' r ■ % * ■ t \ # The person charging this material is re¬ sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN s' ■ . ' I ■ . . - •< 's rnt’Er (f’s: OR, THE QUESTION OF PUTTING UPON. U t ' f ' PALMER-WORM PARK Front. THE QUESTION OF PUTTING UPON. BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE, AUTHOR OF “THE HEIR OF REDCLVFFE.” Paulina hiding the letter. P, 95, bonbon : MACMILLAN AND CO. 1872. [ The Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved .] ** S^a frs / d^v lyOcM. S3 $ Si 3 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PALMER-WORM PARK. CHAPTER II. THE QUINTALLS QUACK COMMON PETS CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. QUADRILLES Cy N REVARICATION r V* QUANDARIES CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER VII. PAGE I 9 18 25 43 55 68 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE P. AND P. 77 CHAPTER IX. Q IN THE CORNER. S8 CHAPTER X. POOR PERSIS.97 CHAPTER XI. QUARRELS ON THE QUADRANGLE.105 CHAPTER XII.’ POST-OFFICE REVELATIONS.114 CHAPTER XIII. QUARTERING THE ROCKING-HORSE.I 27 CHAPTER XIV. POISONING A HOLIDAY. I 37 * CHAPTER XV. THE QUAY.145 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGH palmer-worm park. Front. PAULINA HIDING THE LETTER. Vignette'. PAULINA’S GRIEF AT BEING LEFT AT HOME.39 ‘‘BLESS ME, IF IT IS NOT MISS PAULINA!”.67 PAULINA AND ALINE IN THE GARDEN.IOO “I’LL THANK YOU NOT TO MEDDLE IN MY AFFAIRS AGAIN !” 139 . ■ . ■ i » \ / • » . . . - • '% anlr <$'s ♦ t OR, THE QUESTION OF PUTTING UPON. CHAPTER I. PALMER-WORM PARK. Pour roofs sloping down together left in the midst a small space a little more than a yard square, •« and somewhat enlarged by an attic window opening npon it from one of the roofs. On the lead which covered the said flat space stood various flower¬ pots and boxes filled with earth, and with a framework covered with muslin or net stretched over them. Among them knelt a girl of thirteen, big, dark, rosy, the wind playing with her immense hush of black, rather rusty hair, as with a brown B PERNII. [chap. holland apron over her morning frock, and the frame removed from one of the pots, she was busied in removing with a camel’s hair brush, certain green, yellow-banded caterpillars from a withered oak branch to a fresh one, talking to them in no very civil terms as she did so: "You horrid little plague, come along I What do you stick so fast for! Have you lost your appetite ? You can’t live on camel’s hair, you know ! Off with you ! You goose, you ! Don’t you know if you go climbing you’ll find nothing but slates, and the swallows will swallow you, and there’ll be an end of you,! Come along, you sulky thing! Get on the brush, I say; I won’t have any tricks. Curling yourself in a ball, indeed. Tumbling down! Ho! Keep your spinning for your cocoon. Don’t waste it that way, I say—Wah! I shall pinch you ! Oh, clear ! Horace ought to give me the first silk gown off you, when he’s made his fortune! ” “Paula!” called a voice below in the room. “ Well, what ? ” “Miss Lilly white’s come.” " Oh, bother! I can’t come. I’m doing the / ■> * * 9 9 Willi. PALMER- WORM PARE. i.] 'y O “ But Persis sent me.” “ Bother Persis! Get upon your leaf, you nasty little wriggler.” “ But Elspeth said she couldn’t have you always late for lessons.” “ Bother Elspeth ! You made that one tumble down! Here, come up and help me, Alie.” “ But, Paulina, Elspeth said she couldn’t have Miss Lillywhite kept waiting.” “ She must, then. I’m not going to starve all Horace’s Pernii to please her! Billy may hear the little ones-There’s a brush for you.” tl But Elspeth hears them,” said the younger sister, who nevertheless had obeyed, standing on a chair, with her legs within the window, and her body and head out, a lighter, paler head than Paulina’s, with brown hair and eyes. “ Nobody asked her,” was Paulina’s reply. “ Here, you take and do this branch—carefully, mind.” Pernii —or, more properly, Bombyx Pernii —is, it should be observed, the name of a large kind of silkworm, which lives upon oak leaves, and spins a handsome green cocoon. Some eggs had been entrusted to Horace Quintall, and were to be the 4 ON THE QUADRANGLE. [chap. foundation of his fortune — only, as he was at school himself, the care had to he left to his sis¬ ters. To shift small green caterpillars from one oak-leaf to another may not be in itself the most delightful occupation in life, hut at any rate it is so far preferable to lessons, that Aline was much readier than she would have been half an hour ago to assist Paulina in the operation. “ How they crawl! Have they changed their skins again ?” “Yes, and eaten them up.” “ I say ! How many there are to do ! Won’t Miss Lilly white he in a way?” “ Never mind. There’s plenty of time for our lessons; and as long as there’s that, she has no right to complain. She never used before Sisters came home, and I won’t he on my P’s and Q’s to please their fidgets. I wonder they haven’t called yet-” “ Ah ! she’s talking to Sisters,” said Aline. “Talking! What about?” skid Paulina, with a jerk, as if she disliked the notion. “ About al) sorts of things. She was telling them I.] PALMER- WORM PARK. 5 about Horace going to Prince’s Quay last year, to the regatta.” “What business had she to tell them about that ?” “It is very cross of her; but she did begin some¬ thing about the regatta, and she thought they ought to know-” “Now I do declare that’s sneaking and spiteful!” cried Paulina, stamping her foot on the hard black leaden roof, so that the pots and glasses rang. “ What has she got to do with Horace ? I’ll pay her out! What more ? ” “ I don’t know. They sent me away to look for you.” “ Aye, to have their plot out! But I’ll be even with them. I won’t have Horace put upon and hindered of his pleasures.” “You know Mrs. Peterson did make a great fuss last year.” “ I know she did, old cross patch. What busi¬ ness had she poking in her nose and worrying ? He should go, if it was only to give her a lesson.” “ Papa didn’t know about it.” “No, of course not. Who was going to be such a 6 PERSIS. [chap. sneak as to tell him what the Petersons and all the lot of them might choose to make up? Take care, Alie ; you’ll let that one drop-” Aline did let it drop, giving a great start as a step was heard on the door behind, and a dear, quiet voice said, “Are you here, Aline-Paula?” “ Yes, changing the Pernii ,” called back Paulina. “ Oh, those silkworms ! Can’t they be done at any other time ?” “No,” said Paulina, in a displeased tone; “their boughs die, and that would kill them ” “Then I think you ought to begin earlier in the day. Have you nearly done? Perhaps I could help you, and then you could get down by the time Olive has finished her scales.” “Oh do, Persis dear,” cried Aline, crawling through the window out upon the roof to make way for her, though not without a gruff growl of warning from Paulina that she would upset all the pots, and that there was not another brush. However, there appeared through the window the head and shoulders of another young lady, not un¬ like Aline, only grown up, and with the soft brown hair coiled round her head instead of flying loose. >.] PALMER-WORM PARK. 7 “ Are there many more ? I could help you through them,” she said, as she mounted the chair; and though neither girl gave up the brush to her, she managed so well with leaves and fingers, that the sulkiest green caterpillars crawled where they ought as she coaxed them : “ Come, my finger can’t be half so nice as that fresh oak! There! On the edge. Put them on the edges and under side, Alie; they like that best. Here, my pretty green fellow !” Paulina thawed and brightened again as the Pernii began to accept their new lodgment; and when Persis offered to come and help for half an hour before breakfast, she agreed to it thankfully, feeling that Persis was as well convinced as herself that no trouble was too great to be taken on behalf of Horace, their only boy. She even had a great mind to ask Persis about Aline’s story of Miss Lillywhite’s tales, but she had a natural distrust of all grown-up people, and she could never quite tell whether to count Persis as belonging to her own side or to that of—should she call it the enemy ? And before the self-debate was over, another voice was heard— “ Children—Paulina ! Aline ! Where have you 8 QUICK! [chap. r. hidden yourselves ? Miss Lilly white is waiting ! Persis!—what, you here too ? All come up like the family in die kluge Else ? ” “ Here’s die Huge Else herself,” said Persis, making them all laugh. “ ISTo, we aren’t weeping, Elsie; we’re only in Palmer-worm Park, doing Horace’s maggots ! M e ve all but done.” “ It must not be done in lesson-time,” said the clear, resolute voice from within—not sharply or unkindly, but with a sound as if it would be obeyed. “ Only this once. You see it’s a matter of life and death to the worms. We are going to have a spell at them before breakfast in future.” “ Only don’t catch cold, Persis. Make haste, now ; and remember, Paulina, lesson-time must not be encroached upon again. It is not right by Papa or by Miss Lillywhite.” There was a very grey cloud over Paulina’s face as she shook her head with a toss backwards, and muttered something that Persis did not choose to hear. CHAPTER II. THE QUINTALLS. Mr. Quintall was one of the partners in the Peterskirk Bank, and lived in an old brick house, with a large walled garden and paddock, a little way ont of the town, just so far that Miss Lillywhite always went and came by the omnibus; and he did the same on wet days. Elspeth and Persis were the children of his first wife, who had died when they were almost babies, and their grandmother, Mrs. Trefusis, had taken them to her home at Kew, where they had lived with her and their aunts through all their childhood, only making visits at home every year. Paulina, Horace, Aline, and the two little ones, Olive and Clare, were the children of the second wife. She had had a great deal of bad health, and died just as Paulina was thirteen. The children were still in mourning for her, and sometimes IO THE HE IV SISTERS. [chap. thought sorrowfully of “ poor Mamma,” hut she had never been able to do much for them, and they did not miss her as many children would miss their mothers. At the time of her death Elspeth and Persis had been in the South of France. Their grand¬ mother had lately died, and one of their aunts had been so much worn out by nursing her, as to have to go abroad for her health, taking them with her. They offered to come home to their father at once ; but as Persis was rather delicate, and a winter abroad w r as very good for her, Mr. Quintall would not consent to this, though he accepted their pro¬ posal to return in the spring and take care of the house and of their brother and sisters. In their visits they had always shown themselves very kind sisters. They had played with the younger ones, told them stories, described sights in London, —yes, and even had Paulina to stay at Kew twice, and Horace once, for a week together, and shown everything to them; nor did they ever forget to send charming letters and presents on the birthdays. So the younger ones had all looked forward to their Return—Paulina especially. She was a sensible girl, II- J THE QUWTALLS. I I and felt that things were not going on well, and that they ought to be set to rights; while, if she tried to do so, it always ended in a quarrel with one or other of the servants, generally in their teasing her about the fine times she would have when her half-sisters came. Then she would not lord it about the house, and be Miss Quintall. She would soon find the difference, and have to take care of her P’s and Q’s. Even Paulina’s cousins, the Proudfoots, who lived in the country, pitied her, and seemed to think she would be a sort of Cinderella. They told her that Elspeth and Persis were stuck-up fine ladies, grand and scornful, and that this was the reason that her own mamma would never let them live at home. But Paulina did not think much of Henrietta and Georgina Proudfoot: they had never been very nice girls, and she was pleased to belong to sisters whom she could believe superior to anyone in Peterskirk, certainly equal in look and style even to Miss Poins, the daughter of the principal partner, who had a grand park. No, she was not a bit afraid of them. They were her own dear big beautiful sisters, real ladies; 12 PROUD FOOT OPINIONS. [chap. and people might talk of P’s and Q’s as much as they pleased, she knew she should be happy with them. And was she ? It was six weeks since their first coming, and it no longer seemed as if they were company. Were Henny and Georgie Proudfoot right ? Paulina had stood by “ Sisters ” with all her might in the great battle with Emma the house¬ maid, who had flatly refused to exert herself to get the drawing-room into a state to sit in every day. “ She had never been used to it,” for Mrs. Quintall, when she did come down stairs, used to sit in the dining-room and keep the drawing-room blinded and swathed up. That battle-royal, and one or two more, had ended in Emma’s going away, with some very strong language as to Miss Paulina’s ingratitude in worshipping the rising sun, and hopes that she would repent it Nay, Paulina had endured, and very reasonably, the having the canary-birds’ cages, with all their apparatus of newspaper, turned out of the sunny window in the dining-room. Perhaps she bore it all the better because Aline went into fits of crying THE Q UINTA LLS. 13 n] at the banishment of her dear little Dick. But it went hard with her when Elspeth objected to having Ponto fed indoors. Ponto was Horace’s dog, and any interference with Horace’s concerns was not to be borne. Horace was at school about three miles off on the other side of Peterskirk, but he came home from Saturday to Monday, and Saturday afternoons were the happy times of his sisters’ life—at least so they thought from Monday morning till Saturday noon, and then—however it was with Paulina, Aline’s happiness was not quite so certain a thing. In¬ deed, the way the sisters behaved about Aline was one of the things that was doing most to change Paulina’s views about them. Was not Aline a stupid, fretful little thing, apt to cry for nothing ? And what business had Persis to come flying down with her cheeks in a flame to spoil Horace’s amusement, when he was only just exploding a few caps to teach the child to stand fire ? Why should Elspeth interfere when he rubbed out the sum that had just been finished, to teach her not to be such a daivdle ? Horrid little thing, she had found it out too, or why did she not bear her H PR ESA GES. [chap. tortures meekly, as she ought to do, and always had done hitherto, but cry and roar till “ Sisters ” came down to scold poor Horace, and carry her off to spoil her? Hay, had not Elspeth even pronounced that Aline would play the best, if Paulina did not take more pains ? It was plain that they were making a fa¬ vourite, and that was very unjust and unfair, not to be borne or submitted to for a moment! Nurse herself, and Miss Lillywhite, like all former gover¬ nesses, were always blaming Aline for whining and being idle, and was all this to be turned upside down, and the child only coaxed when she was tiresome ? Then poor little Clare, who used to play all day in peace, was caught and pinned down in the morn¬ ing to learn to read, instead of only saying the names of a few letters when she pleased ! And if she re¬ fused, these cruel sisters would even put her in the corner! It all came into Paulina’s head now as she changed the Pernii, and she began to say to herself, “ If I had only known, I’d never have been so glad to see them! Yes, I see how it is—-just as Henny said—pretending to be nice at first, till they have II.] THE QUINTALLS. 15 wormed themselves in, and then setting Papa against us poor children. But I’ll be even with them, that I will, and Horace shan’t miss the regatta.” But when Persis so good-humouredly showed her the last green caterpillar on his fresh leaf, she quite started at the break into her thoughts, and the start blew away a great many of them. Hay, when Persis looked round at Horace’s room, to which the window belonged, and wondered whether a cabinet for his bird’s-eggs would not please him for his next birthday present, she began to forget what enemies her sisters were. After all, Aline had only heard a little of what Miss Lillywhite was saying, and everybody knew that Aline’s versions of a story were not to be de¬ pended upon. Paulina never did believe them unless she wanted to have a grievance. The story of the last regatta, as far as Paulina knew it, was this:— These boat-races took place at Prince’s Quay, a place about nine miles from Peterskirk, upon the 26th of June, the Coronation-day, which was always a holi¬ day at Horace’s school, and it was the custom of the boys to make up parties, and go down by railway in the morning and return in the evening. f6 PAPA. [chap. The very carefully-brought-up hoys, such as the clergyman’s sons, the Browns—whose mother was a very strict widow—and one or two more, never went; hut it was the young people’s fashion to pity them very much, and call their parents very unkind, and nohody had ever made any objection to Horace’s joining the party. Last year all the younger population knew that the set Horace had gone with had got into a great scrape. Tom Drake, one of the seniors, had come hack with two undeniable black eyes, which he had had in a fight with a sailor-boy; all the rest seemed to have had something that was not at all good for them, and tumbled upstairs and into bed somehow. Most had very bad headaches the next day, and some fathers were reported to have declared they would never let their sons go again; but as one or other said so every summer and always forgot it the next, this did not much trouble anyone. Mr. Quintall was always a busy man. He had much more to do with the management of the bank than Mr. Poins, and was often at work beyond office hours. Then he went to the reading-room, or out riding, and never came home till late. When his ii.] THE QUINTALLS'. I J wife liad been tolerably well, he would take her out for a drive, and he used to sit with her in the even¬ ing; but the children were very little with him, and scarcely knew him. He had been less with them than ever since their mother’s death, and had no notion of telling or asking him anything. Yet, since Elspetli and Persis had come home, they had seen more of him. He sat in the drawing¬ room in the evening, and liked their music, though he generally went to sleep, and he talked more than of late. Paulina heard people say that he was recovering his spirits, and that his daughters were doing him a great deal of good. It is not quite certain that this delighted Paulina as much as it ought to have done. She did not like to think her half-sisters were brightening the home more than she could have done—nay, perhaps than her own Mamma. She felt cross over it. 0 CHAPTER III. QUACK COMMON. “ The Pernii are quite well, Horace.” “ Persis comes up and helps us change them every morning.” “ All right! Look here, Polly.” “ What a horrid looking tiling, and how it smells. What is it?” “Fancy your not knowing! It’s a great moth caterpillar.” “ How did you get him ? ” “ Oh! a fellow got it and didn’t want it, and I swapped my umbrella for it, because 4 he’d broken his nose.” “ His nose ! ” “His umbrella’s nose, stupid, trying to poke out a woodpecker’s nest.” “But what will you do for an umbrella?” CHAP. III.] QUACK COMMON. 19 “Oh! I’ve got liis; ’tis just as much use, you see, and they were just alike at first, only his father is a Turk, and would blow him up no end, for it is the fourth humberella that he has come to grief with this term.” “ And you traded on greater endurance ? ” said Elspeth, looking up from her drawing. “ I knew you were a jolly old sis,” said Horace with a hug. “ And that creature,” asked Persis; “ I hope he is to go out on the leads.” “ Oh yes, only I must take him in in the winter. He lives in wood, and he’ll eat for a year or two, and then change.” “And will he go on smelling all that time?” asked Aline disconsolately. “ Or being smelt,” put in Elspeth. “ Well, I don’t think he’s at all nasty,” Paulina’s general spirit of opposition tempted her to say. “ Polly shall have him put in a bottle and carry him round her neck for a scent,” cried Horace. “ Luckily that wouldn’t agree with him any more than with us,” said Elspeth. “ Come, take him away to Palmer Park, Horace, there’s a good boy.” 20 QUALMS. [chap. “ Wouldn’t you like one more good sniff? ” quoth Horace, holding the box with the disgusting red animal close to her nose ; an infliction which Elspeth bore with laughing good humour, for she was ex¬ ceedingly fond of her only brother, but she defended Persis from the like. “No, no, Horace; don’t. Persie can’t stand so much as I can. Take the monster away; he’ll make her faint.” And still merrily, though resolutely, Elspeth sailed along between Horace and Persis, with whom Aline had taken refuge, defending them with outspread dress from the raid which the boy showed himself ready to attempt. He ran laughing upstairs, Paulina keeping close behind him. “ Elsie always makes such a fuss about Persie!” she said. “Well, Persie is a tender piece of goods, ain’t she ? ” said Horace. “ I don’t see it; and Alie is getting affected, and will be just as bad, and they encourage her in it.’’ “ Holloa ! what’s the row ? ” “Why, just fancy—Elspeth came out quite angry because I had taken the candle and left Alie in the dark, and she chose to set up one of her roarings! III.] QUACK COMMON. 21 A great girl like that! If it had been little Clare it would have been absurd enough; but Persis coaxed her and petted her just as if she had been a baby. It is quite true, Horace ; they are making a favourite.” “ Holloa! I wonder if this privet-hawk wants to change,” said Horace, kneeling on the leads, and caring a great deal more for the fat green cater¬ pillar striped with purple and white, and with a horn on his tail, than for home affairs. “ Oh no, lie’s not half big enough. And, Horace—” “ I don’t see the lackey.” “ I think he is shrivelling up to nothing.” “ Oh! hurrah! these black fellows of the Pied Admiral are jolly.” “ There again S Persis never lets Aline gather the nettles for them; she always does it herself.” “That’s rather jolly of her.” “ Only it is spoiling Aline.” “ Then I’ll unspoil her. I say, what a famous net frame this is! I’ll be bound Persis made that.” “Well, she did,—at least I helped! But do you know, Horace-” 22 PA PILIOMA NIA . [chap. “ Oh, Polly ! ” he interrupted, for as a general rule people are always much more eager to tell their own news than to hear other people’s, “ Harding says one can get silver-washed fritillaries by the dozen on Quack Common ! I must get over there as soon as ever there’s a holiday. Would there be time on a Saturday ? ” “ Hardly, if you walked. But, Horace, I was going to tell you, that horrid Lilly has been at Sisters about the Regatta day, and you’re to be prevented from going to Prince’s Quay.” “ Eh! That’s meanness of the last description,” said Horace, but with a careless tone that did not fit the strong voice. “ Did you hear father say so?” “No, but Alie heard Sisters and Miss Lillywhite talking.” “ Oh ! if it is only Alie—Besides, I don’t know whether I shouldn’t go after the silver-washed,” said the butterfly-mad boy. “You won’t be allowed to go anywhere,” said Paulina, half provoked at not being able to get up a hardship. “Mrs. Hill, and Mr. Cunard, and all the rest of the cross ones, will ask Mr. Quick not III.] QUACK COMMON. 23 to give a holiday, and Elspeth will go and pnt up Papa to do the same.” What made Paulina talk in this way it is really difficult to tell, hut when people have begun to get up a nice little grievance, it is provoking not to have it perceived or made much of by other people. She succeeded so far as to make Horace say, “ She’d be an uncommon cross toad if she did then.” But it was spoken in an absent sort of way; he was counting his oak-eating silkworms all the time. “ It would be very cross ! quite unjustifiable. You have always had a holiday, and I’ll not see you cheated of it. I know how I’ll manage.” “ All right,” said Horace; “ only don’t upset that hopdog.” Horace had a great deal of faith in Paulina; she was a year older than he, and, from having been much with her Mamma, was a good deal older in mind and ways, and she had often begged him off in scrapes, and obtained pleasures for him. He knew his cause was safe in her hands, and, so far as he cared about it at all, felt secure; but it was only too plain that what nurse called “they nasty palmers ’’ were far nearer his heart than all the boats. 