than anybody in the church!"

"Plainer than any of the fine ones--than you, for instance. The earl is
much altered, but I should have known them both anywhere. I should have
known her from the likeness to her poor mother--just the same eyes and
sweet expression."

Aye, those brown eyes, so full of sweetness and melancholy; few who had
once seen could mistake or forget them; and Barbara Hare, forgetting
where she was, looked at them much that day.

"She is very lovely," thought Barbara, "and her dress is certainly that
of a lady. I wish I had not had this streaming pink feather. What fine
jackdaws she must deem us all!"

The earl's carriage, an open barouche, was waiting at the gate, at the
conclusion of the service. He handed his daughter in, and was putting
his gouty foot upon the step to follow her, when he observed Mr.
Carlyle. The earl turned and held out his hand. A man who could purchase
East Lynne was worthy of being received as an equal, though he was but a
country lawyer.

Mr. Carlyle shook hands with the earl, approached the carriage and
raised his hat to Lady Isabel. She bent forward with her pleasant smile,
and put her hand into his.

"I have many things to say to you," said the earl. "I wish you would go
home with us. If you have nothing better to do, be East Lynne's guest
for the remainder of the day."

He smiled peculiarly as he spoke, and Mr. Carlyle echoed it. East
Lynne's guest! That is what the earl was at present. Mr. Carlyle turned
aside to tell his sister.

"Cornelia, I shall not be home to dinner; I am going with Lord Mount
Severn. Good-day, Barbara."

Mr. Carlyle stepped into the carriage, was followed by the earl, and it
drove away. The sun shone still, but the day's brightness had gone out
for Barbara Hare.

"How does he know the earl so well? How does he know Lady Isabel?" she
reiterated in her astonishment.

"Archibald knows something of most people," replied Miss Corny. "He saw
the earl frequently, when he was in town in the spring, and Lady Isabel
once or twice. What a lovely face hers is!"

Barbara made no reply. She returned home with Miss Carlyle, but her
manner was as absent as her heart, and that had run away to East Lynne.

CHAPTER VIII.

MR. KANE'S CONCERT.

Before Lord Mount Severn had completed the fortnight of his proposed
stay, the gout came on seriously. It was impossible for him to move away
from East Lynne. Mr. Carlyle assured him he was only too pleas