avoid the dull harbour." But instead, her
eyes dropped suddenly, and she said,

"It was very kind of you, indeed." Mr.
Conway was a remarkably interesting man,
and had a legion of lady admirers.

"O come in and sit down," said the
doctor, impatiently. " Go, child, and hurry
your mother; these gentlemen are hungry,
and don't keep us waiting. Come in here,
prince, you shall taste my cognac: finest in
the three kingdoms." It will be seen that
the Reverend Doctor Bailey was something
of an under-bred man. With him it was
all, "his," and "my;" a red, swollen
pampered " my;" " my house, my furniture,
my servants, my women," &c. All these
elements were to his service, honour, and
glory.

The prince said, perhaps a little maliciously,
"Will you not allow us the pleasure
of presenting our homage to Mrs. Bailey?"

"Oh to be sure, to be sure," said the
doctor; " she will be here presently. These
servants of ours, I can tell you, prince——"

"She your servant?" said Mr. Conway.
" O, I see now," he added, correcting
himself.

"Ah, here is lunch!" said the doctor, as
the folding door was thrown open. " For
once Mrs. Bailey has not been an hour
late." The doctor began to stride. But the
prince stopped to offer his arm to Miss
Jessica. " You are coming in to lunch, are
you not? This is not surely after dinner,
when the gentlemen drink alone?"

The girl hesitated.

"God bless me," said her father, "you
are always getting up some fuss! Don't let
us stand upon the order of our going,
prince. Come in."

But the latter, with great ceremoniousness,
offered his arm, with a low foreign bend
and bow, to the young lady. The doctor
began to blow and walked behind, raising
his hands impatiently.

The lady of the house stole down after they
were seated. And the ceremonious prince
had risen and was bowing, and offering his
chair. The doctor "blew," and "phewed"
again, and remained with his soup-tureen
poised. He conveyed the idea that he would
have liked to have used it, say on the side
of a human head divine, and for quite
another purpose than for helping soup.

She scarcely spoke, but Mr. Conway
noticed that her daughter determined, as of
set purpose, that she should be noticed and
have her place.

"I hope we shall see a great deal of you,"
said the doctor, lubricating his lips with

rich gravy. " Here—help the prince. Now
you must, you really must come often;
you know the way here."

Conway, who was a perfect gentleman,
seemed to take a pleasure in bringing
forward Mrs. Bailey.

"But what can you say to such an
arrangement? Two boisterous sailors
bursting in, and taking possession of the house!
No, indeed, we must think of you."

"What folly!" said the doctor; "don't
mind them. What have they to do with it?
Come when you like!"

"What have they to do with it?"
repeated Conway, with assumed astonishment.
"Surely, Doctor Bailey, ladies have to do
with all that is worth anything in this
world. I am afraid (and you must not
think me rude for telling you so) your own
unaided attraction would not go far."

This, though said with the air of a joke,
was more in earnest than in joke, and the
doctor began to blow and phew a good
deal, as his habit was when there was
something he did not quite understand.

"And we find Dudley here," said Mr.
Conway. " I have hardly got over that
surprise yet."

"An ill-conditioned man, Mr. Conway,
very much so; he is not the sort of thing,
you know; and really, when you consider
my position, I ought scarcely to tolerate a
man situated as he is."

"Oh! you have told us that," said Conway,
very coldly. " We are in possession of
the scandal. You know Miss Panton, the
heiress?" he said, turning abruptly to
Jessica. "Every one adores her."

Instantly he saw a bit of dramatic action
in her face; two or three shades of opposite
feelings seemed to drift across it, much as
they had seen cloud shadows gliding
across their mainsail.

"Yes, I do know her," she answered
steadily; " and I do not adore her; she is
much too rich."

"I saw her at the church to-day, and she
seemed behind the rail of a cash office."

Jessica was first going to say something,
then something else. Then seemed to check
herself, and said a third thing eagerly and
fervently.

"I do not like her, and I cannot, though
I have tried. Perhaps the reason is that she
does not like me."

"What folly you talk, child!" said her
father, roughly. " I assure you, Mr.
Conway, she is charming: all that estate for
miles, you can see it from the top window
of this house, is hers. Beautiful house, and