24 PROVOKING! [CHAP. Hi, in the regatta. So long as he had his holiday he did not heed whether he went to Prince’s Quay or not; in fact, as he was not likely to meet any buttertiies, moths, or caterpillars there, he did not by any means feel called in that direction. Never was there a more unpromising grievance ! CHAPTER IV. PETS. Might not Horace be more safe and as happy with¬ out the Prince’s Quay Regatta ? That thought was borne in upon Paulina’s mind when she awoke early on Sunday morning with the sun peeping pleasantly in behind the blinds. As¬ suredly Elspeth and Persis would say so, and the better self urged that it would be a sad thing to let him run into the way of temptation. But then it would be giving in; it would be letting oneself be put upon; it would be allowing the Sisters once to begin, and then there was no knowing when they would stop. Horace would be deprived of all his pleasures, and they would be as dull and stupid as the Airlies. Yes, but suppose he did get into mischief! Knock. “Yes, Susan.” Enter Susan to draw up the blinds. 26 PILLOWS. [CHAP. “ Seven o’clock, Miss Paulina.” “ Oh! very well,” in a sleepy voice. “ Your sisters are getting up, Miss Paulina. It is quite time.” “ Don’t bother about my sisters, Susan; I shall be in time.” Now Elspeth and Persis liked to go to the early service at St. Paul’s Church—the new one—at half¬ past seven, and they trusted to Paulina to be down¬ stairs, make the tea, and have things ready so that their father, who generally came down at a quarter to nine on a Sunday morning, might find everything in order, even if they should be a few minutes late. They had asked her kindly, and she had been pleased, and had always hitherto been quite in time, but Susan’s interruption somehow vexed her. t: Making me get up early to do their work,” said she to herself. “ Why can’t they stay at home ? I don’t like being put upon! I’ll get up presently— there’s lots of time.” However, lots of time have an unaccountable manner of slipping away when one has a soft pillow, and the next thing Paulina was sure of was Susan at the door. “ Miss Paula ! Miss Paula ! There! I IV.] PETS. 27 told you so. Asleep again! Oh, dear! it is half¬ past eight o’clock!” “I shall be ready quite in time,” said Paulina, defiantly jumping up, recollecting that in old times she should hardly have viewed this as being late. A great scu-rry she had; but hastily washed, hastily brushed, and what was worse, with hastily gabbled prayers, hurried over after she had heard her fathers step on the stairs, she ran down the broad old stair, just as Elspeth, with her bonnet on, 'was making the tea, and her father blaming her with some sharpness for not being content to stay at home, but running about to strange churches, breaking up all the hours of the family. “ I am afraid we are later than usual, Papa,” said Elspeth. “ Oh, Paula ! did not you make the tea?” Paulina felt angry at the reproachful tone. “ It’s not my business now,” she answered pertly. “ The child is right,” said Mr. Quintall. “ Duties you have taken on yourself are not to be put off on her whenever you choose to leave them. I’ll have no more of this gadding about before breakfast.” “Oh, Papa!” exclaimed Persis, who had already a great tear on each cheek. 28 ST. PAUL'S. [chap. “ No, indeed! It is too much for you already. You are knocked up for the day. Eispeth should have known better.” “ Indeed, Papa”- “ Nonsense! Don’t I see her made almost hys¬ terical ? It is just the self-willed foolish way young women act! Now listen, both of you. Since nothing else will do, I forbid you to be running off to St. Paul’s in this wild manner, as if your parish church was not good enough for you. Do you hear ?” “ Yes, Papa,” said Eispeth, looking up; “ but per¬ haps you do not quite know what a privation this would be to us.” “I know that what sufficed for your mother— ay, and mine before her, good women as ever lived—may suffice for you, and I will have it so.” By this time Aline, frightened at her father’s loud voice and at Persis’ silent choking and strug- gling with tears, began to sob, and that put an end to it. “ Never mind, my little Aline,” said her father; “hush! nobody is angry with you;” and he heaped her plate with marmalade. To see the elder sisters blamed was certainly new and wonderful, and on the whole it is to be feared IV.] PETS. <2 9 that Paulina was rather entertained; and certainly, whatever twinge she felt, she did not choose to think herself guilty of having caused it all by not having come down in time to make the preparations. At least she so entirely expected to be blamed, that she had got her defence ready, and was quite determined not to care. Horace had drummed on the end of the table with the handle of his knife all the time it was going on, but now that Aline was pacified, Persis carried off her own bonnet and Elspeth’s, and presently returned with somewhat red eyes; but as Mr. Quintall began to talk as usual, the two daughters answered him, and the breakfast went on as if the subject was over. Then Horace eagerly claimed Persis’s assistance in Palmer-worm Park, and away she went, followed by Aline, with a little hand stealing into hers. Horace was perhaps extra civil in helping Persis through the window, and, when he saw her anxious about her crape, getting a chair for her to sit upon in moderate cleanliness; and he made a great deal of fun, to which she responded brightly, and wholly amused by the sight of the beautiful cocoon which 30 PA TIENCE. [CHAP. the hopdog was spinning—a- delicate apple-green fellow, with white tooth-brush tufts down his back, black velvet slashings visible as he crawled, and a rose-coloured feather in his tail. He had got into a corner of his box, had constructed a framework of silk, in the midst of which he was standing upright, waving his head from side to side as he produced from his mouth the silk with which he was enveloping himself in a sort of cloud. Horace declared he was just as good as a real silkworm, and that he would wind off the hopdog . cocoons and get them woven,—they would be a new sort of silk, and he would take out a patent for them : all the ladies should be wearing “ hopdoggia ” dresses. Paulina, hearing Persis laugh, thought the trouble of the morning quite got over, but little Aline had a tenderer heart, understood that the laugh was not quite free, and, when Persis went to wash her hands i and prepare for church, followed her to her room,„ and tried to show her fellow-feeling by saying, Papa was so cross.” “ Never say that again, Aline,” was Persis’ answer, as angrily as Persis could speak. “ Papa has reasons, and says what he thinks right.” • IV.] PETS. 3* “And shall you never go to St. Paul’s before breakfast again ? ” asked Aline. “ I don't know,”—and the voice quivered. “ We must try to do what is right. Now, Ali Baba dear, run away, or your boots will never be laced in time.” Aline knew that there was a full quarter of an hour before her, but she had the sense to perceive that Persis wanted to be alone, and went off as she was desired. When little girls will do a thing like this, they show tact and consideration, and grown people are very much obliged to them. The whole family met to walk to St. Peter’s, through a mile of closed shops, only meeting girls here and there carry¬ ing out dinners to the bakers’. At this, the old church, Paulina thought it rather . • \ a distinction to have one of the square pews, with a green curtain on a rod on the outer side of it. Evervone had been used to kneel with elbows on %j the seat, and head against the sides of the pew; but though Elspeth and Persis interfered with nobody, they did not turn round, but knelt upright on the floor, leaning against nothing. Aline had once asked why, and Elspeth had said that they thought this way more reverent than crawling 32 PEW-SPORTS. [chap. on the elbows: and Aline then observed that her Papa was always upright, and never leant as the children did. However, Paulina did not choose to take her head out of her fayourite corner! it was a great deal too comfortable to be given up, and therefore she said it was all nonsense, and that she would not see Alie affected and changeable. Horace’s place was in the middle of the side, against the wall of the church, where he had a delightful knot-hole full of dust—a perfect preserve of curiosities, which seemed to till up fresh every week; however, he routed it out every Sunday. On this day he found a f.ne fat spider, and was holding the end of its line, intending to Jet it lower itself down upon the black stocking that swelled smoothly above Aline’s boot before it was hidden by her little black petticoat. But his manoeuvre was perceived by Elspeth, who, being out of reach herself, touched her father, and he reached out and put a sudden stop to the proceeding by a summary blow on Horace’s ears with his prayer- book—making him drop the spider and subside sud¬ denly, hiding his face on the pillow of his twisted arms. Paulina’s blood boiled. Bather than inter- IV.] PETS. 33 fere with Horace’s little amusements, her own calves should have been the promenade of stag-beetles, ear¬ wigs, hornets, if he pleased. To set Papa upon him, that was beyond all endurance. Ho doubt this w~ay of kneeling was to a,ct spies on them all! That was the way Paulina said the Litany. “Wasn’t it an abominable shame?” she said, as soon as she could get to Horace’s side after church. “Eh—what?” asked Horace, who had quite for¬ gotten all about it. “That great knock she made Papa give you at church.” He laughed. “ That! who cares for a little bit of a whack like that ? If you want to know what a real stinger is, I’ll show you.” Paulina had no desire for such an experience, but it seemed strange to take a blow from a father so lightly, and in fact some boys would have been far more grieved—some angry and resentful; but Horace was a bright, careless fellow, on whom no vexation ever sat long. They sat on Paulina in his stead. It might have been thought that she was the one who had been punished, by her gloomy face all dinner-time, while 34 PER VERSE NESS. [chap. Horace chattered and laughed as he only of all the young ones seemed able to do in Papa’s company. Hitherto it had been the custom to take a country walk immediately after dinner, and have the Sunday Catechism, saying of hymns, and reading, after coming- in; but on this day it was so bright and hot that Elspeth and Persis decided that from henceforth, while summer lasted, it would be best to have the Sunday occupations first, and the walk after,— a very reasonable plan, as Paulina would have seen if she had not been just in that captious state of mind which cannot endure any change. Ho, it was not too hot to walk—they always did walk after dinner: nobody could learn just after dinner; it was very unkind—it was impossible. Whether impossible or not, she thought it so ; and a sort of stupidity—that was not unlike that of the deaf adder we are told of in the Bible—came over her mind and memory, and made her blunder over the answers in the Catechism, so that Horace laughed outright, and it was very painful to her sisters’ sense of reverence. They were glad to set her to work where she would not disturb others, namely, to looking out and IV.] PETS. 35 copying texts as references to the Catechism—a work which she had done with interest and enjoy¬ ment for the last four or five Sundays ; hut on which, in her present mood, she would not bestow the slightest pains or attention. Meantime Persis had done two verses of Greek Testament, and read a chapter of the “Kings of Judah” with Horace. She always had to go through his yawning and growling at the beginning, and calling it a great bore not to be let alone on Sunday, like other fellows; but when he had once fairly started, he always grew interested; and he had found that when, on Friday, a lesson in religious know¬ ledge was given, he knew much more about it than the other fellows. Elspeth had the two little girls teaching them by word of mouth, while Aline learnt the collect and a hymn, and then letting them play or look at pictures while Aline had a little lesson on what she had learnt. All went well till Elspeth came to look at Paulina’s copy-book. The handwriting and spelling were such as people of thirteen can do when they are cross. Moreover, when the ill-written words were read, they D 2 36 QUESTIONS. [chap. had not the most distant connection with the subject in hand. The reference to the Second Epistle of St. John had been looked out by Paulina in the second chapter of the Gospel, and so she had set down a verse about the marriage of Cana in Galilee, without troubling herself for a moment to consider whether it could possibly apply. And wdien Elspeth pointed it out, she answered glumly, “ It v T as in the book, I’m sure.” Elspeth was really angry. She had been taught so early to find out references that they came as easily to her as the alphabet, and perhaps she did not quite know how puzzling they might be to a beginner; but the senselessness and inattention pro¬ voked her greatly. “This is too bad!” she .said. “Could you not think for one moment, instead of making a holy subject almost absurd?” “ It was in the book,” doggedly repeated Paulina. Then Elspeth looked, but her anger was not lessened. “ That is no excuse ! ” If you had cared in the least for what you were about, could you not have asked Persis or me ? Besides, here’s a word left out! And how do you spell contrition .? IV.] PETS. 37 No, Paulina, this will not do. You must write that page over again, fit to be seen, instead of coming out.” Persis, who was explaining a picture to little Clare, exclaimed, “ Oh, Elsie, please ! we never had punishments on Sundays.” “ I am very sorry, as sorry as you or Paula can be,” returned Elspeth gravely ; “ but such carelessness and temper, especially on such a subject, cannot be passed over. It would not be right to take her out to enjoy herself.” Perhaps Persis recollected that it was not well to interfere with her sister’s rule, for she said no more ; only she lingered when the others were going to put on their hats, and said, “ Make haste, Paula ; if you write all you can, and very nicely, and show it to Elsie when she comes down, very likely she will wait for you and let you come.” “ I don’t want to come with her,” muttered Pau¬ lina, and her head went down between her elbows as Horace’s had done at church, so that nothing was to be seen save her black bush of hair; and when Persis smoothed it, she shook the hand off with a pettish jerk, but then felt aggrieved and PENANCE. [chap. 38 angry when Persis moved quietly away, only first putting a fresh pen near her, in case any of the blame of the bad writing should have been due to the old one. There she remained with her head between her elbows, till she heard them clattering downstairs, and Ponto’s joyous bark as Horace was unchaining him. Then she heard Elspeth go to the study door. To tell of her ! Horridest sister! No: “ Papa, we are going out; won’t you come ? ” The answer could not be heard, but it must have been something about meeting them, for Elspeth returned, “We will come back by the avenue. Pray do; it is getting very pleasant.” The feet oeased to be heard in the hall, the front door was closed, and a last echo of merry voices came through the window. “ There they are, all gone out to enjoy themselves,” said Paulina to herself; “ and here am I left to mope at home, just because Elspeth takes a fancy to make us do stupid things on Sunday when we can’t. I thought Sunday was meant for a holiday. Elspeth hasn’t got a bit of right to spoil it with tiresome stupid lessons— when one has done them already, too! I’ll not ' PAULINAS GRIEF AT BEING LEFT AT HOME. P- 39- IV.] PETS. 39 stand it! I’ll not do them ! I’ll not be put upon ! ” and Paulina pushed away the book, reached out her arm, and took down “ Through the Looking Glass,” reading it in a dreamy discontented way, trying to think she was enjoying it very much ; but not even the Knight would entertain her now, she was much too sorrowful and unhappy a victim, much too like a Cinderella oppressed by cruel step¬ sisters. Presently she looked up as the voices of people in the road sounded cheerfully. “ Oh dear ! oh dear! everybody is out of doors and happy but me—and I have got these texts to do ! My own mamma never made me write texts out! Oh, I wish Sisters hadn’t come; I.want my own mamma.” And then she began crying passionately and violently, as she had never before cried for her mamma. She had cried for a good while and had grown tired of it, and begun to draw her sobs more slowly, when she heard the sound of the study door, and the pause of a tread before the door. Perhaps she gave a somewhat louder sob in consequence. At any rate, the door was opened and Mr. Quintall said:— “ What’s the matter, now ? Why aren’t you out V 40 PROMENADING. [chap. “ Elspetli made me stay/’ she sobbed out. “ Elspetli! Why ? ” “ She made me stay in, to write my texts over again. And how was I to know that it w*as the Epistle ? ” “Well, never mind now. Dry lip your tears and come out. I’ll not have you. kept in all Sunday ! Put on your hat.” Paulina obeyed in no small haste and satisfaction. It did not come across her to question whether if her account was true it was perfectly honest. She only felt the satisfaction of having Papa on her side against her sisters. He was not a very talking man, and she did not expect a lively walk; indeed, before they had gone far, he met his friend the doctor, and they began discussing some matter concerning the health of the town, about which she neither knew nor cared. The avenue was a fine broad quadruple row of lime-trees, extending nearly a mile from the main street of the town, and the way home from almost everywhere. Here, after some little time, the walk¬ ing party were met, with hands full of cowslips and bluebells, and Horace with three new cater- IV.] PETS. 4 1 pillars disposed in different pill-boxes abont his person. Of course they looked much surprised to see Paulina, and Elspeth asked in an undertone, “Did Papa give you leave ? ” “ Yes, he told me to come.” “ Oh, if Papa gave you leave, it is all right.” Paulina was very anxious to know what would pass with her father about it, but as long as Dr. Penrose was present, of course nothing was said, and when at the garden gate he had taken leave, Paulina only caught thus much by lingering on the stairs :— “ Why did you keep that child indoors crying ? ” Again she missed Elspeth’s answer. “ I’ve no doubt you mean rightly, Elspeth, but things may be overdone. I won’t have the children disgusted, and their religion made a penance to them. I don’t approve of it.” Paulina heard a movement, and could not venture to stay any longer, but she nodded to herself satis¬ faction at finding that Papa was on her side. She never bethought herself how little he really knew how she had behaved, yet her fright lest Elspeth 42 PARTY SPIRIT. [ch. IV. should show him that unfortunate copy-book might have shown her that she knew she was not being true and just in all her dealings. She was beginning to think her sisters tyrants always to be opposed, always trying to oppress, and to rank everyone as their supporter or hers. In fact, she was learning party spirit. CHAPTEE Y. QUADRILLES. Monday afternoons were spent at the dancing school, and as Miss Lilly white had a bad cold, Elspeth undertook to take Paulina and Aline to the Assem bly Boom, which was hired for the weekly lessons. It was Elspeth’s first time of going, and Aline was much delighted, only wishing her dear Persis was going too, and pouring out an immense quantity of information,—rather more, perhaps, than Paulina wished. “Do you know, Elsie, we are the only pupils that come in our own carriage, except the Pays.” “ Because we live the farthest off,” suggested Elspeth. “ Oh no, the Browns live further, and come in by train. They haven’t carriages to come in.” 44 PERFUME AND PRIMROSE. [chap. “ Very likely not,” said Elspeth; “ but it is very silly to care about that, Aline. It is manners, not carriages, that make man, or woman either.” “ I wonder,” pursued Paulina, “ whether the Pays will be there. That little Tom is so rough and horrid !” “ I didn’t know you had boys.” “ Oh yes. Tom Ray is almost a baby, only seven years old; and Cecil Wharton goes, and two or three more little fellows like that,” said Aline very proudly, being herself nine ; “ besides Percy Grafton.” “ Percy Grafton! ” exclaimed Elspeth; “ why, he is almost a man.” “ Quite,” said Aline. And oh, he does wear such lovely ties. And he has one pin with a coral death’s- head on the top, and another with a dear little dog. And I wonder if he’ll have his primrose-coloured gloves this time. I like them best, but Paula likes his pale, green ones,—don’t you, Paula?” “No, I like his pale lavender, only he split them all across,” said Paulina. “ And his scents. He has sometimes millefleurs, and sometimes eau de cologne, and something else I V.] QUADRILLES. 45 can’t remember/’ said Aline. “I wonder who he’ll dance with.” “ Whom, if you please,” said Elspeth. “ I should think nobody would wish to dance with anyone so absurd and conceited.” Paulina looked very much affronted. “ He is a very fine young man,” she said. Elspeth laughed, but Aline went chattering on. “ Oh, every one wants to dance with him,” she said. “I heard Miss Barker say he was the beau of the dancing-room. Pie always wants to have Millicent Airlie for his partner, and she can’t bear him.” “ She shows her sense,” said Elspeth; “ but you said just now everyone wished it.” “ Oh, except her. And if she won’t have him, he generally asks Paulina, or sometimes one of the Rays, if Paulina can’t, but-” “ Hush, Aline ! don’t go on so loud,” said Paulina. “ Here we are.” “ Yes, here’s the Assembly Room, and there’s Milly Airlie ! How there’s a flight of stone steps, Elsie,” continued Aline, quite delighted to have to show the way. 46 PARTNERS. [chap. Millicent Airlie, a nice-looking girl of fifteen, neatly dressed in white pique, shook hands on the steps, and asked Paulina to he her partner. “ I don’t know,” said Paulina; “ I never will he engaged before I go in.” “ Just the contrary to me,” said Millicent. “ Aline, then, will you have me ? ” “ Oh yes! thank you,” cried Aline, clasping her hand with a glad little jump. “ I know Mr. Grafton wouldn’t dance with me ! ” Elspeth wished her little sisters were as lady-like as the daughter of the Yicar of St. Paul’s. “ Are you alone, Millicent ? ” she said. “ Mamma is coming in presently, hut she had to go to a shop, and sent me on to go in with someone. It is very troublesome, hut I am to go to my uncle’s for some grand parties this autumn, and she thought I ought to know the steps.” Paulina held aloof. She knew that Elspeth wanted her to make friends with Millicent Airlie, and in her present mood this did not make her like her the better. Moreover, she wanted more even than usual to dance with Percy Grafton, because he was generally the leader of the party V.] QUADRILLES. 47 to the Prince’s Quay Kegatta, and she wanted to hear all about it from him. He had left Mr. Quick’s school last half-year, and was improving himselt in dancing and deportment generally, under the tuition of Mrs. Leviti, who came over weekly from Prince’s Quay, with her husband to act as violinist It was a large room, with a raised step for an orchestra, and chairs and benches all along one side; Mr. Leviti tuning his violin, and his wife and two young lady assistants putting some little girls through their arm exercises with poles, while the others were waiting on the chairs. Mr. Grafton was not come. All the little girls knew one another, and there was a great deal of greeting and shaking hands: hut Elspeth was too new in the place to know many people as yet, and none of her acquaint¬ ance were among the mothers and governesses, so she sat down to wait for Mrs. Airlie. Presently Miss Paulina Quintall was called up to handle her pole. Her great fear was lest Percy Grafton should come in while she was thus occupied, and ask somebody else; and all the time she was straightening her arms and balancing the pole, her eyes were twisting askew towards the door, but still in vain, 43 PITCHERS WITH LONG EARS. [CHAP. though she was twice called to order, and told to look straight before her. All she managed to see out of the corners of her eyes was Mrs. Airlie coming in, and, after a good many greetings to various people, sitting down by Elspeth and beginning to talk. By the time they were well in the conversation Paulina’s exercises were over, and Aline’s had begun. She had a strong suspicion that Elspeth might be consulting Mrs. Airlie about the regatta, and so she came as near as she could, instead of joining any group of little girls. Sure enough it was that very thing S There was a chair in front of them, and Paulina had very quick ears, so that, though they lowered their voices as she approached, she could still catch the most of it. “ Yes,” Mrs. Airlie was saying, “ we have never allowed our boys to go. (More shame for you! thought Paulina.) In fact, they have never seemed to wish it. (Poor stupid creatures! said the girl to herself.) We have tried at times to arrange some little festivity instead.” (Oh, indeed ! some deadly- lively old woman’s tea-party, I suppose.) “Yes,” returned Elspeth, “that was what we V.] QUADRILLES. 