brown silks, turned up their noses worse
than nature had done it for them, and Mrs. Ducie heaved an audible sigh.

"The poor motherless girl is to be pitied, my dears," she whispered;
"she has nobody to point out to her suitable attire. This ridiculous
decking out must have been Marvel's doings."

But she looked like a lily among poppies and sunflowers whether the
"decking out" was ridiculous or not. Was Lord Mount Severn right, when
he accused her of dressing so in self-gratification? Very likely, for
has not the great preacher said that childhood and youth are vanity?

Miss Carlyle, the justice, and Barbara also had seats near the
orchestra; for Miss Carlyle, in West Lynne, was a person to be
considered, and not hidden behind others. Mr. Carlyle, however,
preferred to join the gentlemen who congregated and stood round about
the door inside and out. There was scarcely standing room in the place;
Mr. Kane had, as was anticipated, got a bumper, and the poor man could
have worshipped Lady Isabel, for he knew he owed it to her.

It was very long--country concerts generally are--and was about three
parts over when a powdered head, larger than any cauliflower ever grown,
was discerned ascending the stairs, behind the group of gentlemen; which
head, when it brought its body in full view, was discovered to belong
to one of the footmen of Lord Mount Severn. The calves alone, cased in
their silk stockings, were a sight to be seen; and these calves
betook themselves inside the concert room, with a deprecatory bow for
permission to the gentlemen they had to steer through--and there they
came to a standstill, the cauliflower extending forward and turning
itself about from right to left.

"Well, I'll be jiffled!" cried an astonished old fox-hunter, who had
been elbowed by the footman; "the cheek these fellows have!"

The fellow in question did not appear, however, to be enjoying any great
amount of cheek just at that moment, for he looked perplexed, humble and
uneasy. Suddenly his eye fell upon Mr. Carlyle, and it lighted up.

"Beg pardon, sir; could you happen to inform me where-abouts my young
lady is sitting?"

"At the other end of the room, near the orchestra."

"I'm sure I don't know however I am to get to her, then," returned the
man more in self-soliloquy than to Mr. Carlyle. "The room is choke full,
and I don't like crushing by. My lord is taken alarmingly worse, sir,"
he explained in an awe-stricken tone; "it is fe