sister has made him so,' added Ethel.

'Shall I run down to Bankside and tell him it is all bosh?' said
Aubrey, jumping up.

'I don't think that is quite possible under Henry's very nose,' said
Ethel. 'Perhaps they will all be tamer by to-morrow, now they have
blown their trumpets; but I am very much vexed.'

'And really,' added Mr. Cheviot, 'if he is so wrong-headed, I begin to
doubt if I could recommend him.'

'You do not know how he has been galled and irritated,' said the
general voice.

'I wonder what Mrs. Pugh thinks of it,' presently observed the Doctor.

'Ah!' said Ethel, 'Mrs. Pugh is reading "John of Anjou".'

'Indeed!' said the Doctor; 'I suspected the wind was getting into that
quarter. Master Henry does not know his own interest: she was sure to
take part with a handsome lad.'

'Why have you never got Mrs. Pugh to speak for him?' said Mary. 'I am
sure she would.'

'O, Mary! simple Mary, you to be Ave's friend, and not know that her
interposition is the only thing wanting to complete the frenzy of the
other two!'

Ethel said little more that evening, she was too much grieved and too
anxious. She was extremely disappointed in Leonard, and almost
hopeless as to his future. She saw but one chance of preventing his
seeking this place of temptation, and that was in the exertion of her
personal influence. His avoidance of her showed that he dreaded it,
but one attempt must be made. All night was spent in broken dreams of
just failing to meet him, or of being unable to utter what was on her
tongue; and in her waking moments she almost reproached herself for the
discovery how near her heart he was, and how much pleasure his devotion
had given her.

Nothing but resolution on her own part could bring about a meeting, and
she was resolute. She stormed the castle in person, and told Averil
she must speak to Leonard. Ave was on her side now, and answered with
tears in her eyes that she should be most grateful to have Leonard
persuaded out of this dreadful plan, and put in the way of excelling as
he ought to do; she never thought it would come to this.

'No,' thought Ethel; 'people blow sparks without thinking they may burn
a house down.'

Ave conducted her to the summer-house, where Leonard was packing up his
fossils. He met them with a face resolutely bent on brightness. 'I am
to take all my household gods,' he said, as he shook hands with Ethel.

'I see,' said Ethel, gravely; and as Averil w