49 thought of. Another year, if Horace is at home— (What! unnatural sister! was she going to send Horace from home ?)—and wishes it, we might all go down together; but this year, I cannot think it fit to let him go alone with-” Paulina’s attention was taken off, for Percy Grafton entered the room in his loveliest pale prim¬ rose gloves. Whom was he looking for ? That was a beautiful bow! Ah, the wretch! he was making his way to Millicent Airlie. Paulina’s heart beat with foolish jealousy, though she knew full well what Milly’s answer would be. “Always engaged! that is too cruel,” she heard him say, or rather knew that he was saying. Then he stood meditating for a moment—and was it Elspeth’s whisper that Paulina caught : ‘ Insufferable puppy! I should like to whip him.” “ Ay,” thought Paulina, “ you would like to hinder anyone from ever speaking to me, shouldn’t you ? And Mrs. Airlie is just as bad ! Hark ! ” “I think I should have spoken to Madame Leviti, only that it must anyway be for a very short time, and they all do keep strict silence, and I can quite depend on Milly-” E 50 QUIPS. [chap. At that moment Aline was released; Mr. Leviti made three preliminary sounds with his “kit,” and Percy Grafton advanced to Miss Paulina Quintall and requested the honour of her hand, -with the magnificent formality needful under Madame Leviti’s eyes. Millicent had to do the same with Aline — in fact, everyone with everyone. No speaking was allowed, as Mrs. Airlie said, and yet Paulina had contrived a turn of the neck and a whispered answer—“Second choice, Mr. Grafton”—with what she meant to he a look of arch reproach, hut if she had had Elspeth’s eyes she would have thought it ridiculous affectation. To talk during the figure was manifestly impos¬ sible, hut the veteran attendants on the dancing school had sundry ingenious contrivances for under¬ standing one another, and there were moments when people who cared less for obedience than for being found out, could say a good deal to one another. If any little one made a mistake, and everyone was thrown out while she was set right, there was often a low buzz all round, which came to a sudden end the moment Madame Leviti looked up. It was in one of these sudden pauses, caused by little Eva v.J QUADRILLES . 5 1 Grace going wrong in the chaine dcs dames, that Paulina contrived to ask in a hasty whisper, “ Are you going to the Regatta?” “ Yes, certainly, the whole party. Are you ?” “ Oh no, only Horace.” Here Paulina saw Elspeth looking at her, and stood straight, with a composed countenance; hut as the dance was resumed, and her side stood still while the others were careering across, Percy managed to say, with a glance from the corner of his eye towards Miss Quintall, “ Dragon in human form—eh ?” A nod and a sigh, and the response, “ The worst of it is, I’m afraid she won’t let Horace <>o ” “ Intolerable ! Can’t she he circumvented V* The second figure was over now, and they had to stand still while the third was prepared for, and to do their part of the third. Again came a blunder: Millicent Airlie had forgotten, and was dancing the lady’s part. Percy Grafton gave the further information :— “The Quagga is to race the Petrel; there are bets up to three hundred pounds on it. It is to be 5 2 QUAGGA AND PETREL. [CHAP. the best regatta there has been at all. All the windows towards the bay are taken.” “ Oh, he must go,” cried Paulina, under her breath. “ How can we manage ?” “Could not someone get him out for the day?” suggested Percy. “ Oh, but-” “Paulina!” came a grave voice across the room. Percy and Paulina started, shrugged their shoulders, and compressed their lips. Paulina felt Elspetli’s eye upon her all the rest of the dancing lesson. Plow provokingly unlike dear old Lilly, who always sat between two of her friends, and, if she ever looked up at all, could always be daunted with a saucy glance. Anger and determina¬ tion were growing higher and higher every moment in Paulina. No, the tyrant sisters should not interfere with everybody’s pleasure, and cut the whole family off from all their friends. Girls might be under her dominion, but Horace should be saved. Not another word could be exchanged with Percy Grafton till the general break-up. Then, while Elspeth was being introduced by Mrs. Airlie to some lady who had come with her little girls, and V.] QUADRILLES. 53 liad begged to know Miss Quintall, there were a few more sentences :— “ Yon see how it is, Percy.” “ New brooms sweep clean,” he responded; “ in fact, I believe there’s a conspiracy among the fogies. Counterplot them, that’s the ticket,” said Mr. Grafton, looking witty. “ I think I see.” “ Ah, I knew you had the spirit. Make a begin¬ ning at once. Ce n'est que ,—you know the French proverb.” “ Paulina, come and put on your hat.” She was forced to follow into the cloak room, and there was on her face what she thought a very determined look, but which was a very sullen one. “ Paula,” said Elspeth, as they were going home, “ I thought it was a rule that there was no talking at these lessons.” “ I didn’t talk.” “ Paulina! ” “ Nobody calls that talking ! ” “ Indeed! ” “ Everybody does it.” “ I do not know what everybody else does, but 54 PRIMNESS. i [CHAP. V. if these lessons are made an opportunity of being disobedient and unladylike, I shall put a stop to them.” Paulina had a great mind to say, “ Do you think Papa would let you,” but there was a grave, quiet resolution about Elspeth that did not make it at all easy to be openly impertinent to her. But the resolution was taken. She should be circumvented. CHAPTER VI. PREVARICATION. Yes, Elspetli was to be circumvented. Whatever she might accomplish as to her sisters, Horace’s liberty was not to be abridged. He was to be trusted like other boys, and should go to the Regatta and enjoy himself, instead of being put off like a baby with some stupid little trumpery treat,—a tea¬ drinking in the nursery, or a picnic with the Airlies, forsooth! Percy Grafton should see that Paulina Quin tall was a girl of spirit and resource in her brother’s cause, and was not to be put down by any fine prim London-bred sister, coming down to send them all to the right-about, and think everything wrong. Did no voice within say to Paulina, that, in the first place, Horace did not care for the Regatta, and 56 PERSISTENCE. [ciiap. in the next, that it was no good sister’s part to promote her brother’s going among a set of lads who might teach him evil habits, that would perhaps cling to him for life ? Alas ! it is very odd what a difference self-will makes, either in our inward voices or our inward ears ! If Horace did not care for the yacht racing, he ought! Why should he not he like other boys, instead of the muff the elder sisters would like to make him ? Temptations! Paulina had heard of such things, but she believed them to be what stupid, tiresome people talked of when they wanted to prevent their unfortunate victims from enjoying themselves or having any fun. She felt herself a high-spirited, generous sister, standing up for her brother and his rights, and she entirely forgot that the reason she cared so much for Horace’s having this entertainment, was not because she showed symptoms of disappointment, but because Elspeth had offended her. Paulina believed that she would not tell a false¬ hood, but she had never quite learnt to think a subterfuge wrong, o o Now, about seven miles off, lived her old great- VI. ] PRE VARICA TION. 57 uncle, Mr. Prouclfoot. He was the head of the Proudfoot family, and had a large, very pleasant estate and farm, hut he was very old, and nearly blind, and things were chiefly managed in the house by his old housekeeper, Mrs. Kebekah Saunders, of whom all his young visitors were very fond, for they were petted to their heart’s content, and allowed to skim the cream, and eat the preserves, and play in the great spare attics, and roast chest¬ nuts in the ashes, and do everything else that was thought delightful. Horace was an especial favourite with both master and maid, and was every now and then invited to spend a day at the farm, which he could easily reach by going in the morning train to the nearest station, walking a little more than a mile, and returning in the same way in the evening. Mr. Proudfoot was too blind to write, and once or twice when he had wanted Horace to come out to him, he had made Kebekah mark the day in a corner of one of his cards and send it by the post, and this was quite understood in the family. It struck Paulina that if Horace could show such a card to his father, with the day of the Kegatta marked on 53 QUERIES . [chap. it, Mr. Quintall would not hesitate for a moment to i grant the holiday, and Elspeth would probably be only too glad to have him so safely disposed of. “ There will be no telling falsehoods,” said Paulina to herself; “ only showing the card.” Yet surely she must have known that a falsehood in action was very like a falsehood in word, or else why should she have watched everybody out of the room before she began to search in the card basket, and given such a violent start when Aline came in o and asked what she was looking for ? “Oh, I was just seeing if—if there was a card fit to make a pincushion on.” And she began looking at the cards, as if con¬ sidering them, telling herself that it was quite true, since she should see if there were one suited to her purpose. Plow horribly inconvenient it was in Aline • to ask what the pincushion was to be made of. “ Oh, I don’t know; I’ve got a bit of ribbon.” “ Oh, Paula! you don’t mean to cut that beautiful bit with the pagodas and Chinamen upon it ? It you do, please give me a corner.” “Don’t bother so, Aline. You worry so, I don’t know what I’m about.” VI.] PRE VARICA TION. 59 Poor little Aline was not conscious of any parti¬ cular "bothering, but she was pretty well used to being hunted about by Paula, and could take it meekly. No card of Mr. Proudfoot was in the basket, as in fact he never left one. But Paulina still had a resource. Mrs. Saunders—Becky, as her favourites called her—was, as she well knew, quite ready to pity and sympathise with the children of her mas¬ ter’s niece, and to expect that they must be oppressed by their half-sisters. So she would write to her, and beg her to say nothing to her master, but to send his card or an envelope addressed to Paulina herself, putting the date in the corner. The difficulty was to write the letter without being asked to whom she was writing; and here Paulina was obliged to resort to another contrivance. She dawdled purposely over learning her lessons for the next day, and when Aline and the little ones were going down after the elders’ dinner, she said, as naturally as she could, that she had not finished her tiresome geography, and could not come; there were ever so many horrid places in the interior of Africa to be looked out. 6o PRYING SISTERS. [chap. This made a very good excuse for putting the globe on the table as a screen, and spreading a great atlas before her, in the middle of which lay her geography-book, and within that a sheet of note- paper; the inkstand could be reached by making a long arm over the map of Africa, and Paulina began— “ My dear darling old Becky,—I know you will be a ducky darling, and help your pet in a bother, and hold your tongue, like a good old darling as she w r as. Plorace wants a holiday terribly on the 20th: he has always had one to go to the Begatta, but my sisters are making a fuss and trying to hinder him, which is a great shame. Now, dear Becky, do please stand our friend, and just-” Hark! What was that ? A footstep ! What a start! Down goes a drop of ink in the middle of Timbuctoo! A hand on the door—whisk goes the letter under the atlas! Oh, what a dreadful thing to have tiresome, troublesome, horrid, prying half- sisters ! “ My poor Paula,”—it was Persis’ gentle voice,— " this is very nice and steady of you.” Paulina’s heart would have felt a pang, only it was VI.] PRE VARICA TION. 6 I stifled by tlie fancy that this good-nature was only an excuse for coming to see what she was about. “ How close and dismal the room feels,” said Persis, drawing up the blind, and opening the window wider. “ Ho wonder you felt stupid and could not get on. Here, let us try if we cannot find the places together—which are they ? ” “ Oh, let me see,” said Paula, exceedingly afraid that the atlas would be moved and her letter dis¬ covered. “ There’s what’s his name—Ticonderoga.” “There surely is not a Ticonderoga in Africa,” said Persis. “ I thought it was a fort in America. Let me look.” Paulina rather rudely held the atlas fast, and muttered, “I’ve just done, if you’ll only let me alone.” “ Only do let me make out about this place for my own satisfaction,” said Persis. “ Let me see the book.” “ There ! ” said Paulina, crossly. “ I like to learn my lessons by myself.” “ That’s a change,” said Persis, smiling, for at first Paulina had always been crying out for her help. “Has Elsie taught you self-reliance, as she calls it? 62 PAGES BLOTTED. [chap. Ticonderoga! My dear, it is Timbuctoo! And no wonder you could not see it, under that terrible spot of ink ! Why, it is fresh ! ” “ Is it ? ” said Paulina, still thinking that she was guilty of no untruth. “ Quite fresh ! So much the worse for my fingers and the map,” said Persis. “What a pity I How could it have happened ? What have you been doing, Paula? You never should have ink about and map-books open.” Persis was so true herself that she was entirely unsuspicious; otherwise she could hardly have failed to perceive that there was something wrong when Paulina, in a dreadful fright, held the atlas fast, lest it should be lifted up, and almost said, “ Oh, don’t! ” “I think I had better fetch some of my soft blotting-paper,” said Persis. “ Nothing takes up ink so well.” And while she was gone to her room for it, Paula popped the letter into a drawer and breathed more freely; but this most inconvenient Persis had no sooner so taken up the ink that it remained only a little cloudiness, to express, as she said, the black- VI.] PRE VA RICA TION. 6 3 ness of tlie negro country, tlian slie began to say, “ I think Elsie will hardly be able to find out where the mischief was.” “ I don't see why she should ever find it out at all,” said Paulina. “ Why, of course you will tell her.” “ There’s no use. That old atlas is all over ink- spots already in England and Europe, and nobody ever thought of telling anybody.” And Paulina turned the pages to a place where Ireland was spotted over like a plum-pudding. Horace had done it one day when the last governess had set him an imposition before he went to school; but she was too cross and guilty to mention the ridiculous scene when it was found out. "Well,” said Persis, “ the poor book does seem to be in a bad way, but I never could be happy to have done the smallest damage without confessing it.” “ I don’t tell lies,” said Paulina snappishly, feeling as if resenting the supposed injustice vindicated her from all that made her feel uncomfortable. “ I should trust not, indeed,” said Persis with a shudder. “ Dear Paula, how can you speak of any¬ thing so dreadful ? I only meant that the safest 6 4 PAULA'S TROUBLE. [chap. way for oneself and other people is to mention every little thing the moment it happens.” “ I don’t call this anything,” sulkily answered Paulina, partly resolved against yielding to Persis, and partly in dread of bringing upon herself Elspeth’s inquiry what she was doing with the ink. Persis desisted, seeing that it was of no use, and perceiving that respect for the atlas was so lost that the injury to it was hardly viewed as mischief; so that for her to mention it was hardly a duty, and might make Paulina view her as a tell-tale. However, she kindly stayed, and helped Paulina t to search out several places with long and uncouth names, not getting much gratitude, for of course the girl was only burning to be rid of her. Nay, she even stayed to help to put away the books, and thus took away all chance of finishing the letter or even getting it out of the drawer where it had been hidden, and which was a very dangerous place. The only way that Paula could manage now, was that after spending her hour in the garden, where all were sitting out after dinner, when she bade good¬ night, she exclaimed to Aline, “ I’ve left something in the school-room,” and darted off into it. She VI.] PRE VAR1CA TION. 65 shut the letter into a book and carried it upstairs with her, and in the evening light she sat up in bed and finished in pencil:— “ You see how I am put about to write, dear ducky daddies ; I am writing this in bed, because they watch me so. If you will just put one of Uncle Proudfoot’s cards in an envelope, and write the ‘ 20th ’ in the corner and send it to me, I can get poor Plorace his holiday, and it will be all right; only don’t tell my uncle. I am sure yon can manage it, and that you will be the dear old thing you always were. Mind you address the envelope to me, and say nothing about it. “ I am, your affectionate “ P. Q.” It was not so difficult to contrive the getting the letter into the envelope and addressing it, for that took so short a time that Paulina could manage it by getting up early and spending a few minutes in the schoolroom before meeting Persis in Horace’s room to feed the caterpillars. There was a pillar post not very far from the gate. Paulina put on her hat—not a very usual practice with her when she was only going to get F 66 PILLAR POST. [CHA P. leaves for the caterpillars—ran headlong downstairs, out at the door, and through the iron gate. It opened easily from the inside, and in a few seconds she was dropping her letter into the slit in the pillar. But oh, she had forgotten. The gate had shut itself, and. there was no means of opening it from the outside. There was Paulina Quintall, with no gloves, only her hat, shut out into the street. She was beginning to find out how prickly are all ways outside the straight one. Indeed, it is hardly true to say she was beginning, for it was not the first time Paulina had manoeuvred, or she could hardly have done it so readily. She hurried across the road—it was half road, half street here—and at haphazard gathered a handful of green leaves and grass from the hedge on the opposite side, and then rang the bell. She had never been afraid of being alone in the street before, but she certainly did not like it now, feeling sure that she could not be looking like a lady, and not at all certain what would happen to her. She waited long, and rang again, and she gave such a start at the voice within. VI.] PRE VA RICA TION. 6 7 “Ringing again! Mind, I won’t have none of that! I shan’t answer the door for a quarter of an hour if I have any more of that,” “ Susan ! ” called Paulina. “ Bless me, if it is not Miss Paulina! Well, if ever!-” Paulina held up her leaves. “ I got these for the caterpillars, and was shut out.” So she ran past Susan and reached Palmer- worm Park safely and unsuspected; and, alas l she only felt her escape, not how evil her deceit must he. CHAPTER VII. QUANDARIES. Paulina’s next anxiety was about Eebekah’s answer. She did not at all want to have the letter put into her hands before everybody, when Aline—if not one of the elder sisters—would be sure to exclaim, “Who can be writing to you, Paula?” and would think it very strange if she did not open it at once. She wished she had desired Rebekah to direct it to the post-office, so that it might lie there till it was called for; but there were two dangers in doing this—one, that Rebekah would not understand too many directions, and the other, that she would understand too well that there was something under¬ hand, and carry the letter to her master, though it was not easy to believe that dear old Becky would be so treacherous. CHAP. VII. QUANDARIES. 69 Letters used of course to come in the morning, and Jffie country posts also came in the afternoon, when they used to lie at the office till six o’clock, unless anyone inquired there after them; and if Air. Quintall expected any letter in particular, he sometimes sent down one of the clerks from the hank, or sometimes called himself on his way home, and brought in the family letters. This was what Paulina greatly wished to avoid. She knew that her having received the envelope might be remembered when the card was produced, and that it would be even more dangerous than the post-box in the morning, into which, if she had good luck, she might manage to fish before anyone else looked in. No one ever said a truer word than Sir Walter Scott when he wrote— “ Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive.” Paulina was full in the midst of this web as she racked her brains to find an excuse for going to the post-office. She could not say she wanted stamps, for some had just been given to her. She 70 PLEASE TAKE AIE. [chap. must make an excuse for getting into the street, and then trust to luck. However, fortune favoured her, for at luncheon— the children’s dinner—Elspeth said, “ I think I must £0 into the town this afternoon; I want some drawing paper and some other things.” “ Oh, please let me come,” cried Aline; “ I want-” and she paused. “Do you know what, Alie?” asked Elspeth, \ ■« laughing. “ I observe that a whole string of wants spring up as soon as anyone is going into the town.” “ Oh, but I do really want some Turkish delight.” “Nonsense, Alie,” said Paulina, who had taken her resolution. “Take me, Elsie; I do really want some perforated card.” “Me too,” cried Olive; “I do really want to spend my penny.” “ Me too,” cried little Clare; “ me do reelly want sweeties.” “ Haven’t you a ‘me do redly want ’ too, Persie ? ” said Elspeth, laughing. “ Persie is grown up,” said Aline. VII.] QUANDARIES. 7* “Ah, Ali Baba,” said Elspetli good-liumouredly, “if you begin hatching wants at your age, you won’t stop when you are grown up! ” “ I can truly say, me clo redly want —not to go into Peterskirk,” said Persis decidedly, for she did not like the town at all—a thing which greatly amazed her little sisters. “Very well, then; Paula is the only one who has a sensible reason for wanting to go with me,” said Elspetli. “ ISTo, Alie; Turkish delight is not at all a sensible want for a young lady of nine years old, who can have plenty of good fruit; and little Olive will learn some day that the mere want to spend her penny is more silly still. Perhaps Persie will take you all out to get some wild roses, and see if the wood strawberries are ripe, while Paula and I into the town.” O “ I want some perforated card to make a pin¬ cushion too,” said Aline, pouting a little. “ Me too,” cried Olive; “ I want some card.” “ Me too,” added Clare; “ a pretty tard with a wobbin on it.” “Silly little echoes,” said Elspetli merrily; “you think you have found the right note. Hadn’t you 7 2 PEEPING IN [chap. better say at once that you all want a little peeping in at the shop-windows ? ” “Oh, hut won’t you let us have it?” entreated Aline. “ETo, Aline; we can’t go in so many to the shops. Yon little ones must take turns to go in with us. And, above all, when you want to do a thing, say so straightforwardly, at once, and don’t look about for reasons which are not direct.” These last words made Paulina feel very cross, and think Elspeth must suspect something, and be talking at her.. Such a thing it is to have a guilty conscience. As they walked into the town, she never saw Elspeth look towards her without fancying that she suspected something; and when they reached the shop where drawing materials were sold, her heart gave a great throb, as if she were doing something very dangerous, when she ventured to ask whether she might run on to the worsted shop while Elspeth was choosing her drawing paper, and get her perforated card. The consent came quite easily, and almost made her feel ashamed. The fact was that a birthday was not far off, and VII.] QUANDARIES. 