HESTER'S HISTORY,

A NEW SERIAL TALE.

CHAPTER XX. HESTER IS PUZZLED

IT may be that Lady Helen Munro has
appeared —in the few short glimpses of her
character revealed within the limits of this hurried
tale—as a person of a character quite weak,
and utterly without any will of her own. I am
glad to have an opportunity of showing how
mistaken was the latter idea. Weak she was;
but then people of a weak mind are often
known to be possessed of a strong will,
especially where the concerns of other people are
in question.

No sooner did her ladyship hear her son
state in plain terms his determination never
to marry the lady whom she had selected for
his wife, than she immediately resolved that the
wedding should take place with as little delay
as was possible under existing circumstances.
So long as he had remained quietly idle in the
matter, delaying to begin his suit, she had been
quite content with his humour, had seen no
cause for haste. But when he declared himself
anxious to put an honest straightforward finish
to that very unsatisfactory sham which had been
called his engagement, she at once became
afflicted and insulted, and found that herself
and dearest Janet had been extremely badly
used.

"There need be no regret about it," Sir
Archie said. "I am quite convinced that Miss
Golden feels as I do. It will be pleasanter for
all when the restraint of this mock engagement
is removed. You will find that she will be
pleased when you give her her release. You
will know how to manage. It would be quite
out of place for me to interfere in the matter."

"You know, Archie, I make every excuse
for you," sobbed Lady Helen. " I feel very
much being talked to by you in this meaningless
manner, but I know now your poor head is
turned about the rebels. If I believed what
you say, as I did at the first shock, I should
consider myself deeply insulted and dear Jane
horribly wronged. But I do not believe you, dear
Archie; I would not behave so wickedly
towards you as to believe you. And my best
advice to you is not to believe yourself. By-
and-by you will be less worried, and your senses
will come back. I will promise you to forget
every word you have said."

"I have thought well over every word," said
Sir Archie, " and I shall never at any time
withdraw so much as one. I beg, mother, that you
will understand me once for all, and do your
best to set this matter to rights. I shall depend
on you to do so."

And Sir Archie walked out of the room.

But none the more was Lady Helen
convinced that this marriage which she had planned
should not take place.

"It is all nonsense," she said to Mrs. Hazeldean;
" he cannot mean to live single all his
life, and he never made much objection to dear
Janet before. I don't believe he knows the
difference between one woman and another.
And as for letting such a splendid fortune
slip through one's fingers, never to speak of
the sweet girl herself, it is quite out of the
question to think of it. Oh, I quite rely upon
dear Archie's coming to his senses by the
time these shocking rebels have been all
hanged. And in the mean time if we could
get him quietly married, and carried off to
France, or Italy, or some other nice place
where the people have no wrongs, nor miseries,
nor anything unpleasant of that kind, and one
need not be afraid to go to sleep in one's
bed! A vessel could take us from the bay
just at hand, and we need not run the risk of
being shot at as rebels on the road, or taken out
of our coach and hanged to a wayside tree.
I shall certainly lay my mind to it. And as
for speaking to dear Janet, I shall do no such
thing; except to consult her about getting her
trousseau put in hand. Once that has been
got ready, you know, Margaret, no man with
a spark of feeling could draw back."

"You had better not thwart Archie," said
Mrs. Hazeldean. "Take my word for it he
means what he says. And as for getting ready
a trousseau under the circumstances—if you
want to make yourself and the young lady feel
very foolish, I think you had better do it. I
believe you will be wise to act according to
Archie's desire."

But Lady Helen here put her handkerchief
to her eyes. And when Lady Helen put her
handkerchief to her eyes eloquence were mere
waste and reasoning foolishness. That very
evening she opened her mind to Hester on the
subject of Miss Golden's trousseau. And