"Mr. Swayne is such an odd man!" my
aunt said, quite bashfully, I fancied.

"Not so odd to think he should like to
oblige you, auntie?" I answered.

Aunt only shook her head, and sighed
again. The little placid sigh that seemed
habitual to her, and that always made me
feel impatient with her.

Aunt Aston, I knew, kept early hours; so
I soon bade good-night. MIindful of the
economy practised in her little household. I
first put out my candle, and then sat in the
window, 'neath the starlight, for hours. To
dream happily on the basis of things probable
was so new a delight, I could not easily
be satisfied; and when at last my thoughts
set themselves in musical order, I went
to bed only to sing them over in my
sleep.

But I remember I slept little that night;
it seemed as if my soul under my eyelids
kept up too much light. The red dawn
woke me, and I did not close my eyes again;
but while the first heavy dewiness was in air
and on earth, I visited the hayfields, buried
my face in the hawthorn-hedges, withdrawing
it. disfigured by one or two unfriendly
scratches, shook the petals of some late-blooming
apple-trees in showers down upon my
upturned lace, and gathered my hands full of
wild pink and white-briar roses. Their perfume
now always calls to my mind the
bowery lanes round Ilton! There was a
very wild life beating at my heart that morning,
in spite of the quiet step with which I
paced about. I went in with dew-dabbled
skirts, torn hands, and hair dishevelled from
its usual scrupulous neatness. Aunt Aston
was down, and breakfast waiting; but I had
a second toilette to make before I was presentable;
and then I glanced ruefully at my I
hands when my aunt directed my attention
to them. Harold would not like to see them
so disfigured. I would wear gloves in future
in my country rambles, I thought.

My aunt usually breakfasted at seven.
That morning it was past eight when we sat
down; and, before we had finished, our carriage
was waiting for us at the door. I had,
what seemed to me, a large sum of money in
my possession—a whole year's salary untouched,
and a little money saved from the
earnings of former years besides. Yet saved
is hardly the right word. My money, as soon
as received, was always thrown into a drawer.
I hated the sight of it. My wages—as I scornfully
termed it. I felt nothing of the nobiliiy
or the worship of labour. I always
resented—never gloried in—my state of
servitude. My salary had, as Mrs. Stone reminded
me, been handsome, and my expenses
very few. I had worn mourning for years,
and my plain black dresses had cost me little.
So now I felt quite rich, and, for the first
time in my life, it gladdened me to hold money
in my hand. I wanted to look well, and I
fancied I might improve my appearance by
dressing better. Harold had loved me as he
found me; so, for him, I would gladly look as
pretty as possible.

What my purchases should be was again
the subject of conversation as I drove my
aunt along the pretty, winding, fragrant
lanes, down into the little valley. crossing the
bridge over the placid river, through Lord
A.'s beautiful chestnut-studded beech-groved
park, which the use of Mr. Swayne's name
enabled us to cut across. Then, slowly up
the one long steep hill of the neighbourhood,
across a small tract of open down, where
the wind blew fresher, and I fancied the
sea might not be far off, and down again
gradually, the church-spire and house-tops,
and clustering trees of Hard lying beneath
us.

Arrived, our pony was dismissed for a few
hours' rest. We had so much business to do!
Hard was a very small town; but its shops
were well supplied, and our fastidiousness
had as good a chance of being gratified as at
many a larger place.

Aunt Aston and I did not very well agree
in our opinions about dress. She had the
quietest, most Quaker-like taste for herself;
but for a young person, like me, she fancied
brighter colours, and recommended pinks,
and blues, and greens, most indiscriminatingly.

My soft, pearly-coloured silk, delicately-
patterned muslin, and cloudy-coloured barège
did look rather sober-hued; so I bought
some bright pretty ribbons to please Aunt
Aston, and then we thought it prudent to
ascertain the amount of our expenditure
before buying more. I had already made a
large hole in my small fortune; so that would
do for to-day, we thought. We must calculate
and consider a little before we laid out
more there. Then we had visits to pay to
the dress-maker and milliner. That last, I
remember, was a most unsatisfactory visit.
How plain I looked in her gay, flowery
bonnets! but in one of soft, transparent
white my poor face pleased me better; and
in the choice of a second I allowed Aunt
Aston to have her way. I was quite sick of
my morning's employment by this time, and
my aunt was tired too. She had friends in
the town; should we go and see them? I
said "Please no!" and so we went to a
confectioner's, and thence sent for our little
carriage, and away home. What a time we
had spent! I felt a kind of contempt for
myseIf and for my companion, who talked
over our purchases with lively interest, as we
drove home in the golden afternoon silence.
I was warm and out of temper, in consequence
of which, and of my languid, indiiferent
driving, I nearly overset our carriage, and
very much frightened my aunt. She was
silent, and I penitent after that.

"A box come by the carrier for you, miss,"
Mary announced, as she came to lead the
pony home, when we had got out.