ong
effort. His gems are of the purest ray, but they lie embedded in a
hard crust of reasoning and disquisition; and on the first morning,
Louis, barely strong enough yet for a battle with his own volatility,
looked, and owned himself, dead beat by the first chapter.

Mary took pity on him. She had been much interested by his account of
the work, and would be delighted if he would read it with her. He
brightened at once, and the regular habit began, greatly to their
mutual enjoyment. Mary liked the argument, Louis liked explaining it;
and the flood of allusions was delightful to both, with his richness of
illustration, and Mary's actual experience of ocean and mountains. She
brought him whatever books he wanted, and from the benevolent view of
entertaining him while a prisoner, came to be more interested than her
mother had ever expected to see her in anything literary. It was
amusing to see the two cousins unconsciously educating each other--the
one learning expansion, the other concentration, of mind. Mary could
now thoroughly trust Louis's goodness, and therefore began by bearing
with his vagaries, and gradually tracing the grain of wisdom that was
usually at their root; and her eyes were opened to new worlds, where
all was not evil or uninteresting that Aunt Melicent distrusted. Louis
made her teach him Spanish; and his insight into grammar and keen
delight in the majestic language and rich literature infected her,
while he was amused by her positive distaste to anything incomplete,
and playfully, though half murmuringly, submitted to his 'good
governess,' and let her keep him in excellent order. She knew where
all his property was, and, in her quaint, straightforward way, would
refuse to give him whatever 'was not good for him.'

It was all to oblige Mary that, when he could sit up and use pen and
pencil, he set to work to finish his cottage plans, and soon drew and
talked himself into a vehement condition about Marksedge. Mary's
patronage drew on the work, even to hasty learning of perspective
enough for a pretty elevation intelligible to the unlearned, and a
hopeless calculation of the expense.

The plans lay on the table when next his father came home, and their
interest was explained.

'Did you draw all these yourself?' exclaimed the Earl. 'Where did you
learn architectural drawing? I should have thought them done by a
professional hand.'

'It is easy enough to get it up from books,' said Louis