. I'll answer
for it, Bob will pronounce them the best he has ever tasted."

"And if he shouldn't, why should I care--that is, not _very
much_--about it. You know they are the first I ever made, and one
may be permitted to fail on a first effort. Besides, a man _may_
go to England, and see fine sights, and live in great houses, and all
that, and not understand when he has good plum sweetmeats before him,
and when bad. I dare say there are many _colonels_ in the army,
who are ignorant on this point."

Beulah laughed, and admitted the truth of the remark; though, in her
secret mind, she had almost persuaded herself that Bob knew everything.

"Do you not think our brother improved in appearance, Maud," she asked,
after a short pause. "The visit to England has done him that service,
at least."

"I don't see it, Beulah--I see no change. To me, Bob is just the same
to-day, that he has ever been; that is, ever since he grew to be a
man--with boys, of course, it is different. Ever since he was made a
captain, I mean."

As major Willoughby had reached that rank the day he was one-and-
twenty, the reader can understand the precise date when Maud began to
take her present views of his appearance and character.

"I am surprised to hear you say so, Maud! Papa says he is better 'set
up,' as he calls it, by his English drill, and that he looks altogether
more like a soldier than he did."

"Bob has always had a martial look!" cried Maud, quickly--"He got that
in garrison, when a boy."

"If so, I hope he may never lose it!" said the subject of the remark,
himself, who had entered the room unperceived, and overheard this
speech. "Being a soldier, one would wish to look like what he is, my
little critic."

The kiss that followed, and that given to Beulah, were no more than the
usual morning salutations of a brother to his sisters, slight touches
of rosy cheeks; and yet Maud blushed; for, as she said to herself, she
had been taken by surprise.

"They say listeners never hear good of themselves," answered Maud, with
a vivacity that betokened confusion. "Had you come a minute sooner,
master Bob, it might have been an advantage."

"Oh! Beulah's remarks I do not fear; so long as I get off unscathed
from yours, Miss Maud, I shall think myself a lucky fellow. But what
has brought me and my training into discussion, this morning?"

"It is natural for sisters to speak about their brother after so
long----"

"Tell him nothing abou