"Quite so, quite so, Mr. Lee," returned our
guardian, with a pleasant lavish. "And I make
no doubt but the young gentleman will do you
credit."

Here Anna, raising herself on tiptoe,
stretched her arm over uncle's shoulder and
thrust a bunch of sweet herbs we had been
buying for home use, under his nose. He
and Mr. Lee stopped and turned round; as
they did so, a third gentleman, who had been
walking a little in advance of them, and whom
we had not seen until now, stopped too, on hearing
my uncle's exclamation. "What now!"
cried uncle, his face lighting up into smiles,
as it always did whenever he saw either of
us, "saucy Nanny! I might have known it
was one of your pranks. Fie, miss! Ain't
you ashamed? Here's Mr. Lee blushing for
you."

I don't think Mr. Lee was blushing, but I
know Anna was, and laughing too, and looking
very pretty. Mr. Lee shook hands with us
both, with much condescension; and as we were
blocking up the pathway, and were being hustled
and pushed this way and that, Uncle Gough
bade us two walk on, and said: "Perhaps Mr.
Lee and Mr. Horace will be good enough to come
to the Gable House and see aunty, and give us
the pleasure of drinking a toast to Mr. Horace's
success and prosperity, in our homely fashion,
after dinner." Then the third gentleman, who
had been in advance of them, was presented to
us by Mr. Lee as "my son Horace, young
ladies;" and my uncle's invitation having been
accepted, we all proceeded homeward. The two
elders resumed their talk immediately, and
chatted together all the way. But we young
ones walked shyly side by side in silence, until
we reached the old iron gateway of the Gable
House.

That was the first time I ever saw Horace
Lee.

CHAPTER IV.

IT is difficult for me now, to separate that first
impression from my subsequent knowledge of
Horace, but I am nearly sure that I liked him
from the first, although he was shy and silent,
and a little stiff, perhaps. I remember, quite
certainly, feeling pleased (though I should have
been puzzled to say why) that the younger Mr.
Lee was not very like his father. Just the
colour of the bluish-grey eyes, and the crisp
curliness of the hair, were alike in the two.
But Horace had not his father's massive jaw and
coarse mouth, and he had altogether a gentle
wistful kind of expression when his face was in
repose, which I supposed he inherited from his
dead mother.

Uncle Gough stepped forward, and led the
way beneath the porch of famous memory,
and into the hall; and we four, Anna and I
and the two Mr. Lees, followed in a some-
what pell-mell fashion. But I noticed that
when we came to the dining-room door, and my
sister and I paused an instant, old Mr. Lee
pushed on, in his pompous self-absorbed way,
and entered before us; and that a slight look of
annoyance came across the young man's face as
he drew back with a formal little bow, to allow
us to pass. Dear Aunt Gough was the soul of
hospitality, and I believe if uncle had brought
home half Willborough to dinner, she would
have felt no more regret than might be
occasioned by anxiety lest they should not all be
comfortable and well provided for. She looked a
little surprised when Mr. Lee walked in, for he
had never been on intimate terms at the Gable
House; but she welcomed him and his son with
the sweet simple kindliness that cannot be
counterfeited. And then, during dinner, we heard
how it was that Mr. Horace was in Willborough,
and what uncle had meant by speaking of a
toast to his success and prosperity.

"Mr. Lee's son is coming to settle among us
here, old woman," said my uncle to my aunt.
"He has been studying engineering and land-
surveying away in Birmingham, with Mr.——
Mr.——"

"Topps," said the elder Mr. Lee, seeing
that uncle paused for the name. "Topps. A
very eminent man, madam. Very eminent
man. And expensive, very expensive. But
eminence is ever expensive." The old gentleman
looked round, as though he had said
something highly gratifying, and expected us to
appear pleased. Horace kept his eyes on the
tablecloth.

"Yes," resumed my uncle, "Mr. Horace
has been studying with Mr. Topps. I am sure
that Mr. Horace has profited by his
opportunities; and his course of study being now
finished, I am glad to say he is coming to give
us Willborough folk the advantage of his skill."

"I have bought him a share in the old-
established business of Phillips and Rotherwood,"
put in Mr. Lee. "Mr. Phillips is about retiring,
and there is an opening for a young man
with moderate capital and a good connexion. I
consider that I have done my duty by my son,
in keeping before him from boyhood the
advantage of a good connexion. And, if I may
be allowed to say so, I think he will find a good
connexion ready to receive him, and to respect
him for his father's sake."

"No doubt of that, sir," said Uncle Gough,
after so short a silence that there scarcely seemed
to have been a pause at all: "and to like him for
his own."

Horace looked up at my uncle then, and
thanked him with a smile so bright that it
seemed to light up his face as if a ray of
sunshine had fallen on it.

After that, we girls went away with my aunt,
and left the gentlemen over their wine. They
did not remain apart very long, for the Lees
had a ten-mile drive to their home, and the
days were shortening already at the approach of
autumn. They came into the morning-room
where we were sitting, to take leave of my aunt.
Old Mr. Lee was a good deal flushed, and had
been doing justice to my uncle's cellar. That
was no uncommon circumstance in those days,
but it was one we were unused to, for James
Gough was the most temperate of men.