73 Elspetli knew the delight of secret contrivances for making up presents as a surprise, and thought that this might account for Paulina's desire to go shopping by herself. Away then posted Paulina, going so fast that she almost tumbled into a perambulator round the corner, and quite ran against a woman with a market basket, who seemed inclined to give her a good scolding. And when she reached the post-office, she found getting the letters no such rapid business. Quan¬ tities of people seemed to be there wanting orders, or letters, or stamps, or something, and they were all attended to in turn, on the principle of “first come, first served,” which hurt her dignity very much. She did not like to see a common soldier or a little scrubby maidservant attended to before Miss Paulina Quintall; and, besides, suppose she was kept waiting too long, and Elspetli were to suspect! However, her pride was thus far flattered, though with a great fright at first. “Miss Quintall, can I do anything for vou ? ” said a voice a little in front of her. She gave a start, and then perceived that 74 MISS P. QUIN TALL. [chap. the voice came from one of the young clerks in the bank, and she was aide to feel herself a little grand again, as she answered, “Thank you, Mr. Bakewell, if you would ask for our letters.” Mr. Bakewell signed acquiescence, and Paulina stood a little out of the line of people waiting, —getting, however, jostled by all who were going away, and feeling more cross and frightened every minute, as she wondered whether she had better caution Mr. Bakewell against telling her father he had met her there, and then deciding that there was such a distance between one of the partners and the junior clerk that nothing was more unlikely than that he should mention any such thing. His presence saved her full ten minutes’ waiting, as he had been there for some time before her; but still she had been kept so long, that when a letter addressed to Miss P. Quintall was put into her hand, she durst not stop to read or to look at it, but put it into her pocket and hurried away, scarcely thanking Mr. Bakewell. She had really forgotten all about the perforated card, and was in full career back again, when straight before her she saw Elspeth! VII.] QUANDARIES. 75 “ My dear, what a time you have been! I was going to the worsted shop in search of you.” “ I have not been there,” said Paulina, colouring, but still trying to persuade her conscience that she was speaking truth. “ I did not think I should find just what I wanted there, and so I went on further.” “You should have told me if you intended it,” said Elspeth. “ Your going into a shop three doors off is very different from your wandering half over the town by yourself. I do not think Papa would like it.” “ I have often been by myself,” growled Paulina. “With Papa’s knowledge?—eh? However, we will not say any more about it now. Have you got what you wanted?” Paulina had actually answered Yes, but she recol¬ lected that Aline and all the rest would come crowd¬ ing round expecting to see her card, so, with a stammer and falter, she said “ Yes ; at least I must still get a bit of card here.” Elspeth had never been so near suspecting some¬ thing wrong. Indeed she would have quite sus¬ pected it if it had not been for the approaching birthday, for Paulina bought her card in an inatten- 76 PRICKLES. [CHAP. VII. tive hurry, very unlike a person who had just been taking so much trouble about her materials. She did not know whether she wanted it coarse or fine, broad or narrow, nor how much she required, so that Elspeth could not help saying gently, “ My dear, you should always know your own mind before you come shopping, or you are very unnecessarily troublesome.” Paulina shook her shoulders. She was in a state of mind all over prickles, in which the slightest reproof made her think of the P’s and Q’s, and feel justified in any kind of underhand resistance to such tiresome, fussy half-sisters. CHAPTER YIII. P. AND P. Not till Paulina was in lier own room taking off her things did she venture to open her envelope. Eagerly she tore it open; it stuck very fast, all along the edges, and she tore right through the hack before she could get it open. Behold, there was no card in it; it was all letter, three sheets, in a crampy-looking hand, beginning “ My dear child.’’ AVas Becky actually venturing on calling her so ? Surely that was very impertinent, if the old thing were ever so tiresome, in giving her a lecture instead of doing as she was asked. Paulina stamped on the ground with impatience and anger at the insolence, and the vexation that the Sisters should get their own way, and oppress poor Horace after all. Then it struck her that the writing was not like 78 UNCLE PROUD FOOT. [chap. that of an old servant. It might he worse. She had heard something about Uncle Proudfoot being able to write, though he could not read. That dreadful old Rebekali must actually have gone and told him, and he had written her a scolding. Of course that was it. Did it not begin— “My deaii Child, —You ask me-” When old people began in that way, how could they expect young ones to have any patience to read their letters? No, no; Uncle Proudfoot and his lecture would keep, and he might have stood by his own niece’s children better than to let them he ground down by the Trefusis kind! Elspeth’s mis¬ deeds and Horace’s disappointment were always growing in Paulina’s eyes. Aline came racing into the room to look at the purchases, and she hastily thrust the letter into her pocket, intending to think no more about it, and make away with it when she had an opportunity. She was sure that she had quite lectures enough from her sisters by word of mouth, without troubling herself to read them in cross old Uncle Proudfoot’s crooked writing. She answered Aline in the same ill-tempered way VIII.] P. AND P. 79 as to wliat she meant to do with her card. “ Was it to be anything for Persis’ birthday ? ” “No! There was quite fuss enough about Persis already.” “ Oli, but Persis is such a duck ! ” said Aline. “ Only think, Paula, she told us stories all the way. She told us about the Princess that held her tongue and sewed the nettle shirts for her brothers.” Paulina felt as if she was doing it. “ And, Paula,” went on Aline, “ if you would only let me have a little bit of your card, I would make a book-marker for Persie. I could do it all myself! May 1 1 ” “ Don’t keep bothering,” said Paulina. “ You care for nothing else but what is new, and pets and spoils you. Now, I care too much for my own mamma to make up to what is new.” “ But Persis doesn’t want us to forget our own mamma,” said Aline. “ We went to the High Wood to-day, and Persie and I made the most beautiful wreath of wood anemones and blue periwinkles that I ever saw, and we went home by the cemetery and put it on her grave.” “ All liummery, and I hate it,” said Paula, angrily; not that she did really hate anything but the being 8o A PICNIC POSSIBLE. [chap. forced to acknowledge kindness in her lialf-sisters. “ Why can’t they he a little kind to poor Horace, instead of their flowers and things! ” “ Kind to Horace ! ” Aline opened her eyes. “Ay! hindering him from the Eegatta for Lilly’s nonsense and Mrs. Airlie’s.” c< But Horace doesn’t want to go to the Eegatta,” said Aline. “ Oh, nonsense ! that’s the way they make you and him give way to them. But I care for old ways, not for new fancies and fashions ! ” “But, Paula, aren’t you almost sure that we are all p'oimx to do something;’ ever so nice instead? Do you know I almost think it will he a picnic on Quack Common. I am sure there is a great secret; and oh, wouldn’t that he nice ? ” “ No! not if it is instead of the Eegatta, and all bothered up with the Airlies,” answered Paulina, flouncing away in the determination to have her grievance, now that her machinations had proved unsuccessful, and only brought a lecture upon her. Only as she sat at tea did it flash upon her that it was possible that worse things still might he in store. Uncle Proudfoot might mean to tell Papa! & VIII.] P. AND P. 8 I She must read his letter, reproofs and all, and see whether there were any danger of anything so shocking, or if she could do anything to prevent it. No sooner had this thought occurred than she became almost wild to make an opportunity of read¬ ing the letter; but with Aline sitting opposite to her, sighing over a French verb and watching for any possible distraction, this was quite impossible. At last, however. Aline had finished, and ran away to dress; and Paulina, who had found that no word would stay a moment in her head—nay, that her eyes could scarcely see rightly while this dreadful alarm was on her mind—took the letter out of her pocket, laid it on her old friend the atlas, and began to spell it out again. “ My dear child,” it began,—“ you ask me-” So far was plain in the first two lines, but then came seven or eight words together that Paula could not make out at all. It was really very illegible writing; anyone would have found it so: and “love,” “ father,” sacrifice,” were all she could make out at long intervals apart, and she could see nothing looking in the least like the words Horace, Prince’s Quay, or Eegatta, insomuch that she began to doubt whether G 82 QUI? [CHAP. it were not all a mistake, or whether it had anything to do with the* matter at all. She hastily looked at the end. It was a good deal crowded np into the space over the commencement, but she made out the letters “ Ever y rs a ffly , K. U.” About the “ K. U.” there cordd be no doubt, for they were more like printing than manuscript letters. Paula had not a “ K. IT.” among all her acquaintance ! She looked again, and saw an address in white em¬ bossed letters, stamped on the sheets of paper. It was the number and street of a house in London. It was plain now that it was a letter to Persis — Miss P. Quintall, too. What business had people to write such stupid directions ! And now what was to be done ? Put it back into the envelope and pop it into the post-box in the door, so that it might come out with the other letters in the morning? Alas! the envelope was far too much torn for this to be possible! Give it to Persis, asking her pardon and explain¬ ing that it had been opened by mistake? Then Paula’s expedition to the post-office must have been mentioned, and all her plans would have become i ' , known. VIII.] P. AND P. 83 And while she was thinking, up came footsteps, and Aline—tiresome, perpetual Aline—flew into the room. “ Oh, Paula! only think,” she cried. “ But what have you got there ? ” “ Oh, nothing! ” said she, hastily crunching the letter anyhow into her pocket. "Well,” said Aline breathlessly, “only think— Elsie and Persie have coaxed Papa out on the lawn to play at croquet, and if you don’t want to play, I may.” “ Papa can’t play,” said Paulina, getting up slowly. “ No, but they are going to teach him! Isn’t it fun? Please, Paula, say whether you want to play, for they are waiting to begin, and I may play if you won’t.” Paulina had no desire to play. She had rather have puzzled over the “K. U.,” but she was in a dog-in-the-manger temper, and the sight of Aline wishing for the game immediately decided her on asserting her rights as eldest, and playing herself. “You aren’t fit to play,” she said; “one person who doesn’t understand it is quite enough in a game.” G 2 8 4 A PUPIL. [chap. Aline looked much disappointed. " Indeed, Paula, Persie said I played very well last Saturday.” “I don’t care how Persis pets you; I know you can’t play.” And down ran Paulina in a great hurry, unable to get rid of the letter, which, in its crumpled state, bulged out in her pocket. Mr. Quintall had been persuaded to come out on the lawn, not unwillingly, but protesting that he knew nothing about it; and Elspeth and Persis were merrily showing him how to hold the mallet, and the various devices of the game. He was a slow, deliberate man in his ways, and never seemed to care much for amusement, but his daughters thought that he worked too hard and incessantly, and were always trying to lure him into relaxations. He took up his mallet in a steady, earnest way, and, new as he was to the game, he gave such hits that the ball seemed to understand him, and go wherever he wished. “ Quite right, Papa,” cried Elspeth; “ you’ll be as good a player as Kenneth Urquhart,—won’t he, Persie ?” VIII.] P. AND P. 85 “Who is Kenneth Urquhart?” asked Mr. Quintal!. “Oh, don’t you know?” said Elspeth, laughing. “ Blue—Paula, it’s you to play.” And Paulina was obliged to go after her ball, which, in her vexation, she drove against the hoop, rebounding far ; and the first thing she heard again was in her father’s voice, after delivering his hall:— “Mr. Urquhart is very ultra, I believe.” “ You know we don’t think so,” said Elspeth, in a bright outspoken tone, while Persis’ face crimsoned over under her hat. “ I do not believe you would think so either, if you knew him,” added Elspeth, looking bravely up to her father. “ I don’t wish to know him. I should have cau¬ tioned your aunts, if I had guessed what was going on ! Why, Persie, even the novice that I am could have made a better stroke than that.” For Persis had struck with a trembling, ineffective hand, and her ball had gone a very little way towards the hoop. “ The two P.’s are in a bad way,” laughed Elspeth, giving her mind to the game in a moment. “ We shall have only too easy a victory, Papa! Look out, Persie.” Click went Elspeth’s ball against Persie’s, and for 86 PER TURD A TION. [chap. the next few turns she had it all her own way. Then Paulina felt impelled to retrieve her cause, and as she could really play very well, she brought her ball back, and had such a run of luck that she became keenly interested. Persis, too, had recovered herself, and the success of both together brought matters into a very exciting state. Paulina was in despair for her blue ball. Would her father send it entirely away ? Was there not a hope that lie would not see it ? She stood near it, almost over it, in hopes that his ignorance of the game would save it. Behold, her own partner betrayed her ! It was Persis who called, “ Paula, take care; do you know where you are standing ?” Paulina moved away. “ How could you, Persie ?” she asked under her breath. “ There ! ” as her father called out, “ See, Miss Polly, there’s an end of your triumph. Mend that if you can, Persie,” as he used his advantage to pursue the ball of the other P. “ There! you’ve spoilt our chance,” said Paulina, crossly, though still very low. “ Hush, Paula!” said Persis, with much more dis¬ pleasure than her gentleness usually showed. “ It is well for you that Papa and Elsie did not see you. VIII.] P. AND P. 8 7 Do you think I would win a game by unfair, under¬ hand ways ? ” Paulina reddened with anger. All her gleam of good-humour had vanished. “ Everyone does it,” she muttered between her teeth, as Persis moved forth to try to bring back her unfortunate ball. “ Pm sure Persis has no business to make such a fuss about underhand ways ! I wonder how she would like to know what sort of a letter I have in my pocket! But I’m one who can put two and two together! And she to talk to me of underhand ways !” “ Paula! play. You’ve got your ball to re¬ cover,” called Elspeth, interrupting her meditations. “ Why,” as she passed across, “ one would think you had pocketed the ball. What have you got sticking out there?” “Oh, just some papers,” said Paulina, putting down her hand and squeezing them tighter, in hopes to make them flatter; and, in spite of her fright, thinking, “ Suppose I did bring them out, how would Mrs. Persie look about being underhand, forsooth ?” CHAPTER IX. Q IN THE CORNER. The conversation in the croquet-ground had shed a light on affairs. Paulina knew that the name Urquhart was spelt with a “ U,” and not as her ear would have told her, Erkirt, for she had heard her sisters tell droll stories of misdirections of letters, and it occurred to her that she had seen “ From K. U.” in more than one hook of her sister's. The “K.U.” in the corner was no doubt Kenneth Urquhart, this prime croquet player, at whose name Persis blushed, lost her power of making a stroke, and against whom her father wished he had cautioned her aunt. Paulina’s eyes and ears had not been very closely watched over. She had listened to a great deal of idle gossip among the people who came to sit with CHAP. IX.] Q IN THE CORNER. 89 lier mamma, and she had also read whatever she pleased in the many books that came from the circulating library to amuse the many hours that Mrs. Quintall spent as an invalid. This had made her old of her age, and filled her with foolish fancies and speculations about grown-up life, when she was not old enough really to understand anything about it. And so it was that she could gather so plainly that this Kenneth Urquhart was in love with Persis, and that, as her father so strongly disapproved, they corre¬ sponded in secret. To think that it was really and truly a love-letter that she carried crushed up in her pocket! Paulina felt all the taller for it, however it had come about, and was all the more ardent for another study of it. Since she had looked once, and could never give it to Persis as it was, she had the less scruple in looking at it again. She did so want to see what real people said to one another when they were in love. It could do no harm; or, if it did, Persis quite deserved it for making such a fuss about being open when she was herself deceiving Papa. So Paulina got the letter out of her pocket. 90 CURIOSITY. [chap. smoothed it out, and proceeded to try to read it, as she had written her own, by the evening light after she had gone to bed. ' “ My dear child,”—yes, that was just what some or the lovers in Mamma’s books were apt to call their ladies ; that w r as all right;—“ you ask me —Oh dear! “ K. U.” did write a shocking hand, to be sure! What could he say Persis had asked him ? • Some¬ thing about her father’s wishes ; that was clear. But what, entirely baffled Paula; there was something a little further off like “ compensate for the sacrifice,” and then followed some crookbacked things and curly tails and looped heads, that Paula could no more make out than the hieroglyphics in the British Museum. “In—fleece”—yes, fleece she thought she read. Could it mean the “ Fleece ”—the “ Golden Fleece ”—the principal hotel in the town—a very old one, where all the-post-horses and flys were kept? Yes, here was the word “ fly.” Could “ K. U.” be coming to the “ Fleece ” to meet Persis ? Here, too, was a word that must be “ destiny,” and another before it something like “ link.” How hard it was that the writing should be so exceedingly trouble¬ some to read! And here was darkness making the IX.] Q IN THE CORNER . 9 1 difficulty all the greater. It was of no use to go on ! But what was to be done with the letter ? Here was a step coming! The maid to shut the shutters ! Under the pillow with the letter ! That would do for the time;—but for the future? Kay, even as Anne came in, the crackling of the paper seemed so loud in Paulina’s ears that no one could choose but hear it. However, Anne made all dark, and went away unsuspicious, leaving Paulina wide awake—so wide, that it seemed as if she could never sleep again—wondering over her strange discovery. • Persis must be in love ! Papa must disapprove of it, and she must be having letters in secret. No doubt this “ K. U.” in the corner was Kenneth Urquhart, and he was telling her that he would come down to the “ Golden Fleece,” and then he would meet her. Where ? Paulina’s heart beat with the excite¬ ment of such a wonderful discovery. Persis—quiet, gentle Persis—who had always seemed so exceedingly good and docile—whom Elspeth held up as an example, and who so often stood between her sisters and the displeasure of sharper, sterner Elspeth— Persis, with her caressing manner towards her father, her love for all that was good ! She to be carrying 92 PEEPING. [CHAP. on an underhand engagement and a clandestine correspondence ! Maybe the wonder and excitement, the interest and curiosity, would have made Paulina feel friendly towards the lovers, but for the hostile spirit she was feeling towards both her step-sisters, which made her look upon the discovery as something to be used for her own defence and protection if they “ put upon ” her any more—something that gave her the solace of finding that Persis at least was not so good as she was supposed, and that when the Sisters preached about being true and upright and straightforward, they only meant it for the children, and not for themselves. Therewith Paulina’s thoughts began to get con¬ fused, until she saw Persis whispering to Percy, as she danced quadrilles on the deck of a yacht, while somehow the waves and cordage and everything else would make a crackling sound, and presently she saw that all the sails of the yacht were made ot letters which were all over Pernii caterpillars—eating, eating them ever so fast, so that the ship would soon not be able to sail; it would stop, it would sink, and then it was sinking—the waves came crackle, crackle IX.] Q IN THE CORNER. 93 round Paulina’s ears, and awoke her; and then she remembered that it was all that unlucky letter under the pillow,—and yet, after all, it made so very little noise in reality when she turned her head, that her conscience must have had the most to do with it. What was to be done ? It was quite dark by this time, for she heard a clock striking eleven, and so it would be no use to open a shutter to enable her to see how to dispose of the letter; nor did she like to lay it on the chair by her bedside with her stockings, lest Anne should come in to wake her and should observe it. Yet she had a wonderful horror of hearing it crackling in her ears. If she was wide awake the sound was slight enough, but if she began dozing it grew louder, and absolutely began to cry out, “K, u — q; Kew in the corner! Q, u —who are you ? Q, u —who are you ? ” till she started up again half awake, and in a fit of desperation snatched out the letter and tore the sheets across and across, she knew not how, and brushed them from her to the floor. She was really so sleepy and so desperate, that she hardly knew what she was about—certainly did not think—till she woke out of a dreamless sleep, this time at the sound of the opening of the shutters, and Susan saying, 94 PAPER SCRAPS. [chap. “ Why, Miss Paulina, however did you make the bed in such a litter ? I am sure it was tidy enough when I saw you last.” “ Oh, never mind, Susan ! I’ll pick it up ! ” said Paulina, bustling out of bed in a great hurry. “ It is only some paper that I had in my pocket.” Susan might think it very odd, but she was too busy to attend to the matter now; and having opened the shutters and poured out the water, away she went, while Paulina collected the bits in some dis¬ tress and anxiety of mind, half sorry for a moment that she had put it out of her power to restore the love-letter to poor Persis, but consoled by thinking that lovers always wrote to each other every day, so that one letter more or less really could not matter, and that Persis never ought to have had it. But what was to be done with it? Pires there were none at this time of year, and to light a flame on the hearth to burn it would have brought Susan, Aline, perhaps Elspeth, down upon her. If she left •it, Susan might be curious, piece it together, and make the discovery; and if she put it into the scrap basket, Persis herself might look in and see the writing. Besides, as Paulina held the fragments' in IX.] Q IN THE CORNER. 