and sit down and have a talk," she said to
Hester. "What makes you so shy of talking
to me, I wonder, when I am always telling you
my concerns? It is a perfect relief to me
sometimes to pour them out upon you. There is
something so demure about you, as if you
would not repeat a word for the world; and
yet you contrive to let so much sympathy out
of your eyes as to keep one going on! I'll
promise not to say one word about dress, and you
couldn't have a better offer than that in this
place! Neither Miss Madge nor my Lady Helen
would treat you half so liberally."

So Hester sat down with idle fingers and
delivered herself up for the hour into Miss
Golden's whimsical hands.

"It will be insufferably dull here, you know,
for me during the next week," said Janet.
"I do think I should have run away long ago
if you had not arrived. And it is getting more
stupid every day with us down below. I really
used to be a most entertaining person myself,
but I get no encouragement now, and the
consequence is I have completely subsided. Lady
Helen pretends to know nothing about the
shocking things that are going on in the country,
and I believe she does live with her ears full of
cotton wool, but a few little drops of horror
must distil through, I think, for something is
telling on her temper. Then there is Madge—
why my war of wits with the Honourable
Madge used to keep the household alive; but
now she is so full of mystery, she actually
grows silent—does not observe the little shafts
I fling at her. As for Sir Archie, I half believe
he is concerned with the rebels, so wrapt up
in his own thoughts has he become; except,
indeed, when his mother is present, and
then it is amusing and highly edifying, I am
sure, to see the efforts he puts forth to entertain
her!"

Miss Janet tossed her head, as if she thought
there were other people whom he ought to think
it worth his while to entertain.

"Why, Miss Golden," said Hester—"why
do you think Sir Archie Munro is concerned
with the rebels?"

"Well, I can hardly tell you," said Miss
Janet, yawning, "except that he has grown so
dull and anxious, and seems to expect dreadful
things to happen. If perfectly loyal I don't
see what reason he has to be uneasy. He is
making his arrangements as if he expected a
siege, or something of that sort. He actually
took an opportunity to advise me to go home
the other day. A most hospitable bridegroom
I declare!"

"Bridegroom!" repeated Hester, involuntarily,
and then checked herself, shocked at her
own thoughtlessness, for Miss Golden had been
looking in the fire, and perhaps had forgotten
her presence.

"Oh yes, to be sure, bridegroom!" said
Janet, looking round, no way displeased nor
abashed. "I thought every one knew about
that pretty well. It is an old engagement, and
promises to be older before it is brought to a
conclusion. If Lady Helen could get her way
it might be finished off tomorrow. But she
can't get her way!" said Miss Janet, with a
little grimace of defiant satisfaction. "No, we
are nice quiet easy-going people here, and we
don't like to be hurried. We like to take our
time. We are very comfortable as we are."

And Janet embraced her knee, and smiled at
the fire, and appeared as cosy as any one could
wish to be. Hester looked at the luxurious
self-complacent young lady, and thought of
Pierce. His ring was still round Hester's neck.
That last command of the Mother Augustine
had prevented the possibility of its ever being
delivered by Hester to its rightful owner,
now present. She could not explain her
acquaintanceship with Mr. Pierce without
discovering her connexion with Lady Humphrey.
The intention had long been in her mind to
return the ring, in a letter to the young gentleman;
but what with letters to the Mother
Augustine, and letters to Lady Humphrey,
every opportunity for her pen had hitherto been
fully taken advantage of. She thought about
Pierce, and his pains, and his hopes, and his
fears, and she pitied him. And she looked
upon Janet, and strongly desired to know the
secret of her heart. She did not doubt that
Pierce was forgotten, yet she could not make
up her mind that Sir Archie was beloved.
Janet's manner in speaking of him made her
indignant. If he did not deserve something
better than this, if the plighting of his troth
had not called forth some deeper sentiment
than Miss Janet seemed to feel, then the world
was turning out a place altogether not worth
living in.

"Yes, he actually advised me to go home,"
said Janet; "planning my journey as coolly as
if he were my father sending me to school.
He said I ought to lose no time, but I said,
'By your leave, Sir Archie; why?' He said,
because there were going to be sadder doings
yet in the country, that by-and-by I might
want to escape, when travelling might not
be so easy. I was not going to be ordered off
that way. It did not suit me. So I made him
a curtsey, and said, 'By your leave, Sir Archie,
I am not a coward; and I intend to stay a
little longer.' And so I do. But I went to
Lady Helen, and told her Sir Archie was turning
me out of doors. I said I should go. She
sobbed into her handkerchief and declared that
she could not part with me. She promised me
some pretty gaieties at Christmas. And I
consented to remain."

"How will gaieties agree with the sad doings
spoken of by Sir Archie?" asked Hester, who
had got a little pale.

Janet shrugged her shoulders. "We are
not going to make our plans to suit grumblers,"
she said. "I am dying for a little excitement.
We will have all we can get. And I can tell
Sir Archie, that I will not be turned back
another night all because some ill-conducted
soldiers are making a row among the people
upon the road. It is dull enough here all the