ad her handkerchief to her eyes. We were
very sorry again for her, but our French teacher, when we came home,
said, 'Let her weep; she will console herself presently.'

"It was, maybe, ten days after we had seen Miss Evelyn the second time
at church, as some of us were sitting, on the eve of a half-holiday, on
a locker in a window of the old gateway, that we saw the
coach-and-four, with the Vaughan liveries, wheeling along the green
open space before The Abbey gate; half a dozen of us at least were
standing the next minute on the locker to see this wonder better.

"Nearer and nearer came the carriage, with the horses' heads as if they
were a-going through the arch; and when we were expecting to hear the
rolling of the wheels beneath our feet, the carriage suddenly stopped
right in front of the garden-gate.

"Next came loud knockings and ringings without, and the running of many
feet within the house, one calling to another, to tell that the
Mistresses Vaughan were come, and had asked to see our governess.

"We strained our necks to see, if we could, the ladies get out, but we
were too directly above them to get a good view; and if we could, we
were not allowed, for our French teacher came up, and made us all get
down from the locker, shutting the window which we had opened, and
saying a great deal about 'politesse' and the great vulgarity of
peeping.

"The house was as still as the mice in the old wainscot when they smelt
Miss Latournelle's cat, whilst the ladies were in the parlour, for our
teachers insisted on our being quiet; but as soon as we saw the coach
bowling away, we all began to chatter, and to speak our thoughts
concerning the occasion of this visit, which was considered a very
great honour by our governesses."

"Did the Mistresses Vaughan come to speak about putting Evelyn to your
school, grandmamma?" asked Emily.

"Not exactly so, my dear," replied the old lady; "I will tell you what
they came for. Poor Evelyn had never recovered her quiet, happy spirits
since the fright and the shock of her little favourite's death. Her
mother had had a very delicate constitution, and had died early of
consumption. Perhaps Evelyn had inherited the tendency to consumption
from her mother, though neither her aunts nor Mrs. Harris had thought
her otherwise than a strong child till after her long illness.

"After she recovered from this illness, however--or rather seemed to be
recovered--her spirits were quite gone;