95 her hands, she could not help feeling a sort of odd sentimental respect for the first love-letter she had ever seen, which would have kept her from destroy¬ ing it, even if she could have done so. There was very little time to deliberate. Anne would be coming in a minute to see whether she were tidy, and all she could devise at the moment was to stuff the scraps of the letter into her pocket, and as soon as ever she was dressed she scrambled through her prayers and flew to the old rocking-horse on the landing. Where the saddle had once been, there was a hole in his side. Olive and Clare were wont to call it “feeding Gee-gee” to drop in old mumbled crusts; and sometimes in fun, sometimes in mischief, sometimes in sheer naughtiness, a good many odd things had been entombed for ever in the body of the old charger. There, then, rolling up her papers into little quillets, did Paulina consign poor Persis’ precious letter from “ K. U.” to the keeping of the ancient dapple-grey steed—starting a good many times if she heard a step, and once obliged, to desist altogether, as Elspeth came suddenly out of her room :— “ Paula, what are you doing, dawdling on the 96 POPPED IN. [CHAP. IX. horse ? You are not so silly as to be putting things in?” “ Only some bits of paper,” said Paulina, unable to help colouring furiously. “You had better not get into such a foolish habit, or we shall lose something of importance some day.” Paulina got her last little roll in when no one was looking, and thought herself very lucky ! CHAPTER X. POOR PERSIS. Paulina was angry at being told not to dawdle, or else she might have pitied Persis when the letters came in; for after an eager look, her face grew blank. But Paulina was on the watch herself for Rebckah’s card, and when it did not come she felt cross and uneasy on her own account, and these feelings ren¬ dered her idle and troublesome at lessons. At least, so said Elspeth and Miss Lillywhite. She said herself, and thought, that the “putting upon” was getting worse than ever, and that while they were so particular, and expected so much from her, it was of no use to try; and she rounded her back, and made things as much worse as she could. And when she was ordered to stay indoors till H 9 8 POTTERING ABOUT. [chap. she had re-written her French exercise, she remem¬ bered how her father had interfered on Sunday, and sat in the same sullen position for full an hour, in hopes of his coming in and seeing her,—a futile hope, as she knew all the time, for he seldom came in so early, and, if he did, was not Elspeth gardening outside to intercept him ? Gardening !—a thing that had never been thought of here before, which Paulina hated and despised, but over which Elspeth was ridiculously eager, actually liking to potter over plants and seeds, to water annuals, peg down verbenas, and cut off withered roses, better than to walk in the Avenue, where at least you saw somebody, and could have a chance of a little talk ! And there were Olive and Clare, stupid little things, trotting round and about her with baskets and little wheelbarrows, as if it were the most delightful thing in the world. Persis and Aline were neither of them in sisdit, O 7 and Paulina grew so restless and curious as to what had become of them, that at last, as the only way of getting out, she did finish her exercise, and brought it out to Elspeth on the lawn. Elspeth read it over, and said it was better, and X.] POOR PE RSIS. 99 that Paulina might stay out now and do as she pleased. She asked where the others were. “ They are gone into the town,” said Elspeth; “ Persis had something to do there, and she took Alie to walk with her.” Paulina could guess what that something was, but she said nothing, only fetched a story-book, and lay down on the grass under a tree. “ Paula,” said Elspeth, “ I don’t think the grass is dry enough for that,” “ Oh yes, it is—quite,” growled Paulina. “ And I should have thought it better for you to be walking or running about after sitting still all the morning. Suppose you went and got me some bass from the tool-house ? ” “ Fine putting upon ! You won’t catch me doing your errands,” thought Paulina, as she read on with¬ out seeming to hear. Elspeth stood and looked at the girl a moment, repressing with difficulty something that was rising to her lips; then went to the house, brought back a carriage-rug, and said in a voice of forced gentleness, “ I desire you will lie on this.” Never was poor girl so bothered and put upon. She H 2 IOO QUERY. [chap. pitied herself so much for it that she could hardly go on with her story, though she drove away the black cat that came up and tried to nestle in her lap, because its tail came between her and the page. By and by fresh voices came into the garden, and Persis went up to Elspeth, while Paulina rose, and, meeting Aline, dragged her aside, while asking in her peremptory way, “What in the world have vou been doing in the town ? ” “ I only went with Persie,” said Aline in a tone of frightened entreaty. “And what did Persis go for?” “She went to the post-office first,” said Aline. “ I thought so ! ” muttered Paulina. “ And you haven’t got my—any letter for me ? ” she added eagerly. “ No,” said Aline; “ there were no letters at all for the house, only some for the bank, and Persis was very much disappointed.” “ Indeed ! how do you know ? ” “ Oh, she almost cried then, poor dear Persie. She said she made sure of getting a letter.” “ Prom whom ? ” asked Paulina, breathlessly. “ She didn’t say,” answered Aline. “ I said ‘ Who PAULINA AND ALINE IN THE GARDEN. P. IOO, X] POOR PE RSIS. IOI from?’ and she didn’t seem to hear; then I said 'Who from?’ again, and she just gave my hand a squeeze and said, ‘ Never mind, my little Ali Baba; you know nothing about it.’” “ Of course not,” said Paulina. “ Why, Paula, do you ? ” And as Paulina nodded her head knowingly, “ Oh, tell me! Do ! there’s a ^'ood sister! ” “No, no; a baby like you can’t understand; I shan’t tell you.” “ Did Persis tell you for a secret ? ” asked Aline, a little awed. “ Nonsense! I’m not going to tell you anything about it.” “ Then it is very cross of you, and I shan’t tell you a bit more,” whined Aline. “ I’ve heard it all,” said Paulina, contemptuously. “ No, you haven’t,” said Aline, feeling her power for a moment. “ Yes, I have,” said Paulina, turning away with the instinct that to make light of the intelligence was the way to draw it from her younger sister. “ You’ve not! you haven’t heard how Persie cried at church.” 102 ST. PAUL'S. [chap. “ At cliurcli I ” “Yes, at St. Paul’s. She asked me if I should mind, and I didn’t; and we went in, and oh, Paula ! it was such pretty singing, only Persis cried all the time we were kneeling down.” “ Well, Aline/’ said Paulina severely, “ I can’t think how you could do such a thing.” “ But indeed I couldn’t help seeing, Paula; and I was so sorry ! ” “Nonsense! that wasn’t what I meant; it was going to St. Paul’s/' “ Going to St. Paul’s ! ” said the astonished Aline ; “why, it was going to church.” “ What a little silly you are, Aline, not to know that Papa hates St. Paul’s.” Aline’s brown eyes opened with wonder, for she was a much more simple child than Paulina, and had no notion of differences of opinion about churches. “ But it is a church, Paula,” she repeated; “ and Persis took me there.” “ That’s all you know,” said Paulina. “ Paula, what can you mean ? Papa won’t be angry with me ? ” X.] POOR PE RSIS. 103 “ Oil no, I don’t supppose lie will, with a baby like you.” “ But with Persis ? ” entreated Aline, wlio was learning to love Persis better than all the world besides.” “ Oil, as to that, I don’t know,” returned Paulina, a little spitefully; “ most likely lie will never know.” “Persie would tell him if she thought he would not like it,” reiterated Aline; and as Paulina laughed as if knowing better, she added: “ She says, and so does Elspeth, if you doubt about a thing, always tell of it.” “ I daresay,” said Paulina, “ that’s what she tells you; but wait a little while, and you will see Mrs.' Persis knows how to have contrivances of her own.” “ For shame, Paula! I won’t have you say such things of Persis! I’m sure she’s good, whoever else isn’t,”—and Aline began to cry. “ Paula! ” came Elspeth’s voice across the lawn, “ You aren’t teasing your sister ? Aline, what’s the matter ? ” “ She said—she said,” sobbed Aline, all the louder 104 QUITE OPEN. [chap. for Paulina’s fierce pincli on tlie arm to stop her mouth—“ that Persis wasn’t good ! and that she had con—con—contrivances of her own, and that Papa would he angry because we had been to St. Paul’s.” “ Paulina,” said Elspeth, “ you do not seem to be in a kind or charitable mood to-day; I wonder what is the matter with you?” “Never mind now, Elsie,” said Persis, coming up; “ I mean to tell Papa where I have been; Paula need not think I should do anything without.” Persis looked so open and candid that Paulina felt ashamed, and quite forgot for the time that she had suspected her sister of anything besides this expedition to St. Paul’s. And when Mr. Quintall came home and said, in a pleasant, good-humoured vdlce, “ Well, girls, and what have you been doing to-day ? ” Persis answered : “ Elsie has been gardening, and I walked into Peterskirk with Aline. I went to the post-office, and then to St. Paul’s. Papa, do you think letters for the house ever go by mistake to the bank ? ” “ Certainly not, Persis; I desire the postmaster to be careful to keep the bags separate. Do you think anything is wrong?” X.] POOR PE RSIS. 105 “ There is a London letter that I am rather uneasy about, but I dare say it will all come right,” said Persis. Artful being ! So she had used her anxiety about her lost letter to divert her father’s mind from her disobedient church-going, while she seemed to con¬ fess it. How people were deceived in her, and how innocent she looked all the time! CHAPTER XI. QUARRELS OX THE QUADRANGLE. “Horace! come and speak to me—out liere, where nobody can hear,” called Paulina in a hasty whisper, as Horace came into the house on the Saturday. “ Eh ! Nothing the matter with the Pernii , I hope,” as he followed her upstairs. " Oh, two of them have died, hut that can’t be helped,—and that’s not it,” said Paulina, climbing out on the roof. “ Died—the brutes ! What made them go and do that ? Holloa ! and here are some more that look uncommonly like it. What have you been doing to them ? ” “ Nothing—-unless Pcrsis hurt them when she was changing them.” “ Persis indeed ! She holds them a pretty sight ch. xi.] QUARRELS ON THE QUADRANGLE. IQJ more tenderly than you do! More likely yon did, with your great clumsy fingers.” “ Persis! It is always Persis! ” said Paulina petulantly, “ To he sure ! It was as dull as ditch-water before she came and made it jolly. What! jealous, Polly ? Polly peevish! ” “ For shame, Horace ! ” sobbed Paulina; “ I’m sure it’s very unkind of you to like a stranger better than your own sister.” “Persis is my sister.” “ Ho, she isn’t—not like me.” “Ho, not like you, for she isn’t a plague.” “ Horace ! ” stamping her foot and crying passion¬ ately and pitifully; “ that’s a shame, a cruel, horrid shame, after all I’ve done for vou.” “Much you’ve done—with Persie and Alie Help¬ ing you too!” “ I declare,” cried Paulina in her vexation, “ I hate the very name of Persis ! You alwa} 7 s used to like me best before she came.” “Yes, I didn’t know what was jolly,” said Horace, enjoying, like a teasing boy, her anger and vexa¬ tion. “ Horace ! I say,” she sobbed, “ when you know io8 PA DD 0 CKSFIELD. [chap. all, you’ll know who is your friend and who is good to you.” “Not you ! Why, you’ve made all the glasses ring, and the woolly hear curl himself up! You’re enough to spoil their spinning. Get away, do— you’ve upset the hawkmoth’s flower-pot.” “ But, Horace,” said Paulina, recovering her¬ self, “have you had a card from Uncle Proud- foot ? ” “ No ! ” “ Then that horrid old Becky has failed me ! ” “ How ?—what do you mean ? ” “ Why, I wrote to ask her to send one of Uncle Proudfoot’s cards for the 20th.” “ But I don’t want to go to Paddocksfield; I’ve got all the butterflies there.” “ No, hut I didn’t mean you to go there. Uncle Proudfoot wasn’t to know.” Horace gave a long whistle. “ You know,” said Paulina eagerly, “ Elspetli is so nasty about the Pegatta, that I thought it was the only chance for you. If you showed Papa the card, he would never ask any questions, hut let you have the day, and you could join Percy Grafton and his party.” XI.] QUARRELS ON THE QUADRANGLE. 109 “A pretty sneaking business, I declare,” cried Horace. “ Just like a girl, to think I’d do such a dirty thing as that! ” “ Horace, you’re very cross!—as if I had wanted you to say one word that wasn’t true.” “ There’s not much odds between doing what isn’t true and saying what isn’t true. One is as dirty as the other, or rather dirtier. Besides, I would as soon go to Jericho as to Prince’s Quay.” “ Oh, Horace! But there is to be a race between the Quaggct and the Petrel” “I don’t care.” “And Percy Grafton is going.” “An overbearing perfumer’s prig—I’d rather go a dozen miles than anywhere with him! Besides, there’s something jolly getting up about going to Quack Common.” “ A picnic with the Airlie babies,” said Paulina scornfully. “ Ay, but there are silver-washed fritillaries, and meadow ringlets; and I know Elsie has got a jolly pigeon-pie for it.” “And so,” cried Paulina, “after all the trouble I have taken for you, you like going off like a baby, with a lot of girls and little ones, to drink tea and I IO PROVOCATION. [CHAP. run after butterflies, when you might be going like a man to a boat-race with the other boys ! I wonder you haven’t more spirit—I do ! ” “ How can you talk such rubbish ? ” said Horace, but in a tone as if she had stung him. “ I do what I like! ” “What Elspeth likes, you mean,” said Paulina. “ All the boys will see you, and laugh, and know T how we are all put upon. I won’t bear it; and you wouldn’t if you had the spirit of a mouse.” “ But I don’t know what you are at, with your talk of being put upon,” said Horace. “ I’m sure the house is much nicer than ever it was before.” “ There—there ! that’s just what I say ! Nobody cares for poor dear Mamma but me ! ” And Paulina began to cry again, while Horace grew angry in his turn, and demanded: “ Paula, w T hat on earth do you mean ? I not care ! ” “You said the house w r as nicer without her.” “Now, can anyone guess what women will be at?” exclaimed Horace. “As if all a poor fellow said had not been that it w T as nicer now than when poor Mamma was always shut up in her room, and there was no one to' do or say a thing for a fellow.” XI.] QUARRELS ON THE QUADRANGLE. I I I “Ay, you’re all very much delighted now,” said Paulina. “ You think it all very fine ; hut when you come home from the holidays, see if they don’t put upon you.” “ I don’t care if they do, if this is the way of it. I tell you what, Polly, I believe it is just this: you have had your own way, and now they are come, and are twice as good as you, you don’t like it; and that’s the long and short of the putting upon.” “ Twice as good! We shall see,” muttered Paulina. “ I know what I know.” “ Good !”—Horace opened his eyes—“good ! to be sure they are good—only too good for you.” “ Su you think,” she said, triumphantly. “ Think S I know: I see.” “ See, indeed ! As if they hadn’t their secrets, like other people.” “ Well, and they have a right to their secrets! I tell you what, Paula, if you say another such word, I’ll serve you just as I would a fellow at Quick’s. So hold your tongue, and be off with you. Elspeth and Persis not good, indeed ! As if I did not know better than that!” He was so really angry, and ready to proceed QUACK COMM OK. [chap. f*r*' - I I 2 to violent measures, that Paulina really durst not tell him of her discovery and the means of it. Perhaps the perceiving how he would look at it was the first thing that made her see she had done something that might he thought very shocking; hut the immediate effect was to make her extremely angry, injured, and vexed, that when she had ventured so much for him, he should have gone over to the side of the enemy. Poor injured, put-upon Horace, playing at croquet with Papa in high glee, and talking everybody to death about silver-washed fritillaries, while Persis made his cages of paper and gauze for his cater¬ pillars—was not he a wretched victim to step¬ sisters ! Paulina was doomed to hear of nothing but the Quack Common picnic all the rest of the day, and to find everyone surprised that she was so silent and sullen about what would naturally have been such a treat. She was chiefly sustained by the certainty that there was something amiss with Persis, who struggled to be bright with her father and the children, but drooped whenever she thought she was not watched, and was pale and red-eyed when she came down to breakfast on Sunday morning. XI.] QUARRELS ON THE QUADRANGLE. I I 3 Her father looked sharply at her, but said nothing, though they all knew by his ways that he was vexed. Again, at church, Persis pulled down her veil, and once or twice seemed to be fighting to keep back tears, and each time Mr. Quintall per¬ ceived it he made a little impatient movement as if he were vexed. It seems—nay, it is shocking—but Paulina really felt an odd sort of spiteful pleasure in seeing that it was true that Persis had some secret grief, and that it was no mere fancy of her own; and, likewise, she had a sort of sense of retaliation in having on her side caused a considerable vexa¬ tion to one of the Sisters who were always “ putting upon her.” And Paulina had come to believe that everything she was requested to do—yes, even to the putting on her gloves, or tidying up the school¬ room—was “putting upon:” moreover, that her sisters never let her alone, and scolded her day 1 and night. There are moods in which people think the whole world set against them, and Paulina was in one of these. 1 CHAPTEE XII. POST-OFFICE EEVELATIONS. Putting upon liad really come to such a pass that Elspeth went with the children again to the dancing on Monday, and actually made the engagement for Paulina to dance with Millicent Airlie, so that she could only look at Percy Grafton, inhale his mille- fleurs essence from a distance, and admire his pale lavender gloves sewn with green. Paulina had no satisfaction but dancing as badly as possible, with stiff arms, and feet with no bend in them; and when she very decidedly got the worst of that, she believed and she muttered that Millicent Airlie put her out! She did shake hands with Percy Grafton during the break-up, and that was only disappointment, for he did not ask about Horace’s going on the 20th, chap, xii.] POST-OFFICE REVELATIONS. I 15 and, when she told him, did not even seem to care about his defection half so much as about a slit in his own new gloves. Millicent’s high spirits and schemes about the picnic were insupportable too, and she was all the less at rest that Persis had come into town with the dancing party, and gone off her own way. It was, however, the next afternoon that Mr. Quintall came out upon the lawn where the four elder sisters were at croquet together, and said— “ Persis, what’s this about a letter that you’ve been inquiring about?” “ I have lost a letter, Papa,” said Persis, colouring a little. “ When ? ” “ I expected to have had it on Thursday afternoon or Priday morning.” “ This is very strange,” said Mr. Quintall. “ I went into the post-office just now, and the clerk desired me to tell you that he had been inquiring- after your letter, and found that there had come one on Thursday afternoon which he gave to Bakewell, and Bakewell says he gave it to one of the children who was at the office asking for letters.” I 2 THE POST. [chap.. 116 “Paulina!” exclaimed Elspeth, “don’t go—stand still. Thursday was the day you went to Peterskirk with me.” “ You did not send her to the post-office alone ! ” “ Certainly not; but I gave her leave to go and get something, as I thought, at a shop three doors off, and she was gone much too long a time,” said Elspeth, looking a good deal startled. “ Did you go to the post-office, Paula ? ” “ I won’t answer you,” cried Paulina, startled into a state of passionate distress and despair. “You have no business to question me, and—and—turn Papa against me-” “ Hush, Paulina ! ” said her father sternly; “ that is not the way to speak to your sister. Did you go to the post-office ? ” It had flashed through Paulina’s mind that / denial was useless, since the post-office clerks and Mr. Bakewell could both bring it home to her. Not having the contrary temptation, she sulkily answered— “ There was no harm in it.” “ Did you go ? ” repeated her father. “ Yes.” XII.] POST- OFFICE RE VELA TIONS. ii 7 “ Did you have a letter for Persis given to you ? ” “ It had * Miss P. Quintall ’ on it, and of course I thought it was for me,” said Paulina in a much injured tone. “ Oh, Paula ! ” cried Persis, starting forward, “ how could you forget to give it to me ! Where is it ? Do let me have it.” Paulina stood stock still, very angry with every¬ body. “ Why don’t you answer your sister ? ” said Mr. Quintall. “ Why did you not give it to her at once ? Speak ! Don’t you know how disgraceful a thing it is to tamper with other people’s letters ? ” He was so angry now that Paulina could think of nothing but turning his displeasure into a< different channel. “ It wasn’t a proper letter for Persis to have,” she muttered. “ Paulina, do you know what you are saying?” thundered her father. “ Paulina, are you gone out of your senses ? ” asked Elspeth. Persis looked on in blank amazement, too much thunderstruck for a word. 118 PA ULINA 'S PR OPR IE TY. [chap. “ What do you mean ? ” repeated Mr. Quintal 1. “ Not a proper letter ! What do you mean by that ? ” “ A love-letter,” came out from between Paulina’s lips, as she hung her head, frightened at the wrath she had provoked. She was surprised that Elspeth and Persis both burst out laughing. “ Papa,” cried Elspeth, “ the child does not know what she is talking about! ” “ I never had a love-letter in my life; there’s no one to write one to me,” asseverated Persis, looking up in his face with her innocent eyes. “ Paulina must have made some ridiculous mistake.” “ Upon my word, that’s more likely, child,” said Mr. Quintall; “ that is, if it be the letter you ex¬ pected.” “ Please look at it—whatever it is. Read every word of it,” entreated Persis. “ Fetch it, Paulina,” said her father. " I can’t,” she growled. “ Can’t! Have you torn it up ? ” “ Yes.” “ But the pieces, Paulina, where are they ? ” en¬ treated Persis ; “ thrown away—where ? ” x 11. J POST- OFFICE RE VELA TIONS. I 19 “ I remember,” exclaimed Elspeth, “ I saw Paulina poking something into the hole in the rocking- horse. It was on Friday morning. Depend upon it that is what she did with it.” “ The hole in the rocking-horse ! ” said the asto¬ nished Mr. Quintal! “ Yes,” said Elspeth ; “ they always put things there they wish to lose.” “ I’ll have it looked into. I don’t know what to believe. I thought I had got to the end of all double dealing. I can’t understand a bit of it,” said Mr. Quintal! sadly; and Elspeth at least understood something of the tone of pain, for she had suspected more than once that he had been grieved by a little want of straightforwardness in his second wife. “ Here is Paulina running off underhand to the post, and opening other people’s letters! ” “That might be an accident,” said kind Persis. “Her going off to the post-office unknown to Elspeth was not,” said Mr. Quintal! “ Paulina, I insist on knowing what you were about. You have accused other people, but that does not clear you. If it be as I believe, you have invented a 120 QUI EST Q. [chap. slander against your sister, of which you do not know the cruelty.” “ I’m sure,” broke out Paulina, “ it is a love- letter ! Get it out of the rocking-horse and read it! ” “ That shall certainly be done,” said Mr. Quintal! “ Elspeth, is it possible that this may be some im¬ pertinent stranger’s letter? Prom whom was it, Paulina ? ” “Kenneth Urquliart,” said Paulina glibly. “ Kenneth Urquliart! ” repeated Persis; “ that’s the very letter!” “But what is the child talking about?” said Elspeth. “ He has a wife and five children.” “He is not the only Kenneth Urquliart,” said Paulina, half exulting, half defending herself. “Ho, there’s his little boy of seven years old!” said Elspeth. “ Papa, I think little Kenny might have written Persie a play-letter that Paula took for earnest.” “ Oh yes,” said Persis eagerly, glad to acquit Paulina of such exceeding unkindness; “ I can quite fancy that. Please don’t be angry with her.” “Stay, Persis, I have not got to the bottom of XII.] POST- OFFICE RE VELA TIONS. I 2 I it vet. If Paulina did make so absurd a mistake V iu good faith, she ought either to have brought the letter to me or to you, instead of suppress- mg it. “I suppose she thought that would be kind to me,” said Persis. Paulina really began to think that the storm was after all diverted from herself to curiosity about the letter, and perhaps her sisters would have let it be so, but Mr. Quintall came back to the charge. “How came she to meddle with the letter at all ? What made you go inquiring for one, Paulina ? ” “ I thought I should get one.” “ Prom whom ? ” Mr. Quintall had to repeat the question several times before he elicited— “ Prom Uncle Proudfoot’s Becky.” And then she took refuge in a great burst of tears. Mr. Quintall began to walk backwards and forwards and say there was some mystery in all this, and he could not make out girls; daughters were enough to drive one mad. Elspeth, who had more command of herself than 122 QUESTIONING. [chap. anyone else just then, went up to him, and touching his arm, said gently, “Dear Papa, don’t you think that Paulina might speak out better if she were alone with you?” “ You take her, Elspeth; I don’t know what to make of her.” " I think,” said Elspeth, in a low, persuasive voice, ‘*dt may be better for you to speak to her; I am beginning to think she lias made some great mistake about us, that she cannot speak out freely before us.” ' Paulina, who could not hear this, fancied of course that Elspeth was inciting her father to punish her, and was very much startled when he, speaking roughly, out of his vexation and dislike to the business, called her into his study. “ Paulina, what is the meaning of all this ? ” he gravely asked, when he had seated himself, and she stood before him, sobbing. “ The letter was directed to me,” she said, laying hold of the most defensible point. “That is nothing to the purpose. What I desire to understand is, what are the extraordinary machi¬ nations that I find going on in my family ? ” XII.] POS T- OFFICE RE VELA TIONS. I23 She made no answer, and he changed the form of the question— ' “ You say you expected a letter from Becky Saunders. Had you written to her?” Paulina did not quite say Yes, hut it came to the same thing. “ What could you write to her about ? I desire to know. Speak! I shall go over to find out from her.” So conjured, Paulina did speak: “ I wanted a card for Horace.” “ What do you mean by a card ? ” “One of Uncle Proudfoot’s cards.” “ Why couldn’t you ask for one openly ? Am I to understand that you and Horace are in the habit of intriguing with your uncle’s servants to obtain invitations ? ” “ Oh no, no—not Horace! He had nothing to do with it—nothing ! ” cried Paulina, wakened from her sulky trance to defend him. “ How do I know ? I can’t trust your word for anything! I shall go over to Paddocksfield and find out what has been going on.” “ Oh, please, Papa, don’t let Horace get into the r 24 PUT UPON. [chap. scrape, and I’ll tell you all about it; and you’ll see he knew nothing about it, and didn’t want it either,” said Paulina, quite changed now she had her innocent brother instead of her guilty self to defend. “ It was all my sister’s fault,” she began, however, to his amazement. “Elspeth would not let Horace go to the Regatta on Thursday, and he has always been, and it was too bad of her! Dear Mamma always let him go.” “But,” said Mr. Quintall, interrupting the tones of wrath in which she spoke, “ I thought Elspeth had arranged some safer and more becoming party of pleasure as compensation.” “ A stupid thing! I thought Horace would not like it,” said Paulina. “ Or Horace did not like it ? ” “ Yes, but he did; he did really ,” protested Paulina, getting more and more dismayed as she saw her own shuffling made her father disbelieve what she said of her brother. “ It was I!