"Do go, dear aunty," said we; and my uncle
joined us in urging her.

"I will take you to a farm of one of Sir
Robert's tenants, where I have business," said
Mr. Lee, " and the good people of the house
will be proud to offer you some homely refreshment,
as a friend of mine. I am to sleep in
Willborough to-night, and will drive you back
before it grows dusk. There is—ahem!—there
is a third seat behind, and if one of the young
ladies would accompany us——"

It was comical to see the look he gave me.
It said " don't you come," so plainly. I involuntarily
answered the look, by exclaiming, " O
no, of course Anna will go." But Anna wished
me to have the pleasure of the drive, and
protested she would not care to go and leave me
at home. " That is nonsense, dear," said I.
"Do you go, and take care of aunty, and make
her wrap up. Perhaps Mr. Lee will take me
some other day." A proposal to which Mr. Lee,
in his gladness at escaping my companionship
for the present, politely and even cordially
assented. So it was settled that Anna should
go; and I helped to put warm wraps into the
little open chaise, in case the spring evening
should turn chilly as they came home; and I
stood watching them as they drove away: Anna's
dark ringlets waving about her pretty face, and
her mouth pursed up into a ridiculous grimace
in imitation of the unconscious Mr. Lee who
sat square and stately before her.

There was never lack of occupation at
the Gable House. Aunt Gough had made
us familiar with all housewifely lore, and both
my sister and I were proud of our skill as
housekeepers. My morning, therefore, passed busily
away. After giving my uncle his early dinner,
and seeing him established with his pipe
and the London newspaper in the dining-room,
I took my knitting and went into the garden to
enjoy the brightness of the sunny afternoon. I
wandered all over the grounds, through the
shrubbery, into the orchard where the happy
little birds were chirping and twittering in the
gnarled old fruit-trees. I marked the early
flowers dotting the borders with brilliant spots
of colour; and I peered with keen interest at
the promise of a great plenty of roses, displayed
by the standard trees upon the lawn. It was
all so dear and so familiar to me! I knew every
nook in the place, every time-tinted patch in
the old brick walls, every shrub, every bough,
nay almost every leaf. As I came slowly back
towards the house, I stopped to pick a bunch
of broad-faced daisies that grew luxuriantly on
a tiny green mound in a sunny corner of the
shrubbery. It was a very tiny mound, with a
white upright stone at one end of it, whereon
the syllable VIC was engraven. Poor little
Vixen lay beneath it, her fiery barkings and
quaint gambols stilled for ever. " Vic," said I,
half aloud, " I am glad to know that you were
a very happy little dog." And then I began to
think of our childish days when Anna and Vic
were such fast friends and joyous playmates. I
remembered the great battle of the porch, and
Stock's signal defeat, and then I thought of
my discomfiture and poor Dolly's deadly peril.
Coming to the said porch at that moment,
I went inside it and sat down. Though it was
yet early in the year, the afternoon sun falling
on that side of the house, and beating on the
yellow space of gravel—still the pride of Stock's
heart—made the shade pleasant. The click of
my knitting-needles grew slower and slower, and
at length ceased. I had fallen into a drowsy
kind of reverie. I was given to day-dreams
then. All sorts of pictures of my childhood's
days, and of people and places I knew, came
into my head and passed away to be succeeded
by other pictures. I was conscious of a lazy
kind of curiosity as to what I should see next,
when I heard a step on the gravel path. It
was not old Stock's heavy tread this time, but
a light rapid footfall. I well knew whose.

"I thought I should find you here," said
Horace, coming out of the sunlight to my side.

"Did you? I have not been in the porch
before, this year; but this lovely afternoon
tempted me. Aunty and Anna are gone to drive
with your father."

"Yes, I know it. I am glad Mrs. Gough
consented to go. I believe the air will do her
good."

He had come eagerly into the porch, as though
he had been seeking me, wishing to say
something; but now he sat silent, trifling with the
ball of knitting-worsted, that had lain on my
lap. I have mentioned that he had an absent
trick of turning and twisting things in his
fingers.

"What you are doing now, reminds me," I
told him, " of my hair chain. Do you know, I
have never been able to find it; since that night
when you made Anna nervous by playing with
it? Isn't it strange?"

He put his hand into his breast, and turned
his eyes upon me with a look that made my
colour rise and my heart beat faster.

"Margaret"—O the tenderness in his voice!
how sweet my name sounded!—" Margaret, shall
I tell you something? Here is your chain. I
have had it next my heart ever since that night."
He drew it forth, and held it out to me. A
great joy began to flood my soul, but it was my
nature to distrust such happiness. I could not
accept it all at once; it seemed too great to
believe in. So I tremblingly held out my hand
for the chain, with a slight exclamation of
surprise.

"No," said Horace, drawing nearer to me,
"not till you have heard why I took it. You
have not asked me that, Margaret. Do you
know?"

I shook my head. I was past speaking.

"Can you guess?"

My tears began to blind me, and I could not
keep down a sob. He threw his arms around
me, and held me to his breast.

"Because it had been yours; because it had
clasped your throat; because the poorest ribbon
you could wear, the glove that had touched
your hand, the flower you had gathered and