I
hope love very much. It is Marian—Miss
Ashurst."

"Oh, my!" exclaimed Gertrude.

"I wish you all happiness, dear uncle,"
said Maud, rising from her seat, crossing
to her uncle, and bending down to kiss
him as he sat.

"So do I, dear uncle," said Gertrude,
following her sister.

"Thank you, my dears," said Mr. Creswell;
"thank you very much, I said before,
that nothing should make any difference
in your position here, nor in my intentions
for the future—nor will it. Besides, it
isn't as if it were a stranger—you've known
Marian so long——"

"Oh yes, we've known Miss Ashurst for
some time!" said Maud, with emphasis.