—I could not bear for him to be put upon.” “ Put upon, by being kindly guarded from temp¬ tation ! ” “He always had gone, and it never hurt him, XII.] POST-OFFICE REVELATIONS. 125 and the boys would have laughed at him,” said Paulina. “ Passing that by, I do not see now how your Uncle Proudfoot’s invitation to Paddocksfield was to take him to this Regatta.” Paulina did begin now to feel very much ashamed as she said, “ Uncle Proudfoot wasn’t to know.” “You mean, then, that his servant was to take one of his cards without his knowledge, and send it here, that Horace might, on a false pretext, join this expedition.” Paulina could only mutter, “ Because Elspeth was so cross.” “Poor child 1” and her father’s deep sigh startled her: “ she does not seem to understand the shame and disgrace of such conduct. Then it was in the expectation of this card that you stole away from your sister and opened Persis’ letter?” “ I would have given it back if I had not tom it,” said Paulina; “ and when I began to read it, I thought it was to me.” “ How was that possible ?” “ It began with ‘ My dear Child/ and I thought, 126 QUELLED. [chap. xii. perhaps, Uncle Proudfoot had found out. But, Papa, indeed it was a love-letter.” “Nonsense, child; you don’t know what a love- letter is. Well, I can’t say how much truth there is in what you say,” he sighed; “it is bad enough, any way. Go up to your room now; I can’t have you about this evening.” “ Only, Papa,” said Paulina, lingering, “ it wasn’t Horace’s doing.” “Did he know of it?” And then Paulina told her first direct falsehood in the matter, for she said “No;” and as she saw her father look really pleased, she went up to her room, thinking that at any rate Horace had not known of her manoeuvres before, only after; but she was too miserable to sleep properly, and tossed about amid unhappy dreams and waking fears throughout the night and the weary long light morning. CHAPTER XIII. QUARTERING THE ROCKING-HORSE. Mr. Quintall conld not rest till he had come to some understanding of the affair. Instead of going to the bank the first thing after breakfast, he sent for a carpenter, and desired him to open the rocking- horse. All the family stood round with as much curiosity as wonder, except poor little Clare, who ran away to Susan in an agony of crying, as if it had been a live horse that was to be cut in two; and not half be¬ lieving the assurances that dear old Gee-gee would be as well as ever in the evening. The first thing that came to light when the upper part of the poor dappled grey was severed from the lower was a mouse’s nest, explaining the wonderful mousey smell that had for some little time been 128 PIECING TOGETHER. [chap. remarked in the passage. Olive’s plan of feeding Gee-gee upon crusts must have been appreciated by the mouse family. Amongst dust and crumbs and “ sloven’s fur” almost enough to make a tippet, came forth five slate-pencils, two lead-pencils, one knife, one piece of india-rubber, one female member of jSToah’s family and one of his beetles, besides a number of scraps of paper, upon which Elspeth and Persis immediately threw themselves, picking out those which bore Mr. Urquhart’s handwriting, and piecing them together. It turned out that Paulina’s hurried midnight tearing had not been into very minute pieces; it had done little more than quarter them, so that it was not difficult to put them together again. Mr. Quintall had not said a word to Persis about the letter; he had even said he only caused the search to be made to satisfy himself about Paulina’s truth, and for the same reason he had ordered his horse, to ride to Paddocksfield and examine Becky. He did not attempt to look at the fragments, or ask any questions about them; but Persis, so soon as she had arranged them legibly, came up to him, and said, with hotly glowing cheeks— xm.] QUARTERING THE ROCKING-HORSE. 1 29 “Father, please read this.” “Do you really wish it, Persis?” he said, and Paulina felt half jealous of the manner. “ You under¬ stand that at your age your correspondence is per¬ fectly free, and that I should never think again of that child’s accusation—only not scandalous because it is so foolish and impossible.” “Please read it, Papa,” repeated Persis; and Paulina, for all her troubles, raised her head with eagerness and suspense ; so amazed was she that the letter could he even supposed to be anything hut what she had thought it. “From Mr. Urquhart?” asked her father. “Yes, Papa,” said Persis, “and perhaps I had better tell you first; for I am not sure now whether I ought not to have done so before; you know Mr. Urquhart prepared us for Confirmation, and he told us, whenever we could, to go to the Holy Com¬ munion early. So when you forbade us”—(Mr. Quintall was looking displeased now, and the tears stood in Persis’ eyes, and her voice quivered)—“ we were very much puzzled what was right to do; for indeed we—at least I—don’t know how to be any way good without strength and help, always. So I 130 PERSIS ’ CONFESSION. [chap. wrote—perhaps I ought to have told you first—to ask Mr. Urquliart what was the right thing to do, and this is his answer.” So this was what Paulina had taken for love- making ! The colour rushed into her face at her own exceeding foolishness, and she would have been ready to run out of the room with shame and dismay if she had not perceived that her father was not much pleased. “Hm! I think young ladies might put their fathers before strangers.” “ But he could not be a stranger to us, Papa,” said Persis ; “ he taught us long ago.” “ Well, ha ! that’s some excuse; let us see-” Paulina wished he would have read aloud, so that she might have had her difficulties cleared up; but instead of this, he only said, “ Must I read it ? A horrid bad hand he writes, this adviser of yours.— Good and sensible, that!—Why, Persie, girl, did it go so very deep with you ? You might have told me, child, though, after all.—Hm ! ha ! he seems a good, right-minded man, not at all disposed to stir up strife between father and child.—Patience, influence—” (Influence ; that must have been Paulina’s “fleece”— XIII.] QUARTERING THE ROCKING-HORSE. 131 her “Golden Fleece”)—“There, my dear, I am glad you showed it to me ; it puts your friend in a fresh light to me, and I suppose you must do as you pleased* “ Oh, Papa!” and the colour came into Persie’s face, and she clasped her hands—“thank you!” And Elspeth fervently echoed, “ Thank you, father! ” “ Well, say no more about it now ; any how, I see you gave up something to come home and help me, my girls, and I don’t want to make it harder to you; only have it all out with me next time, if I cross you again.” “ I will, Papa; I will not be afraid again.” And Persis ventured to bend down and kiss him. Paulina had never thought of such a thing as that, and was amazed to see him put up his arm and hold her down, and return the kiss, saying, as he did so, “ You are very like your mother, Persie.” Then Paulina felt a fierce pang of jealousy. “ Stay a moment,” said her father, as Persis was going; “when does Horace come home?” “To breakfast, to-morrow.” “ I shall leave speaking to him till then. I am going over to Paddocksfield now.” A kind of despair seized Paulina at the thought PUNISHMENT. [chap. I ?2 of what Uncle Proudfoot would say to the use she had intended to make of his servant and his cards. Elspeth spoke, however: “Don’t you think you could speak to this old housekeeper apart; I don’t imagine Mr. Proudfoot knows anything about it.” “ Most likely not. I should be ashamed that he should. Shall I drive you there, Elsie ? ” “ No, thank you, Papa ; I think you wall get on better without me,” said Elspeth, feeling that other¬ wise Paulina might never think his judgment im¬ partial. “ Very well; only mind, you need not get ready for this picnic business. I can’t have pleasuring^ while an affair like this is going on.” Aline gave a start of horror and dismay, and Elspeth said— “ Is not that rather hard on the innocent ? ” “ How do I know who is innocent ? I believe Horace is at the bottom -of it all the while.” “ Indeed, Papa,” said Elspeth, eagerly, “ I do not think so. I don’t think Horace cares about any¬ thing but butterflies, and his head is full of the silver-washed fritillaries on Quack Common. Ho really prefers it.” x111 .] QUARTERING THE ROCKING-HORSE. I 33 “ So you think, Elsie—you are a good girl, and never were used to slippery ways; huh nothing shall ever make me believe that the girl there got np such a plot without being egged on by her brother.” “I did! I did, Papa!” cried Paulina, darting forward again. “ Horace knew nothing about it. Oh, punish me as much as you please, but don’t believe horrid things about Horace. He didn’t want to go. He was angry with me for it.” ‘‘There now, Paulina, last night you told me he knew nothing about it! That’s the w T av with you all—anything to shield your brother. I only hope I may get the truth out of him, any way.” And Mr. Quintall went off, leaving Paulina crying now as she had never cried before. “ Oh, Elsie, Elsie, what shall I do! Indeed, indeed, Horace had nothing to do with it.” “ ISTo, Paula, I cannot believe he had,” said Elspeth; “ but if you have not spoken the perfect truth, it will be very hard to convince Papa.” “ I did speak truth. He did not ask me to do ; it,” sobbed Paula; “ he did not want me to do it; he knew nothing till it was all dene, and then 134 PITY. [chap. I thought Becky might have been stupid and sent him the card, so I told him, and he was very angry with me.” “ But you told Papa he did not know! ” “ Oh, Elsie, don’t you see, in that sense; and I didn’t tell one other fib in the whole.” “ I do see, Paula, ‘ in that sense/ as you call it; but it was a great pity you did not explain to Papa.” “ I was so frightened! and I only thought how to get Horace out of the scrape ! And now I have made it worse than ever!” Poor Paulina was crying so bitterly and sobbed so violently, that Persis looked at Elspeth quite frightened; and Elspeth said— “ Poor child! she is quite worn out. Lie down here, Paula,”—making a place on the sofa. “ I dare say you did not sleep all night.” Paula sobbed out “ No,” while Persis laid her down, and presently Elspeth brought her some sal- volatile. She was dimly conscious that they were both a great deal kinder to her than she in the least expected or deserved; but she was tired out with her misery, and could not think about it, and XIII.] QUARTERING THE ROCKING-HORSE. 135 so she fell asleep. When she awoke partially, it was to hear their voices. “ I can’t help hoping that after all this is the beginning of better things.” “ I can’t help hoping everything in the joy your letter has won us,” said Elspeth. “Did people really care about Church and Holy Communion as much as all that J ” thought Paulina. “ How very kind Papa was ! ” added Persis. “ And 0I1, what a helpful letter it was. I wonder what put the fancy into her head, poor child ! ” And then both sisters indulged in a hearty, noise¬ less laugh. If Paulina had been as honourable as they were, she would have shown herself to be awake, but she had not learnt as yet all the lessons she ought to learn,—and she lay still. “ I am sure we are both very much indebted to her,” said Elspeth. “ I only trust good may come out of the present trouble.” “ If Papa can only acquit poor Horace! ” said Persis. “ I have great hopes that the dear boy’s own open-faced manner will convince him.” “ I am sure it ought,” said Elspeth. “ Dear Horace ! I do think the most hopeful part about PAST PREJUDICE. [chap. xiii. 136 all this terrible affair is that she is more distressed for his sake than her own.” “ There was nothing selfish in it from first to last/’ said Persis, warmly. “I am not so snre of that. There was some self- deceit. It was the spirit of opposition to me.” “ How did Elspeth know so well,” thought Paulina. “ I am sure no one could have been kinder ! ” cried Persis. “No one could have meant to he kinder, but I never knew how difficult it would be to do right and yet seem kind. Poor children ! I have often been sorry for them, and have feared things seemed to be done for the sake of change and tyranny, when they really could not be helped.” There Paulina dropped off’ to sleep again, but with a very different feeling in her mind as to being “put upon.” CHAPTER XIV. POISONING A HOLIDAY. Mr. Quintall did not come home till quite late. Mr. Proudfoot had insisted on his staying to dinner, and Elspeth was obliged to send Paulina to bed before he came home, promising to come and tell her what he said about Becky. The girl was so tired out, however, that she was fast asleep when her sisters looked in at her, and it was not till the morning that she knew the fate of her letter. Becky Saunders was no great reader, and she had kept the letter for her young niece to read to her after church on Sunday. And the niece had, after spelling it out with difficulty, brought her to the conclusion that “ the young gentleman wanted to go out a pleasuring unknownst to his Pa,” which 138 PASSIVENESS THE BEST POLICY. [chap. Becky rightly held to he very dangerous; besides, how was she ever to go for to do such a thing as to take one of her master’s cards without his know¬ ledge ! So Becky had made up her mind to take no notice; it was just a fancy of the young ladies and gentlemen that they would soon forget, if she let it blow over, and be glad she had done so. Sensible old servants often do put a stop to follies in that way, by taking no notice. Becky was much afraid of bringing the dear children into trouble, but when questioned she had told all that she knew. She had in her real good¬ nature destroyed the letter; and as the kitchen lire had done so more effectually than the rocking-horse, she could not produce it; and this was unlucky, as it would have done something towards clearing Horace. Poor Horace! it was a different holiday from what he expected when he came home with his sunny face and his butterfly net on that summer morning, expecting his picnic and butterflies innumerable. He was at once met and called by a stern voice into his father’s study; and what passed there no one knew, —while his sisters waited outside in great distress. u ILL THANK YOU NOT TO MEDDLE IN MY AFFAIRS AGAIN!” 139 XIV.] POISONING A HO LID A V. i 3 9 At last Horace came out, looking glum and fierce, and turning to Paulina, said— “ I’ll thank you not to meddle in my affairs again! A pretty mess you’ve got me into, this time.” “ Horace, dear, you-” “ Hone of your dears — making my father not bdieve a word I say.” And as his father’s step was heard following, he flung out of the room by the windows, unable to meet him. Paulina durst not go after him—she who had comforted him in all his scrapes before. “ As I thought, Elspeth,” said Mr. Quintall, coming in, “ the boy was cognizant of this scheme. I was sure the girl would never have got it up unless it was instigated.” “ Papa ! Papa! ” Paulina almost screamed, in her dismay and despair. “ Silence, Paulina !—it is of no use to listen to you.” Elspeth rose up now. “ Papa, I believe she tells the truth.” "What!” interrupted Mr. Quintal!, "when one minute she tells me he did not know, and he tells me himself that he did! ” 140 PRESENT PREJUDICE. [chap. “ She has explained-” began Elspeth. “ Explained !—explained !—that’s the way with women! You do the boy no good by letting him hoodwink you, Elspeth. You are not weak to your sisters, why should you be so to him ? ” “ I am trying not to be weak, but to stand up for what I believe to be the right,” said Elspeth. “ I believe what Paulina tells me, that Horace never wanted to go to Prince’s Quay, but that she, fancying 1 was unkind in preventing him, concocted this plan without his knowledge. Yes—she only told him of it last Saturdav, when all her measures had been taken, and then lie w T as very properly angry with her; but I am cpiite sure you would not have thought better of him for betraying her. Idas he said anything inconsistent with that ? ” “ Why, no—not if I can believe anything.” “ Then do believe this, Papa dear, for I am sure it is the truth. No one can look at Horace a moment and think he would wilfully deceive.” “ Little you know about boys, Elspeth. However, nothing, as you sa}, is proved against him, so I am content to leave it as it is. I shall sav no more «/ about it, and you may tell him so.” XIV.] POISONING A HOLIDAY. 14 I With which Persis stole out to seek Horace in the garden in vain, and continue her search upstairs to his own room, and Palmer Worm Park, where she found him squatted down among his flower¬ pots, dull and gloomy, resisting all the caresses that little Aline tried to lavish on him,—driving her hack, sometimes with a growl, sometimes, it may he feared, with a kick; but she was a loving little thing, and returned, after every rebuff, to fawn on him like a faithful dog. It was the first time his father had ever doubted his word, and it was very sore to him. When Persis came he only turned the more away, and tried to shake off her soft hand as Paulina had once done. “ Dear Horace, I came to tell you Papa does not mean to be angry any more.” “ Does he believe me ? ” The boy looked up eagerly, and as Persis hesitated— “ There, you see how it is ! What an abominable thing it is to have a sister ! ” “ Oh Horace, don’t,” entreated Aline. “ Get away, do : you are all one as bad as the other.” Persis laughed her little sweet laugh. 142 PERSUASION. [chap. “ Not quite, Horace,” she said. “ Come, I do not wonder that you are exceedingly vexed and grieved.” “ Such an abominable trick to have played me ! ” he went on. “ She meant it for kindness.” “ As if that did me any good. All those silver- washed running to destruction for want of some one to catch them—and my new net and all. And my father thinking me no end of a brute ! Oh, Persie ! isn’t it enough to drive a fellow out ot’ his senses ? ” “ I really think it is, almost,” said Persis. “ Paula almost cried herself ill about it yesterday.” “ I should hope so! You standing up for her, Persie, of all people in the world, when she went and begged your letters, and told all manner of spiteful fibs about them.” “ That was all her mistake.” “ Nice mistake ! I declare I would as soon have a nest of vipers in the house.” “ I think nothing will he so likely to cure her as all this.” “ If not, there will he no living in the house with her. I shan’t speak to her, nor let her tquch any- XIV.] POISONING A IIGIIDA Y. M 3 tiling of mine, I can tell lier. I shouldn’t wonder if her meddling made the Pernii die ! ” “ Hardly that; she has been very careful. And, Horace, I think the best sign of all is, that she grieves for having brought you into trouble more than for herself. “ Well, she may,” quoth Horace, “ I never asked her ; and now she has been and poisoned my holi¬ day, and, what’s worse, my father’s mind.” “ Papa will soon get over that,” said Persis. “ Nobody can suspect a really true and upright boy long.” “ But I shall never now be able to say he never suspected me at all. Oh, Persie, that he should think I could plot against him and tell him lies, and be a horrid mean sham i ” The boy burst into a flood of tears, feeling it a great deal more deeply than Persis had thought was in his light gay nature. There, on that queer quad¬ rangle between the roofs, among the caterpillars, he leant against her as she sat on a low stool, and cried bitterly; and Paulina, lingering about the bedroom door, heard, and was cut to the heart. But Horace was all the better for the crying; and 144 QUEER PETS. [chap. when he did look up again, he had relieved him¬ self, so that he could hear it; and when he had looked about a little, he saw that two silkworms of the real old kind had actually spun, and must be wound. And Persis was so glad to see him consoled in any way, that she gladly gave the rest of the morning to nothing but the winding of silk : and it was done so successfully, that Horace, when summoned to dinner, declared that, “ con¬ sidering all things, it was a good thing that the sensible people in the family should have stayed at home to attend to anything so important.” Moreover, he entirely forgot that he had intended to treat Paulina like a nest of vipers, but he called her Polly just as usual, or more kindly as he saw her unhappy; and was so bright and good-natured, that Elspeth feared she would lose the impression that had been made. Put Paulina’s disposition was very different from her brother’s. Things went deeper with her, and his kindness, after the injury she had done him, only made her pain the greater. She felt there was some¬ thing she could never forget in the way both he and Persis treated her. CHAPTEE XY. THE QUAY. Elspeth thought the kindest thing to do would be to take Horace out for a long walk that afternoon; and though it looked much hotter than was pleasant, she offered to go with him to a down where some one was reported once to have seen a painted lady of the woods. It was too far for Aline, and Paulina w’as not well enough, so Persis stayed at home with them, and only Olive, whose sturdy legs nothing ever seemed to tire, went off with the walkers. Just as they were coming home with a poor painted lady waiting in a pill-box for the laurel leaves that were to end her pretty fluttering life, they saw a cab driving at full speed towards the station, and Olive declared that she saw Mrs. Grafton L 146 THE PLEASURE PARTY. [chap. in it,—Mrs. Grafton, who never was known to leave her own fireside. They all laughed at the little girl’s mistake. But as they reached their own gates footsore and dusty, hut with their hands full of flowers and their hearts full of cheerfulness, they saw Mr. Quintall coming quickly up from the end of the road. Horace, remembering the morning in one sudden thrill of shame, would hardly have waited for his coming but for a sign ho made to them. The first thing he did was to lay his hand on Horace’s shoulder, and exclaim, in a husky, agitated voice— “ My boy ! my boy-” Horace fancied it was displeasure at first, and started; but Elspetli knew better. “ What is it ? Is anything the matter ? ” she asked. " Matter—yes, Elsie ; those unhappy boys. Too much wine, it is believed. Took a boat—mis¬ managed—ran foul of the quay-” “ Drowned ! who ? ” “ Poor young Davies; not sure of the others when they telegraphed. Percy Grafton alive, but an arm broken. They came into the bank to tell me, fancy- XV.] THE QUAY. H 7 ing my boy must have been among them, and it crossed me whether he had really gone, after I had stung him with suspicion. I scarcely durst come home to look:” and he wiped his brow and gasped, as he held Horace safe by the shoulder. Tire boy was pale enough. “ I was very near going,” he said, in a low awe¬ struck voice; “ I was in such a rage I should, if Persie hadn’t come up and-” but there again Horace broke down in tears as he strove to ask, “Charlie—Charlie Hill—was he there?’ “ Charlie Hill—the Hills never go.” “Ah, but he said he wouldn’t be badgered any more. It’s all their fault, they bored him so at home-” “ Poor things ! ” said Mr. Quintal! “ Horace, we do both owe unspeakably much to these sisters of yours. I am sorry I spoke hastily to you this morning, my boy; I heard afterwards that you had steadily refused to join the party this year. I will never doubt your word again, Horace, unless you give me cause to do so. I beg your pardon now.” Horace looked up in wonder as his father held out his hand and clasped his tight, not so much in 148 PREVENTED IN TIME. [chap. reconciliation as in the joy of feeling it warm, strong, and healthful. But the hoy’s heart was very sore for his schoolfellows, and he counted over the names in great anxiety, for it was pretty well known in the school who were going to the regatta, who had free leave, and who had extorted it. It was Paulina, however, who felt it the most. When they came into the house, they found her as white as a sheet waiting for tidings. Nobody said to her, “Suppose your plan had succeeded?” But perhaps she felt it the more because no one did. How would she have felt at that moment ? She began to understand the real kindness of the sisters in not roughly forbidding, as Mrs. Hill did, but striving to give a pleasure in lieu of that they wished to prevent,—the sisters she had thought so crueL Horace could not stay at home; he must go up to the station to hear what tidings came in, and his father somehow could not bear to have him out of sight, so they went together while Paulina lay on the sofa with her hand in that of Persis, too anxious to speak, but listening for every sound. How much more terrible that listening might have been! XV.] THE QUAY. H9 It was not for more than an hour that the father and son came back. Then it was with better news. Nobody had been actually drowned. All had been restored, with diligent care, though Percy Grafton’s arm was broken, and he, and one or two more, were not in a fit state to be brought home. The accident seemed to have been caused by the boys’ own carelessness and Percy Grafton’s conceit. They had lunched at a hotel by the waterside, and had taken enough liquor of various kinds to make them all the more boastful and unsteady. They refused all advice and caution from the boatmen, and no wonder that the consequence was that even in pushing off from the quay the boat had been upset. It was true that all had been rescued, but it had been the nearest and narrowest of escapes, and such revelations had been made of the perils the boys underwent, and, far worse, the company they ran into at these regatta parties, that every one in the town resolved more firmly than ever that the boys should never again be allowed to go without some safe person to look after them. And Paulina herself began to understand that “putting upon another” might sometimes mean PUT UPON! [chap. XV. 150 keeping out of temptation. When she heard the particulars, she did not think of temptation as a merely long word used by cross people to prevent one from enjoying oneself. “ I am sure, if that is all, I hope my sisters will ‘put upon us’ all their lives,” she said to herself, after she had kissed Horace once more that night and felt him safe. “ Persie, my girl,” said Mr. Quintall, “ this has been a great mercy. I think I must come to church with you next Sunday morning. One feels as if one must do something by way of thanksgiving, and as much for such a girl as Elsie as for the boy’s safety.” It would be exaggerating to say that Paulina Quintall never came to a squabble again about the P’s and Q’s, but at any rate the sisters had a foundation of good understanding; Paulina trusted the others entirely, never again tried to circumvent them, and therefore came in time to be trusted herself, long before Horace had Pcrnii silk enough to make her a dress. LONDON : R. 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For English readers, Mr. Garnett's translations will open a nezv world of thought .”—WESTMINSTER Review. Geikie.— SCENERY OF SCOTLAND, viewed in Connexion with its Physical Geology. By Archibald Geikie, F. R. S., Director of the Geological Survey of Scotland. With Illustrations and a Ne\V Geological Map. Crown 8vo. 10 s. 6d. “ Before long, we doubt not, it will be one of the travelling companions of every cultivated tourist in Scotland.” — Edinburgh Courant. “Amusing, picturesque, and instructive.” — Times. “There is probably no one who has so thoroughly mastered the geology of Scotland as Mr. Geikie .”— Pall Mall Gazette. Gladstone.— JUVENTUS MUNDI. The Gods and Men of the Heroic Age. By the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P. Crown 8vo. cloth extra. With Map. iol £>d. Second Edition. “This new work of Air. Gladstone deals especially with the historic element in Homer, expounding that element and furnishing by its aid a full account of the Homeric men and the Ho7neric religion. It starts, after the introductory chapter, with a discussion of the several races then existing in Hellas, including the influence of the Phoenicians and Egyptians. It contains chapters 11 On the Olympian System, with its several Deities;” “ On the Ethics and the Polity of the Heroic Age;” “On the Geography of Homer;” “On the Cha¬ racters of the Poems ; ” presenting, in fine, a view of primitive life and primitive society as found in the poems of Homer. To this New Edition va rious additions have been made. ‘ ‘ To read these brillia nt details,” says the AtheN/EUM, “is like standing on the Olympian threshold and gazing at the ineffable brightness within. ” According to the Westminster Review, “it would be difficult to point out a book that contains so much fulness of knozvledge along with so much freshness of perception and clearness of presentation.” BELLES LETTRES. H Globe Library. —See end of this Catalogue. Golden Treasury of the best Songs and Lyrical POEMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.—See Golden Treasury Series. Golden Treasury Series. —See end of this Catalogue. Goldsmith’s Works. —See Globe Library. Guesses at Truth. — By 'Two Brothers. With Vignette Title, and Frontispiece. New Edition, with Memoir. Fcap. 8 vo. 6 s. Also see Golden Treasury Series. These “ Guesses at Truth ” are not intended to tell the reader zuhat to think. They are rather meant to serve the purpose of a quarry in zuhich , if one is building up his opinions for himself and only zvants to be provided zvith materials, he may meet with many things to suit him. To very many , since its publication, has this zvork proved a stimulus to earnest thought and noble action ; and thus, to no small extent , it is believed, has it influenced the general current of thinking during the last forty years. It is now no secret that the authors were Augustus and Julius Charles Hare. “ They — living as they did in constant andfree interchange of thought on questions of philosophy ai\d literature and art; delighting, each of them , in the epigrammatic terseness which is the charm of the ‘ Pensees ’ of Pascal, and the ‘ Caracteres ’ of La Bruyere—agreed to titter themselves in this form, and the book appeared, anonymously, in two volumes , in 1827.” Hamerton. — Works by Philip Gilbert Hamerton :— A PAINTER’S CAMP. Second Edition, revised. Extra fcap. 8 vo. 6 s. Book I. In England; Book II. In Scotland; Book III. In France. This is the story of an Artist's encampments and adventures. The headings of a feiv chapters may save to convey a notion of the character of the book: A Walk on the Lancashire Moors; the Author his own Housekeeper and Cook ; Tents and Boats for the BELLES LETT RES. 15 H amerton — continued. Highlands; The Author encamps on an uninhabited Island; A Lake Voyage ; A Gipsy Journey to Glencoe; Concerning Moon¬ light and Old Castles; A little French City; A Farm in the Autunois, s - 6d. A tale of sin and sorrow, purporting to be the confession of Mag¬ dalen Power, a convict first, and then a teacher in one of the Aus¬ tralian Settlements ; the narrative is supposed to be written by Hyacinth, a pupil of Magdalen Power, and the victim of her jealousy. The metre of the poem is the same as that of Long- fellozds 11 Evangeline.'" “It is as far more interesting than BELLES LETTRES. 38 ninety-nine novels out of a hundred, as it is superior to them in power, worth, and beauty. We should most strongly advise every¬ body to read ‘ Convict Once. ’ ”— Westminster Review. Storehouse of Stories. —See Yonge, c. M. Streets and Lanes of a City : Being the Reminiscences of Amy Dutton. With a Preface by the Bishop of Salis¬ bury. Second and Cheaper Edition. Globe 8vo. 2 s. 6d. This little volume records, to use the words of the Bishop of Salis¬ bury, “ a portion of the experience, selected met of overflowing materials, of two ladies, during several years of devoted work as district parochial visitors in a large population in the north of England ,.” Every incident narrated is absolutely true, and only the names of the persons introduced have been (necessarily) changed. The “Reminiscences of Amy Dutton ” serve to illustrate the line of argument adopted by Miss Stephen in her work on “the Service of the Poor ,” because they show that as in one aspect the lady visitor may be said to be a link between rich and poor, in another she helps to blend the “religious ” life with the “secular ,” and in both does service of extreme value to the Church and Nation. “One of the most really striking books that has ever come before us.” —Literary Churchman. Sunday Book of Poetry. —See Golden Treasury Series. Symonds (J. A., M.D.)— MISCELLANIES. By John Addington Symonds, M.D. Selected and Edited, with an Introductory Memoir, by his Son. 8vo. 7 s. 6d. / She late Dr. Symonds, of Bristol, was a man of singularly versatile and elegant as well as powerful and scientific intellect. In order to make this selection from his many works generally interesting , the editor has confined himself to works of pure literature, and to such scientific studies as had a general philosophical or social interest. Among the general subjects are articles on the Principles of Beauty, on Knowledge, and a Life of Dr. Pritchard; among the Scientific Studies are papers on Sleep and Dreams, Apparitions, the Relations between Mind and Muscle, Habit, etc. ; there are several papers on BELLES LETT RES. 39 the Social and Political Aspects of Medicine ; and a few Poems and Translations , selected from a great number of equal merit , have been inserted at the end , as specimens of the lighter literary recreations which occupied the intervals of leisure in a long and laborious life. “ Mr. Symonds has certainly done right in gathering together what his father left behind him .”— Saturday Review. Theophrastus, Characters of. —SeejEBB. Thring. —SCHOOL SONGS. A Collection of Songs for Schools. With the Music arranged for four Voices. Edited by the Rev. E. Thring and H. Riccius. Folio. 7 s. 6d. There is a tendency in schools to stereotype the forms of life. Any genial solvent is valuable. Games do much ; but games do not penetrate to domestic life , and are much limited by age. Music supplies the want. The collection includes the “Agnus Deif Tennyson’s “ Light Brigade,” Macaulay’s “ Ivry,” etc. among other pieces. Tom Brown’s School Days. —By An Old Boy. Golden Treasury Edition, 4A 6 d. People’s Edition, 2 s. With Sixty Illustrations, by A. Hughes and Sydney Hall, Square, cloth extra, gilt edges, ica 6 d. With Seven Illustrations by the same Artists, Crown 8vo. 6 s. “ We have read and re-read this book with unmingled pleasure. . . . We have carefully guarded ourselves against any tampering with our critical sagacity, and yet have been compelled again and again to exclaim, Benel Optime !” — London Quarterly Review. “An exact picture of the bright side of a Rugby boy’s experience, told with a life, a spirit, and a fond minuteness of detail and recol¬ lection which is infinitely honourable to the author.” — Edinburgh Review. “ The most famous boy’s book in the language .”— Daily News. Tom Brown at Oxford. —New Edition. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6 a “ In no other work that we can call to mind are the finer qualities of the English gentleman more happily portrayed.”— Daily News. “ A book of great poiver and truth .”— National Review. 40 BELLES LET TREE. Trench. —Works by R. Chenevix Trench, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. (For other Works by this Author, see Theological, Historical, and Philosophical Catalogues.) POEMS. Collected and arranged anew. Fcap. 8vo. Js. 6d. ELEGIAC POEMS. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 2 s. 6d. CALDERON’S LIFE’S A DREAM : The Great Theatre of the World. With an Essay on his Life and Genius. Fcap. 8vo. 4s. 6 d. HOUSEHOLD BOOK OF ENGLISH POETRY. Selected and arranged, with Notes, by Archbishop Trench. Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 5^. 6d. This volume is called a “ Household Book,” by this name implying that it is a book for all—that there is nothing in it to prevent it from being confidently placed in the hands of every member of the household. Specimens of all classes of poetry are given, including selections from living authors. The editor has aimed to produce a book ‘ ‘ which the emigrant, finding room for little not absolutely necessary, might yet find room for in his trunk, and the traveller in his knapsack, and that on some narrow shelves where there are few books this might be one.” “ The Archbishop has conferred in this delightfid volume an important gift on the whole English- speaking population of the world.” — Pall Mall Gazette. SACRED LATIN POETRY, Chiefly Lyrical. Selected and t arranged for Use. By Archbishop Trench. Second Edition, Corrected and Improved. Fcap. Svo. 7 s. “ 7 he aim of the present volume is to offer to members of our English Church a collection of the best sacred Latin poetry, such as they shall be able entirely and heartily to accept and approve—a collection , that is, in which they shall not be evermore liable to be offended, and to have the current of their sympathies checked, by coming upon that which, however beautiful as poetry, out of higher respects they must reject andcondetnn—in which, too, they shall not fear that snares are being laid for them, to entangle theta unawares in admiration for aught which is inconsistent with their faith and fealty to their own spiritual mother.” —PREFACE. JUSTIN MARTYR, AND OTHER POEMS. Fifth Edition. Fcap. Svo. 6s. BELLES LETTRES. 4i Trollope (Anthony). — SIR HARRY HOTSPUR OF HUMBLETHWAITE. By Anthony Trollope, Author of “ Framley Parsonage,” etc. Cheap Edition. Globe 8vo. 2 s. 6d. The Times says: “In this novel we are glad to recognize a return to what we must call Mr. Trollope's old form. The characters are drawn with vigour and boldness, and the book may do good to many readers of both sexes." The Athen/eum remarks : “No reader who begins to read this book is likely to lay it down until the last page is turned. This brilliant novel appears to us decidedly more successful than any other of Mr. Trollope's shorter stories." Turner. —Works by the Rev. Charles Tennyson Turner :— SONNETS. Dedicated to his Brother, the Poet Laureate. Fcap. 8vo. 4s. 6 d. “ The Sonnets are dedicated to Mr. Tennyson by his brother, and have, independently of their merits, an interest of association. They both love to write in simple expressive Saxon ; both love to touch their imagery in epithets rather than in formal similes; both have a delicate perception of rhythmical movement, and thus Mr. Turner has occasional lines which, for phrase and music, might be ascribed to his brother. . . He knows the haunts of the wild rose, the shady nooks where light quivers through the leaves, the ruralities, in shorty of the land of imagination ."— ATHENAEUM. SMALL TABLEAUX. Fcap. 8vo. 4 s. 6d. “ These brief poems have not only a peculiar kind of interest for the student of English poetry, but are intrinsically delightful, and will reward a careful and frequent perusal. Tull of naivete, piety, love, and knowledge of natural objects, and each expressing a single and generally a simple subject by means of minute and original pictorial touches, these Sonnets have a place of their own ."— Pall Mall Gazette. / Virgil’s Works. —See Globe Library. Vittoria Colonna. — LIFE AND POEMS. By Mrs. Henry Roscoe. Crown 8vo. gs. The life of Vittoria Colonna, the celebrated Marchesa di Pescara 7 has received but cursory notice from any English writer, though 42 BELLES LETT RES. in every history of Italy her name is mentioned with great honour among the poets of the sixteenth century. “ In three hundred and fifty years,” says her biographer, Visconti, “ there has been no other Italian lady who can be compared to her.'" “It is written with good taste, with quick and intelligent sympathy, occasionally with a real freshness and charm of style !— Pall Mall Gazette. i Volunteer’s Scrap Book. By the Author of “The Cam¬ bridge Scrap Book.” Crown 4to. 7 s. 6 d. “ A genial arid clever caricaturist in whom we may often perceive through small details that he has as proper a sense of the graceful as of the ludicrous. The author might be and probably is a Volunteer himself, so kindly is the mirth he makes of all the inci¬ dents and phrases of the drill-ground .”— Examiner. Wandering Willie. By the Author of “ Effie’s Friends,” and “ John Hatherton.” Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. ‘ ‘ This is an idyll of rare truth and beauty. . . . The story is simple and touching, the style of extraordinary delicacy, precision, and picturesqueness. ... A charming gift-book for young ladies not yet promoted to novels, and will amply repay those of their elders who may give an hour to its perusal. ” —Daily News. Webster. — Works by Augusta Webster :— ‘ £ If Mrs. Webster only remains true to herself, she will assuredly take a higher rank as a poet than any woman has yet done !— Westminster Review. DRAMATIC STUDIES. Extra fcap. Svo. £s. “ A volume as strongly marked by perfect taste as by poetic power ."— Nonconformist. A WOMAN SOLD, AND OTHER POEMS. Crown 8vo % 7s. 6d. “Mrs. Webster has shown us that she is able to draw admirably from the life; that she can observe with subtlety, and render her observations with delicacy; that she can impersonate complex con¬ ceptions and venture into which fezu living writers can follow her." —Guardian. BELLES LETTRES. 43 W eb Ste r — continued . PORTRAITS. Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3 a 6 d. ‘ £ Mrs. Webster's poems exhibit simplicity and tenderness . . . her taste is perfect . . . This simplicity is combined with a subtlety of thought, feeling, and observation which demand that attention which only real lovers of poetry are apt to bestow.” — Westminster Review. PROMETHEUS BOUND OF AESCHYLUS. Literally translated into English Verse. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3A 6 d. “ Closeness and simplicity combined with literary skill.” — Athe¬ naeum. “Mrs. Webster’s ‘Dramatic Studies’ and ‘ Translation of Prometheus ’ have won for her an honourable place among our female poets. She writes with remarkable vigour and dramatic realization, and bids fair to be the most successfid claimant of Mrs. Browning's mantle .'’— British Quarterly Review. MEDEA OF EURIPIDES. Literally translated into English Verse. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3 a 6 d. “Mrs. Webster's translation surpasses our utmost expectations. It is a photograph of the original .without any of that harshness which so often accompanies a photographs — Westminster Review. THE AUSPICIOUS DAY. A Dramatic Poem. Extra fcap. 8vo. 5 s. Westminster Plays. Lusus Alteri Westmonasterienses, Sive Prologi et Epilogi ad Fabulas in S ti Petri Collegio : actas qui Ex- stabant collecti et justa quoad licuit annorum serie ordinati, quibus accedit Declamationum quae vocantur et Epigrammatum Delectus. Curantibus J. Mure, A.M., H. Bull, A.M., C. B. Scott, B.D. 8vo. 12 s. 6d. Idem. —Pars Secunda, 1820—1864. Quibus accedit Epigrammatum Delectus. 8vo. 1 5 a When I was a Little Girl, STORIES FOR children. By the Author of “St. Olave’s.” Third Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4A 6 d. With Eight Illustrations by L. Frolich. “At the head, and a long way ahead, op all books for girls, we 44 BELLES LETTRES. place ‘ When I was a Little Girl. ’ ” —Times. “ It is one of the choicest morsels of child-biography which we have met with .”— Nonconformist. Wollaston.— LYRA DEVONIENSIS. By T. V. Wollaston, M. A. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6 d. “ It is the work of a man of refined taste, of deep religious sentiment\ a true artist, and a good Christian! — Church Times. Woolner. —MY BEAUTIFUL LADY. By Thomas Woolner. With a Vignette by Arthur Hughes. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo. $s. 11 It is clearly the product of no idle hour, but a highly-conceived and faithfully-executed task, self-hnposed, and prompted by that inward yearning to utter great thoughts, and a wealth of passionate feeling, which is poetic genius. No man can read this poem without being struck by the fitness and finish of the workmanship, so to speak, as well as by the chastened and unpretending loftiness of thought which pervades the whole! — Globe. Words from the Poets. Selected by the Editor of “ Rays of Sunlight.” With a Vignette and Frontispiece. i8mo. limp., ij. “ The selection aims at popularity, and deserves it! —Guardian. Wyatt (Sir M. Digby).— FINE ART : a Sketch of its History, Theory, Practice, and application to Industry. A Course of Lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge. By Sir M. Digby Wyatt, M. A. Slade Professor of Fine Art. 8vo. ioj\ 6 d. “An excellent handbook for the student of art! — Graphic. “ The book abounds in valuable matter, and will therefore be read with pleasure and profit by lovers of art !— Daily News. Yonge (C. M.) —Works by Charlotte M. Yonge. (See also Catalogue of Works in History, and Educational Catalogue. ) THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE. Eighteenth Edition. With Illus¬ trations. Crown 8vo. 6 s. BELLES LETT RES. 45 Yonge (C. M.) -— continued. HEARTSEASE. Eleventh Edition. With Illustrations. Crown 8 vo. 6 s. THE DAISY CHAIN. Tenth Edition. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6s. THE TRIAL: MORE LINKS OF THE DAISY CHAIN. Fifth Edition. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6 s. DYNEVOR TERRACE. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. HOPES AND FEARS. Third Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. THE YOUNG STEPMOTHER. Third Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. CLEVER WOMAN OF THE FAMILY. Second Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. THE DOVE IN TFIE EAGLE’S NEST. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6 s. ‘ ‘ We think the authoress of £ The Heir of Redclyjfe' has surpassed her previous efforts in this illuminated chronicle of the olden time. ’ ’ —British Quarterly. THE CAGED LION. Illustrated. Crown Svo. 6s. “ Prettily and tenderly written, and will with young people especially be a great favourite .”