"Some of them waited on me at the
school-house several days ago!"

"And you made them pledge themselves
to support Mr.— Mr. Joyce?"

"No, Mrs. Creswell, I am a schoolmaster
and a clergyman, not an electioneering
agent. I explained to them to the best of
my power the views taken by each party
on the great question of the day, and,
when asked a direct question as to how
I should myself vote, I answered it— that
was all."

"All, indeed! It is sufficient to show
me that these unthinking people will follow
you to the polling-booth like sheep!
However, to return to what I was about to say
when I thought of these farmers; is your
belief in your attachment to these principles
so strong as to allow them to influence
your actions at what may be an important
period of your life? I know the Helmingham
school-salary, Mr. Benthall; I know
the life— Heaven knows I ought, after all
the years of its weariness and its drudgery
which I witnessed. You are scarcely in
your proper place, I think ! I can picture
you to myself in a pleasant rectory in a
southern or western county, with a charming
wife by your side!"

"A most delightful idea, Mrs. Creswell,
but one impossible of realisation in my case,
I am afraid!"

"By no means so impossible as you seem
to imagine. I have only to say one word to
my husband, and—— "

"My dear Mrs. Creswell," said Mr.
Benthall, rising, and laying his hand
lightly on her arm, " pray excuse my
interrupting you; but I am sure you don't
know what you are saying, or doing!
Ladies have no idea of this kind of thing;
they don't understand it, and we cannot
explain. I can only say that if any man
had— well, I should not have hesitated a
moment in knocking him down!" And
Mr. Benthall, whose manner was disturbed,
whose voice trembled, and whose face was
very much flushed, was making rapidly to
the door, when Marian called him back.

"I am sorry," she said, very calmly, " that
our last interview should have been so
disagreeable. You will understand that, under
present circumstances, your visits here, and
your acquaintance with any of the inmates
of this house, must cease."

Mr. Benthall looked as though about to
speak, but he merely bowed and left the
room. When the door closed behind him,
Marian sank down into her chair, and
burst into a flood of bitter tears. It was
the second repulse she had met with that
day, and she had not been accustomed to
repulses, of late.

THE OMNIBUS IN LONDON AND IN PARIS.

MOST persons who have sojourned in the capitals
of England and France, and have availed
themselves of the commercial comforts proper
to either city, must have noted that the spacious
and commodious vehicle, to which from its
catholic capacities the name " omnibus " has been
applied in both countries, plays a much more
important part in Paris than in London. It is
not too much to say that in the former you can
go from anywhere to anywhere else, at a price
which is not varied by the length of your journey,
whereas, in the latter, there is not only a
variation of charge, but there are many points
which, from certain other points, cannot be
reached by omnibus at all. In Paris all classes
are alike accommodated; in London the most
favoured class consists of the persons who have
business in the city. On this account the Bank
of England, as a city focus, can be reached from
almost any district you could name, inhabited
by business men, and on this account likewise
the privileges of the Bank of England are
exceptional.

The result of the London system, or rather
want of system, is a great diversity in the small
assemblies that travel at different hours by the
same omnibuses. At the time when city
men leave their residences at the West-end or
in the suburbs, the vehicles which they use are
crowded, and the same phenomenon is observed
when the time for returning home has arrived.
These city men comprise employers as well as
clerks, and thus nine and ten A.M. and four and
five P.M., or thereabouts, may be termed the
aristocratic hours for those omnibuses that ply to
and from the Bank of England, the morning
hours being considered in reference to those
who seek, and the afternoon hours to those who
leave that important point. During the
intermediate hours, and at those very hours when
the course of the omnibus is contrary to the
course of business, the travellers belong for the
most part to a far humbler class, and are by no
means numerous. And with the omnibuses
that do not ply city-wards this is almost always
the case. Indeed, with the exception of persons
who for some important reason are impelled
towards the centre of traffic, every one who is
in the slightest degree opulent and luxurious
makes a point of patronising the more expensive
cab. The cab will at any rate take us to any
point we may choose to name, whereas the choice
for the travellers by the omnibus is limited.
Of course, we leave out of the account the
state of traffic on Sundays and holidays, when
the omnibuses that ply to and from the city
are almost empty, and those that convey the
passengers to Richmond, and other places of
pleasant resort, are full.

Now, in Paris the travellers by omnibus are