to Joseph like a dear, dear brother as he is, and we
shall all be so happy, and so united."

"A brother? Mr. Calvert a brother?" said the old lady, in consternation
at such a liberty with one of that mighty house, in which she had once
lived as an humble dependant.

"Yes," cried he. "It is a favour I have begged, and they have not denied
me."

The old lady's face flushed, and pride and shame glowed together on her
cheeks.

"So we must say good-night," said Calvert, rising; "but we shall have a
long day's talk together, to-morrow. Who is it that defines an aunt as a
creature that always sends one to bed?" whispered he to Florence.

"What made you laugh, dear?" said her sister, after Calvert had left the
room.

"I forget--I didn't know I laughed--he is a strange incomprehensible
fellow--sometimes I like him greatly, and sometimes I feel a sort of
dread of him that amounts to terror."

"If I were Joseph, I should not be quite unconcerned about that jumbled
estimation."

"He has no need to be. They are unlike in every way," said she, gravely;
and then, taking up her book, went on, or affected to go on reading.

"I wish Aunt Grainger would not make so much of him. It is a sort of
adulation that makes our position regarding him perfectly false," said
Emily. "Don't you think so, dear?"

Florence, however, made no reply, and no more passed that evening
between them.

Few of us have not had occasion to remark the wondrous change produced
in some quiet household, where the work of domesticity goes on in
routine fashion, by the presence of an agreeable and accomplished guest.
It is not alone that he contributes by qualities of his own to the
common stock of amusement, but that he excites those around him to
efforts, which develop resources they had not, perhaps, felt conscious
of possessing. The necessity, too, of wearing one's company face, which
the presence of a stranger exacts, has more advantages than many wot of.
The small details whose discussion forms the staple of daily talk--the
little household cares and worries--have to be shelved. One can scarcely
entertain their friends with stories of the cook's impertinence, or
the coachman's neglect, and one has to see, as they do see, that the
restraint of a guest does not in reality affect the discipline of a
household, though it suppress the debates and arrest the discussion.

It has been often remarked that the custom of appearing in
parliament--as it was once