— Daily News. “ Everybody should read thisf — Literary Churchman. THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS; OR, TFIE WHITE AND BLACK RIBAUMONT. Crown Svo. 6s. “ Miss Yonge has brought a lofty aim as well as high art to the con¬ struction of a story which may claim a place among the best efforts in historical romance. ”— Morning Post. ‘ ‘ The plot, in truth, is of the very first order of meritf — Spectator. “ We have seldom read a more charming story f — Guardian. THE PRINCE AND THE PAGE. A Tale of the Last Crusade. Illustrated. i8mo. 3L 6d. 46 BELLES LETT RES. Yonge (C. M.) — continued. “ A tale which , 7M? sure, will give pleasure to many others besides the young people for whom it is specially intended. . . . This extremely prettily-told story does not require the guarantee afforded by the name of the author of 1 The Heir of Redclyjfe ’ on the title- page to ensure its becoming a universal favourite .”— Dublin Evening Mail. THE LANCES OF LYNWOOD. New Edition, with Coloured Illustrations. i8mo. 4 s. 6d. “ The illustrations are very spirited and rich in colour , and the story can hardly fail to charm the youthful reader — Manchester Examiner. THE LITTLE DUKE : RICHARD THE FEARLESS. New Edition. Illustrated. i8mo. 3 j. 6 d. A STOREHOUSE OF STORIES. First and Second Series. Globe 8vo. 3-r. 6 d. each. Contents of First Series : —History of Philip Quarll— Goody Twoshoes—The Governess—Jemima Placid—'The Perambu¬ lations of a Mouse—The Village School—The Little Queen— History of Little Jack. ‘ ‘ Miss Yonge has done great service to the infantry of this generation by putting these eleven stories of sage simplicity within their reach.” —British Quarterly Review. Contents of Second Series :—Family Stories—Elements of Morality—A Puzzle for a Curious Girl—Blossoms of Morality. A BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS OF ALL TIMES AND ALL COUNTRIES. Gathered and Narrated Anew. New Edition, with Twenty Illustrations by Frolich. Crown 8vo. cloth gilt. 6 s. (See also Golden Treasury Series). Cheap Edition. is. “ We have seen no prettier gift-book for a. longtime , and none which , both for its cheapness and the spirit in which it has been compiled, is more deserving of praise .”— Atiien/eum. A BOOK OF WORTHIES.—See Golden Treasury Series. BELLES LETTRES. 47 Yonge (C.M.) — continued, LITTLE LUCY’S WONDERFUL GLOBE. Pictured by Frolich, and narrated by Charlotte M. Yonge. Second Edition. Crown 4to. cloth gilt. 6 s. Miss Yonge 1 s 'wonderful “ knack” of instructive story-telling to children is well known. In this volume, in a manner which cannot but prove interesting to all boys and girls, she manages to convey a wonderful amount of information concerning most of the countries of the world ; in this she is considerably aided by the twenty-four telling pictures of Mr. Frolich. Lucy’s Wonderful Globe ’ is capital, and will give its youthful readers more idea of foreign countries and customs than any number of books of geography or travel .”— Graphic. CAMEOS FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. From Rollo to Edward II. Extra fcap. 8 vo. 5 a Second Edition, enlarged. 5 *- A Second Series. THE WARS IN FRANCE. Extra fcap. 8 vo. 5 a The endeavour has not been to chronicle facts, but to put together a series of pictures of persons and events, so as to arrest the attention, and give some individuality and distinctness to the recollection, by gathering together details at the most memorable moments. The o o o “ Cameos ” are intended as a book for young people just beyond the elementary histories of England, and able to enter in some degree into the real spirit of events, and to be struck with characters and scenes presented in some relief. “Instead of dry details ,” says the Nonconformist, “we have living pictures, faithful, vivid, and striking. ” Young.—MEMOIR OF CHARLES MAYNE YOUNG, Tragedian. With Extracts from his Son’s Journal. By Julian Charles Young, M.A., Rector of Ilmington. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. *]s. 6d. With Portraits and Sketches. “ There is hardly a page of it which was not worth printing. There is hardly a line zvhich has not some kind of interest attaching 4 S BELLES LETTRES. to it .”— Guardian. “In this budget of anecdotes, fables, and gossip , old and new, relative to Scott, Moore, Chalmers, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Croker, Mathews, the Third and Fourth Georges, Bowles, Beckford, Lockhart, Wellington, Peel, Louis Napoleon, D' Or say, Dickens, Thackeray, Louis Blanc, Gibson, Constable, and Stanfield (the list might be much extended), the reader must be hard indeed to please who cannot find entertainment .”— Pall Mall Gazette. MACMILLAN’S / GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. Uniformly printed in i8mo., with Vignette Titles by Sir Noel Paton, T. Woolner, W. Holman Hunt, J. E. Millais, Arthur Hughes, &c. Engraved on Steel by Jeens. Bound in extra cloth, 4s. 6d. each volume. Also kept in morocco and calf bindings. “ Messrs. Macmillan have, in their Golden Treasury Series, especially provided editions of standard works, volumes of selected poetry, and original compositions, which entitle this sefies to be called classical. Nothing can be better than the literary execution, nothing more elegant than the material workmanship .”— British Quarterly Review. The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and LYRICAL POEMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Selected and arranged, with Notes, by Francis Turner Palgrave. “ This delightful little volume, the Golden Treasury, which contains many of the best original lyrical pieces and songs in our language, grouped with care and skill, so as to illustrate each other like the pictures in a well-arranged gallery T — Quarterly Review. The Children’s Garland from the best Poets. Selected and arranged by Coventry Patmore. “ It includes specimens of all the great masters in the art of poetry, selected with the matured judgment of a man concentrated on obtaining insight into the feelings and tastes of childhood, and D 5o GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. desirous to awaken its finest impulses , to cultivate its keenest sensi¬ bilities S —Morning Post. The Book of Praise. From the Best English Hymn Writers. Selected and arranged by Sir Roundell Palmer. A New and Enlarged Edition. “All previous compilations of this kind must undeniably for the present give place to the Book of Praise. . . . The selection has been made throughout with sound judgment and critical taste. The pains involved in this compilation must have been immense, em¬ bracing, as it does, every writer of note in this special province of English literature , and ranging over the most widely diverge7it Backs of religious thought.” —Saturday Review. The Fairy Book ; the Best Popular Fairy Stories. Selected and rendered anew by the Author of “ John Halifax, Gentleman.” “A delightful selection, in a delightful external form; full of the physical splendour and vast opulence of proper fairy tales .”— Spectator. The Ballad Book. A Selection of the Choicest British Ballads. Edited by William Allingham. ‘‘ His taste as a judge of old poetry will be found , by all acquainted with the various readings of old English ballads, true enoitgh to justify his undertaking so critical a task.” — Saturday Review. The jest Book. The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings. Selected and arranged by Mark Lemon. “ The fullest and best jest book that has yet appeared.” — Saturday Review. Bacon’s Essays and Colours of Good and Evil. With Notes and Glossarial Index. By W. Aldis Wright, M.A. “ The beautiful little edition of Bacon's Essays, now before us, docs credit to the taste and scholarship of Mr. Aldis Wright. ... It puts the reader in possession of all the essential literary facts and chronology necessary for reading the Essays in connection with Bacon's life and times. ” — Spectator. ‘ ‘ By far the most complete as well as the most elegant edition we possess —Westminster Review. GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. 5i The Pilgrim’s Progress from this World to that which is to come. By John Bunyan. “ A beautiful and scholarly reprint A — Spectator. The Sunday Book of Poetry for the Young. Selected and arranged by C. F. Alexander. “ A well-selected volume of Sacred Poetry A — Spectator. A Book of Golden Deeds of AH Times and All Countries. Gathered and narrated anew. By the Author of “ The Heir of Redclyffe.” “. . . To the young, for whom it is especially intended ,, as a most interesting collection of thrilling tales well told; and to their elders , as a useful handbook of reference , and a pleasant one to take up when their wish is to while away a weary half-hour. We have seen no prettier gift-book for a long time ."— Athen/eum. \ The Poetical Works of Robert Burns. Edited, with Biographical Memoir, Notes, and Glossary, by Alexander Smith. Two Vols. “ Beyond all question this is the most beautiful edition of Burns yet out A — Edinburgh Daily Review. The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Edited from the Original Edition by J. W. Clark, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. “ Mutilated and modified editions of this English classic are so much the rule , that a cheap and pretty copy of it , rigidly exact to the ' original , will be a prize to many book-buyers ."— EXAMINER. The Republic of Plato. Translated into English, with Notes by J. LI. Davies, M.A. and D. J. Vaughan, M.A. “A dainty and cheap little edition A — Examiner. The Song Book. Words and Tunes from the best Poets and Musicians. Selected and arranged by John Hullah, Professor of Vocal Music in King’s College, London. D 2 52 GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. “ A choice collection of the sterling songs of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with the music of each prefixed to the words. How much true wholesome pleasure such a book can diffuse, and will diffuse , we trust, through many thousand families — Examiner. La Lyre Francaise\ Selected and arranged, with Notes, by Gustave Masson, French Master in Harrow School. A selection of the best French songs and lyrical pieces. Tom Brown’s School Days. By An Old Boy. “ A perfect gem of a book. The best and most healthy book about boys for boys that ever was written. ”— Illustrated Times, A Book of Worthies. Gathered from the Old Histories and written anew by the Author of “The Heir of Redclyffe. ” With Vignette. 11 An admirable addition to an admirable series A —Westminster Review. I A Book of Golden Thoughts. By Henry Attwell, Knight of the Order of the Oak Crown. “ Mr. Attwell has produced a book of rare value .... Happily it is small enough to be carried about in the pocket, and of such a com¬ panion it would be difficult to weary. ” — Pall Mall Gazette. Guesses at Truth. By Two Brothers. New Edition. MACMILLAN’S GLOBE LIBRARY. Beautifully printed on toned paper and bound in cloth extra, gilt edges, price 4s. 6d. each ; in cloth plain, 3s. 6 d. Also kept in a variety of calf and morocco bindings at moderate prices. Books, Wordsworth says, are “the spirit breathed By dead men to their kind ; ” and the aim of the publishers of the Globe Library has been to make it possible for the universal kin of English- speaking men to hold communion with the loftiest “ spirits of the mighty dead \ ’’ to put within the reach of all classes complete and accui'cite editions, carefully and clearly printed upon the best paper, in a convenient form, at a moderate price, of the works of the master-minds of English Literature, and occasionally of foreign literature in an attractive English dress. The Editors, by their scholarship and special study of their authors, are competent to afford every assistance to readers of all kinds : this assistance is rendered by original biographies, glossaries of unusual or obsolete words, and critical and explanatory notes. 54 GLOBE LIBRARY. The publishers hope, therefore, that these Globe Editions may prove worthy of acceptance by all classes wherever the English Language is spoken, and by their universal circula¬ tion justify their distinctive epithet; while at the same time they spread and nourish a common sympathy with nature’s most “finely touched” spirits, and thus help a little to “ make the whole world kin.” The Saturday Review says: “ The Globe Editions are admirable for their scholarly editing, their typographical excellence, their com¬ pendious form , and their cheapness.” The British Quarterly Review says: “In compendiousness, elegance, and scholarliness, the Globe Editions of Messrs. Macmillan surpass any popular series of our classics hitherto given to the public. As near an approach to miniature perfection as has evei' been made.” Shakespeare’s Complete Works. Edited by w. G. Clark, M. A., and W. Aldis Wright, M. A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, Editors of the “Cambridge Shakespeare. With Glossary, pp. 1,075. Price 3A 6 d. This edition aims at presenting a perfectly reliable text of the complete works of “ the foremost man in all literature.” The text is essen¬ tially the same as that of the “Cambridge Shakespeare.” Appended is a Glossary containing the meaning of every word in the text which is either obsolete cr is used in an antiquated or unusual sense. This, combined with the method used to indicate corrupted readings, serves to a great extent the purpose op notes. The Athenaeum says this edition is “a marvel of beauty, cheapness, and compactness. . . . For the busy man, above all for the working student, this is the best of all existing Shakespeares.” And the Pall Mall Gazette observes: “ To have produced the '‘(complete works op the world's greatest poet in such a form, and at a price within the reach of every one, is of itself almost sufficient to give the publishers a claim to be considered publicbenefactors.” Spenser’s Complete Works. Edited from the Original Editions and Manuscripts, by R. Morris, with a Memoir by J. W. Hales, M. A. With Glossary, pp. lv., 736. Price 3a 6 d. GLOBE LIBRAR Y. 55 The text of the poems has been reprinted from the earliest known editions, carefully collated with subsequent ones, most of which zvere published in the poet's lifetime. Spenser-' s only prose work, Viis sagacious and intei-esting “ Viezv of the State of Ireland," has' been re-edited from three manuscripts belonging to the British Museum. A complete Glossary and a list of all the most important various readings serve to a large extent the purpose of notes explanatory and critical. An exhaustive general Index and a useful “ Index of first lines" precede the poems ; and in an Appendix are given Spenser's Lettei's to Gabriel Harvey. 11 Worthy—and higher praise it needs not—of the beautiful ‘ Globe Senes.' The work is edited zvith all the care so noble a poet deserves." — Daily News. Sir Walter Scott’s Poetical Works. Edited with a Biographical and Critical Memoir by Francis Turner Palgrave, and copious Notes, pp. xliii., 559. Price 3s . 6d . “ Scott," says Heme, “ in his every book, gladdens, tranquillizes, and strengthens my heart." This edition contains the whole of Scott's poetical works, with the exception of one or tzvo short poems. While most of Scott's own notes have been retained, others have been added explaining many historical and topographical allusions ; and ori¬ ginal introductions from the pen of a gentleman familiar zvith Scotch literature and scenery, containing much intei'esting infor¬ mation, antiquarian, historical, and biographical, are prefixed to the principal poems. “ We can almost sympathise zvith a middle- aged grumbler, who, after reading Mr. Palgrave's memoir arid in¬ troduction, should exclaim —‘ Why was there not such an edition of Scott when I was a schoolboy ?' " — Guardian. Complete Works of Robert Burns .—the poems, SONGS, AND LETTERS, edited from the best Printed and Manuscript Authorities, with Glossarial Index, Notes, and a Biographical Memoir by Alexander Smith, pp. lxii., 63 6 . Price 3s . 6d . Burns's poems and songs need not circulate exclusively among Scotch¬ men, but should be read by all who zvish to know the multi¬ tudinous capabilities of the Scotch language, and who have the capacity of appreciating the exquisite expression of all kinds of human feeling—rich fazvky humour, keen zvit, zvithcring satire, 56 GLOBE LIBRARY. genuine pathos, pure passionate love. The exhaustive glossanal index and the copious notes will make all the purely Scotch poems intelligible even to an Englishman. Burns’s letters must be read by all who desire fully to appreciate the poet’s character, to see it on all its many sides. Explanatory notes are prefixed to most of these letters, and Burns' s Journals kept during his Border and Highland Tours, are appended. Following the prefixed biography by the editor, is a Chronological Tabic of Burns's Life and Works. “Admirable in all respects ."— Spectator. “ The cheapest, the most perfect, and the most interesting edition which has ever been published." —Bell’s Messenger. Robinson Crusoe. Edited after the Original Editions, with a Biographical Introduction by Henry Kingsley, pp. xxxi., 607. Price 3 l 6 d. Of this matchless truth-like story, it is scarcely possible to find an unabridged edition. This edition may be relied upon as containing the whole of “Robinson Crusoe" as it came from the pen of its author, without mutilation, and with all peculiarities religiously preserved. 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It contains many interesting anec¬ dotes which will give the reader an insight into Goldsmith's character, and many graphic pictures of the literary life of London during the middle of last century. “Such an admirable compen¬ dium of the facts of Goldsmith's life, and so careful and minute a delineation of the mixed traits of his peculiar character as to be a very model of a literary biography in little ."— Scotsman. GLOBE LIBRARY. 5*7 Pope’s Poetical Works. Edited, with Notes and Intro¬ ductory Memoir, by Adolphus William Ward, M.A., Fellow of St. Peter’s College, Cambridge, and Professor of History in Owens College, Manchester, pp. lii., 508. Globe 8vo. 3^. 6 d. This edition contains all Pope's poems, translations, and adaptations, —his now superseded Homeric translations alone being omitted. The text, carefully revised, is taken from the best editio7is; Pope's own-use of capital letters and apostrophised syllables, frequently necessary to an understanding of his meaning, has been preserved ; while his uncertain spelling and his frequently perplexing inter- punctuation have been judiciously amended. Abundant notes are added, including Pope's ozvn, the best of those of previous editors, and many which are the result of the study and research of the present editor. The introductory Memoir will be found to shed considerable light on the political, social, and literary life of the period in which Pope filled so large a space. The Literary Churchman remarks : “ The editor's own notes and intro¬ ductory memoir are excellent, the memoir alone would be cheap and well worth buying at the price of the whole volume." Dryden’s Poetical Works. Edited, with a Memoir, Revised Text, and Notes, by W. D. Christie^ M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, pp. lxxxvii., 662. Globe 8vo. 3^. 6 d. A study of Dryden's works is absolutely necessary to anyone who wishes to understand thoroughly , not only the literature, but also the political and religious history of the eventful period when he lived and reigned as literary dictator. In this edition of his works, which comprises several specimens of his vigorous prose, the text has been thoroughly corrected and purified from many misprints and small changes often materially affecting the sense, which had been allowed to slip in by previous editors. The old spelling has been retained where it is not altogether strange or repulsive. Besides an exhaustive Glossary, there are copious Notes, critical, historical, bio¬ graphical, and explanatory ; and the biography contains the results of considerable original research, which has served to shed light on several hitherto obscure circumstances connected with the life and. parentage of the poet. “An admirable edition, the result of great research and of a careful revision of the text. The memoir prefixed contains, within less than ninety pages, as much sound criticism and as comprehensive a biography as the student of Dryden need desire ."— Pall Mall Gazette. 58 GLOBE LIBRARY. Cowper’s Poetical Works. Edited, with Notes and Biographical Introduction, by William Benham, Vicar of Addington and Professor of Modern History in Queen’s College, London, pp. lxxiii., 536. Globe 8vo. 3L 6 d. This volume conlains, arranged under seven heads, the zvhole of Comber's own poems, including several never before published , and all his translations except that of Homer’s “Iliad.” The text is taken from the original editions , and Cozuper's own notes are given at the foot of the page, while many explanatory notes by the editor himself are appended to the volume. In the very fill Memoir it will be found that much new light has been thrown on some of the most difficidt passages of Cozvper's spiritually chequered life. “Mr. Benham's edition of Cbwper is one of permanent value. The biographical introduction is excellent , full of information , singularly neat and readable and modest—indeed too modest in its comments. The notes are concise and accurate, and the editor has been able to discover and introduce some hitherto unprinted matter. Altogether the book is a very excellent one.” — Saturday Review. Morte d’Arthur. —SIR THOMAS MALORY’S BOOK OF KING ARTHUR AND OF HIS NOBLE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. The original Edition of Caxton, revised for Modern Use. With an Introduction by Sir Edward Strachey, Bart. pp. xxxvii., 509. Globe 8vo. 3s . 6d . This volume contains the cream of the legends of chivalry which have gathered round the shadowy King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Tennyson has drawn largely on them in his cycle of Arthurian Idylls. The language is simple and quaint as that of the Bible, and the many stories of knightly adventure of which the book is made up, are fascinating as those of the “Arabian Nights.” The great moral of the book is to “ do after the good, and leave the evil.” There was a want of an edition of the work at a moderate price, suitable for ordinary readers, and especially for boys: such an edition the present professes to be. The Introduction contains an account of the Origin and Matter of the book, the Text and its several Editions, and an Essay on Chivalry, tracing its history from its origin to its decay. Notes are appended, and a GLOBE LIBRARY. 59 Glossary of such words as require explanation. “It is with perfect confidence that we recommend this edition of the old romance to every class of readers .”— Pall Mall Gazette. ThejWorks of Virgil. Rendered into English Prose, with Introductions, Notes, Running Analysis, and an Index. By James Lonsdale, M.A., late Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, Oxford, and Classical Pr-ofessor in King’s College, London ; and Samuel Lee, M.A., Latin Lecturer at University College, London, pp. 288. Price 3 s. 6 d. The publishers believe that an accurate and readable translation of all the works of Virgil is perfectly in accordance with the object of the “ Globe Library.” A new prose-translation has therefore been made by two competent scholars, who have rendered the original faithfully into simple Bible-English, without paraphrase; and at the same time endeavoured to maintain as far as possible the rhythm and majestic flow of the original. On this latter point the Daily Telegraph says, “ The endeavour to preserve in some degree a rhythm in the prose rendering is almost invariably successful and pleasing in its effect;” and the Educational Times, that it “ 7 iiay be readily recommended as a niodel for young students for rendering the poet into English.” The General Introduction will be found full of interesting information as to the life of Virgil, the history of opinion concerniiig his writings, the notions entertained of him during the Middle Ages, editions of his works, his influence on modern poets and on education. To each of his works is prefixed a critical and expla 7 iato 7 y introduction, and important aid is afforded to the thorough coinprehension of each production by the running A nalysis. Appended is an Index of all the proper names and the most 'important subjects occurring throughout the poems and introductions. “ A more complete edition of Virgil in English it is scarcely possible to conceive than the scholarly work before us.” —Globe. R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL. - - ~ . ; , ' ■v % ' v‘ \