eatrice. It is not every one who has the
capacity for this perfect and absorbing sentiment; but Horace Northcote
had, and for a long time Ursula was as unconscious of it as heart could
desire.

Phoebe's admission to the house had been more simple still. A girlish
fancy on Ursula's part, a fit of good-nature on her father's, and then
that secret thread of connection with Tozer which no one knew of, and
the coming of Clarence Copperhead, to please whom Mr. May permitted
himself to be persuaded to do much; and in addition to all this, her
good looks, her pretty manners, her cleverness and the deference she had
always shown in the proper quarter. Mr. May did not enter into the lists
with his son, or think of offering himself as a suitor to Phoebe; but he
liked to talk to her, and to watch what he called "her little ways," and
to hear her play when Clarence and his violin were otherwise disposed
of. He was an experienced man, priding himself on a knowledge of human
nature, and Phoebe's "little ways" amused him greatly. What did she
mean?--to "catch" Clarence Copperhead, who would be a great match, or to
fascinate Northcote? Oddly enough Mr. May never thought of Reginald,
though that young man showed an eagerness to talk to Phoebe which was
more than equal with his own, and had always subjects laid up ready to
discuss with her, when he could find the opportunity. Sometimes he would
go up to her in the midst of the little party and broach one of these
topics straight on end, without preface or introduction, as which was
her favourite play of Shakespeare, and what did she think of the
character of King Lear? It was not very wise, not any wiser than his
neighbour was, who made pretty little Ursula into the ideal lady, the
most gentle and stately figure in poetry; and yet no doubt there was
something in both follies that was a great deal better than wisdom. The
society formed by these two young pairs, with Clarence Copperhead as a
heavy floating balance, and Mr. May and Janey--one philosophical, wise
and mistaken; the other sharp-sighted and seeing everything--as
spectators, was very pleasant to the close little coterie themselves,
and nobody else got within the charmed circle. They grew more and more
intimate daily, and had a whole vocabulary of domestic jokes and
allusions which no one else could understand. It must be allowed,
however, that the outside world was not pleased with this arrangement on
either side of the question.