Of his now great wealth he would fain have conferred much on Gregory, whom Mrs. Lindsay failed not to remind of his former generosity; but Gregory was obstinate and independent. He had enough, and he was content. However, he objected not to his brother's avowed intention of giving handsome portions to his girls-was pleased at his desire, artfully instilled by the matchmaking mamma, to see one of them the choice of Julian, and suffered them to divide their time between Mossgrove Rectory and Lindsay Hall, the magnificent abode of his brother. Sometimes they accompanied their uncle to the sea-side, sometimes to town. He loved them both most fondly, his heart now deciding for the one, and now for the other. And he was looking forward with anxious curiosity to the impression they would make on Julian, their early playfellow, but who had been absent from them during those important years in which the girl glides into the woman.

Mr. Lindsay was a great observer of men

and speculator on character; but just when he was most anxious to decide to which of his nieces his own heart gave the preference, he discovered that, as we cannot judge of an object held close to the eye, so he had lived too much and too affectionately with these girls to have been able to take an extensive view of their natures. A kind and affluent relative, always ready to promote pleasure and afford shelter from sorrow, was, of course, very dear to young hearts as yet untainted by the world. Both, for his sake, bore patiently with all his pets and protégés —both submitted to the constant wheezing of the fat old spaniels, who were cherished because they were descendants of a favourite of his wife's -both patiently endured the screeching of a deafening old cockatoo who had belonged to her, and whom no petting could entirely tame -both had forgiven repeated falls caused by old Capricorn, the Cashmere buck, when at Lindsay Hall both bore with Miss Tibby, and remained silent, if not attentive, while

Mr. Grunter (at Mr. Lindsay's as well as his

own desire) read aloud, in a monotonous and thundering tone, a considerable portion of Rollin's History every evening when the family were alone-both were, in short, sweetly officious to please him- both, if he was ill, were as anxiously attentive as daughters to him-both really loved him; but which might most be relied on when any real touchstone was applied to her character- such as love, or sorrow, or adversity, he now grieved to find himself completely ignorant.

Sometimes he fancied there was more of fire than of constancy in the beautiful and impassioned Augusta, and often he wished that a little more enthusiasm lighted the mild blue eyes of his gentle Ellen; but, as yet, they were both untried, for it is easy to the happy to be amiable, and not difficult to love those who have never caused them any sensations but those of pride and pleasure.

As for Julian, as a boy, he liked Augusta best. When at a juvenile ball, his Harrow chums decided that she was the belle of the room. He was very proud to walk or ride

VOL. I.

C

with a tall, handsome, and nearly grown up girl; but, during a long illness, he liked best to see Ellen's soft face by his bedside. Ellen could read longest without being tired, and insisted on staying at home with him while Augusta went abroad.

At the age of twenty-three, he was returning perhaps to make his final selection. Both girls had received many hints and counsels from their mother, whose low birth caused her to look up to wealth and station as the grand objects of life,--who valued beauty (as all ci-devant beauties do) as the most precious of means for the noblest of results, and whose mother-heart made her very anxious that her daughters, by prudent matches, should be for ever secured from trials such as she had known in early wedded life.

Mrs. Lindsay was what the world calls "a good sort of woman"-a really obstinate but outwardly submissive wife, one who never disputed her husband's will by word, or conformed to it by deed. Attentive to appearances-regular at church-a fond, proud mo

ther, cunning in hiding the early defects of her education by smatterings acquired in afterlife, but betraying her origin chiefly by her deference to rank and wealth-her intense contempt for poverty and low-birth, and a toadying manner to her rich brother-in-law and all his dependents from Grunter and Miss Tibby down to the screeching cockatoo, the rudebutting Cashmere he-goat, and the three noisy, asthmatic old spaniels.

It was one of her maxims (for of worldly maxims she had many) that a servant, or even a pet animal, constantly with a rich relation, has more actual influence than a brother far away. Many a rich legacy has been lost, she said to herself, by the ill-will of a poor servant, or a petted dog; and so she listened to Miss Tibby, praised and agreed with Grunter, fondled Annie, petted the old spaniels, the cockatoo, and Capricorn, and was thought by Mr. Lindsay the kindest creature on earth.