been permitted the pleasure of
her company, and Louis, between mischief and good-nature, would not
submit to anything but a hearty, cousinly squeeze of the hand, nor
relinquish it till he had forced her to utter articulately the message
to grandmamma that she had been muttering with her head averted. At
last it was spoken sharply, and her hand drawn petulantly away, and,
without looking back at him, her high, stiff head vanished into the
house, towering above the bright rainbow of ribbons, veils, and
parasols.

The evening would have been very happy, had not Lord Ormersfield looked
imperturbably grave and inaccessible to his sister-in-law's
blandishments. She did not use the most likely means of disarming him
when she spoke of making a tour in the summer. It had been a long
promise that Isabel and Virginia should go to see their old governess
at Paris; but if France still were in too disturbed a state, they might
enjoy themselves in Belgium, and perhaps her dear Fitzjocelyn would
accompany them as their escort.

His eyes had glittered at the proposal before he recollected the sorrow
that threatened his father, and began to decline, protesting that he
should be the worst escort in the world, since he always attracted
accidents and adventures. But his aunt, discovering that he had never
been abroad, became doubly urgent, and even appealed to his father.

'As far as I am concerned, Fitzjocelyn may freely consult his own
inclinations,' said the Earl, so gravely, that Lady Conway could only
turn aside the subject by a laugh, and assurance that she did not mean
to give him up. She began to talk of James Frost, and her wishes to
secure him a second time as Walter's tutor in the holidays.

'You had better take him with you,' said Louis; 'he would really be of
use to you, and how he would enjoy the sight of foreign parts!'

Isabel raised her head with a look of approbation, such as encouraged
him to come a little nearer, and apeak of the pleasure that her
kindness had given to Clara.

'There is a high spirit and originality about Clara, which make her a
most amusing companion.'

Isabel replied, 'I am very glad of an hour with her, especially now
that I am without my sisters.'

'She must be such a riddle to her respectable school-fellows, that
intercourse beyond them must be doubly valuable.'

'Poor child! Is there no hope for her but going out as a governess?'

'Unluckily, we have no Church patronage for her b